From: rnmg1200@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (A Lady and her Walrus)
Subject: Re: Script Query: _The_Princ
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Sat, 29 Aug 1992 08:43:03 GMT

In article <3Fs9PB17w165w@jybox.jyu.fi> otto@jybox.jyu.fi (Otto J. Makela) writes:
>Douglas.Johnson@f31.n282.z1.tdkt.kksys.com (Douglas Johnson) writes:
>
>> However, it is important to realize that any swordfighting that you see
>> in movies or on stage fall into the realm of stage combat, and bear
>> little resemblance to actual fencing (usually).  As one who has done
>> both fencing and stage combat, I can truthfully say that there is a
>> world of difference between the two.
>
>Well, the movie fight scenes obviously have little to do with modern
>fencing.  The question is, how close would they be to "real" swordfighting,
>that is two people with sharp weapons really trying to kill each another ?
>Would it look like what these scenes generally look like ?
>
>I guess japanese kendo is quite a lot closer to "real" swordfighting
>with japanese swords than fencing to swordfighting with western weapons.
>

Not so.  Kendo, in literal terms, means "sword art" and is far removed 
from the original practice of swordfighting.  This is a result of the 
Tokugawa period, when there was a relative amount of peace and few enemies
to fight (mainly because the Tokugawas didn't want to have to put down
rebellious lords), so combat "arts" were developed; a watered down version
of actual combat, which eventually evolved into the martial arts 
tournaments we see today in such wonderful (NOTE: *SARCASM ALERT*) films
as Karate Kid.   Actual use of the katana is more accurately described as
"Kenjutsu" which is defined as "sword technique" as opposed to "art".
There are, however, very few true kenjutsu schools in the western world;
most are in Japan, and there are few of them even there, from what I 
understand.  So Kendo is pretty much just tournament fighting, which is
a far cry from actual combat.  Just ask any TKD student who's been taken
down by a street fighter.  

I can't think offhand of any styles which _would_ come close to true
swordfighting, either Japanese or European, since the European styles are
limited to swordplay (fencing) and savate (French kickboxing, which also
taught the use of the cane, and sometimes a bit of fencing).  I suppose
you could add in boxing as a style, but it doesn't use a sword, so it
isn't any help. :)  One of the Indonesian martial arts, Kuntao (a 
bastardized version of the term for Chinese martial arts, ch'uan fa 
(which means "way of the fist" or more loosely translated "boxing" from
which the name of the Boxer Rebellion was taken)), has several different
styles, some of which incorporate swordplay, and most of which are true
combat styles, having been in actual practice until only recently.  There
are supposed to be a few schools which teach Kuntao in America, but they
teach a combination of Kuntao and its opposing school, Pentjak Silat
(which was the cause of all that use).  Still, you might be able to 
glean something from it.

Of course, if you're talking about only European-type swordfighting, then
you're pretty much out of luck.  Even the SCA doesn't get very close to 
actual practice where that's concerned, mainly because it uses weapons
that really wouldn't hurt you if they hit.  (Well, they would, but you're
not likely to die from it, all things considered.)  And most modern forms
of fencing are also tournament based, like Kendo, so they're not very
helpful in those terms.

Anyway, enough of the history lesson, let's get back to the movies! :)

The Walrus