Another news story about HEMA

Here is a news story about the Swordfish tournament in Europe. We are growing!

The head instructor is growing a mustache to help fight men's cancers.

Please view my Movember page and donate.

Sacramento Open 2014 Highlights

Here is a nice video of the tournament we had in town a couple of months ago.

A terrific video about "time" and movement in martial arts.

All the sword treatises tell us to move the foot after the blade. Here is a great demonstration of why, and it has action figures and people getting slapped.

Footwork for following after

According to Ringeck:

 Another following-after.

When he cuts against you from above and he continues downwards towards the ground with his sword, follow after him with an Oberhau to the head, before he comes up with the sword. ...

You need to control distance so that your opponent misses their cut, but then return in time to perform your own cut. This might require you to switch your stance from a left lead to a right lead as you cut. Here is some footwork to help you do that.

Good fencing!

Some of the masters have quite the sense of humor.

In Lecküchner's messer treatise, two plate caught my eye: 

 ... grab him as it is stated before, and as you have grabbed him, fall “simultaneously” close to him on your arse, and as you fall, turn your back on his right side and hold him firmly. You can also play board games, eat and drink, so that he cannot stand up unless you let him cordially up, otherwise he has to rot under you.

And another:

Then, if you want to throw him into a bag with the element announced before, so secretly appoint some men who have a hidden bag with them at the swordsmanship competitions and stand behind the people. Then, grab him as it is depicted before, and as you have brought him in the scale, tell the two to raise the bag and lead him with force to these who stand with the bag and press him firmly and make him crawl to it. If he does not want to do it voluntarily, when they hold the bag open, grab with your right hand at his right leg...and throw him into the bag in the name of God...

Not only do you get a workout, you get a chuckle. 

Contact us about classes.

Less Expensive Shirt

I have made a less expensive shirt that is available for two weeks. Check it out.

New Shirt

I have designed a new HEMA t-shirt over at Zazzle. Give it a look, and "Just Krump It!".

Just Krump It! by greatjujitsustuff
Design your own custom shirt no minimum online at Zazzle.

A Longpoint report in the New York Times

This is a cool video with lots of action and interviews with a number of martial artists. Just click the link.

Curriculum Outline for SactoHema

These are the steps I expect students to know, starting from A through D.

 A:
 4 Openings (up left/right, Lower left/right)
Parts of a Swords
Steps (passing, shuffling, double, all forward and back)

 B:
Oberhau
Unterhau
Mittlehau
Vom Tag
Ochs
Pflug
Alber

 C:
Zornhau
Zwerchau
Krumphau
Schielhau
Schietelhau
Apply all against basic cuts and guards
3 plays based on each

 D:
Nachreisen (travel/follow after)
Uberlaufen (overrun/overreach)
Absetsen (setting aside)
Durchwechseln (change through)
Zucken (twitching)
Durchlaufen (run through)
Abschneiden (cut off)
Hende Trucken (press hands)
Sprechfenster (speaking window)
3 wounders
24 windings
Nebenhut
Schrankhut
Redel (wheel)

So we had a tournament in town.

The Sacramento HEMA Open happened this Sunday. I regret that I was not able to attend, but I did score a little video of one of the fights. Enjoy!

He-man and HEMA man, don't get them confused!

I had to steal this a bit due to a technical problem, but this is too funny to not share.

Guest Instructor August 16 & 23

I will be out of town August 16 and 23, so my guest instructor, Daniel, will be running class. Do not scare him off, OK?

Longbows vs Harness (plate mail).

Regarding yesterday's admittedly silly post. Some fine folks have, quite understandably, wondered how bows would have dealt with harness (aka plate mail). Well, here is a test. There are others, but you will see a theme.

You will see that any penetration is pretty minor, less than an inch, and this is at point-blank range with a completely solid hit. Considering that there was likely mail and an arming doublet underneath, it shows that bows are not much use against harness. In the battles of Agincourt and Crecy, where bows were historically used to great effect, it was not because bows could penetrate harness. It was mostly injuries to horses or more lightly armored troops, as most troops did not have harness. Harness was extremely expensive.

How will modern soldiers fare against knights?

"So we want to see what the epic ending to a battle between two of time's most deadly warriors will be? Actually, it's not that interesting. The Marine, my chosen analog for this question, loses, and that is actually not all that surprising."

Link.

via IFTTT

Hema supplies should be available in Sacramento soon!

Pretty soon, perhaps within the month of August, Randy’s House of Games should have products for HEMA. Wasters, blunt swords, gloves, masks, jackets, books, all of these things should be available. Anyone who needs supplies now can get in on the initial order. Let me know, and I will get the folks at Randy’s to contact you.

via IFTTT

Business cards on the way!

I just ordered new business cards, and I used the image below as the background. They should look great.

This is from Hector Paulus Mair's treatise. He hires swordsman and artists to complete his book, and was later hanged for embezzlement. I suppose he had to pay for it somehow.

A sword taking

The detail I want to show here is that if your opponent's pommel comes up between their wrists, instead of outside their wrists, it is easier to get them to release the sword.

From Pseudo-Peter von Danzig:

Mark, when he parries or otherwise binds on your sword, then grip both swords in the middle with the left hand on the blades, and hold them both fast together, and with the right hand drive with the pommel below through in front over both his hands, and press therewith upwards on your right side. Then you remain with both swords.

We have joined the larger HEMA community in Sacramento!

Last weekend, Kevin Murakoshi visited and invited me to participate with the larger Sacramento Hema community. I went to one of his classes and a sparring event.

I believe that studying with a larger group will improve my HEMA game and thus improve the instruction for my students.

Fights from the SoCal Sword Fight

We discussed tournaments in class today. Here is one in Southern California. Perhaps we can participate next year!
SoCal Sword-fight YouTube Playlist

The Longsword on Bloody Elbow

Here is a nice write up on the longsword from another martial arts website. Bloody Elbow.

2010 Swordfish Longsword Finals

Here is some fightin'!

The Evolution of Swords

Here is a great diagram that shows the different types of straight swords in Europe of the ages.

Videos

Some German Longsword basics.

Here are some useful videos were have made.

)

Sacto HEMA classes are on the go!

Our classes are up and running. Students are filing in and fun is being had by all. Please come by and visit.