Historical
European Martial Arts
Do you have an inherited sword in your house and wandered
how it would be to fight with it? Or you simply want to try yourself in a sword
fight, but you are not a Japanese
sword type of guy? That is not a problem anymore!
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| http://www.go-now.pl/pl/szermierka_galeria.htm |
HEMA(Historical European martial
arts) is a term used to describe associations of weapons enthusiasts who
practise fighting with historically correct blunt weapons. Someone could ask:
“But why don’t you attempt modern fencing classes instead?” and that would be a very good question. The difference
is quite substantial. Modern fencing has a very good scientific base and
because of it we know what not to do, otherwise we would hurt ourselves simply by practising.
But it lacks one thing, reality! They fight with “antennas” not with real
swords, and they fight for points! In a real life scenario you have only one chance and that’s it!
That is why at most HEMA tournaments you have only one “life”, if you were hit,
you lose.
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| http://www.akademia-broni.pl/submenu-30,foto.html |
“Ok, so what should I do?” You can go to the so-called “brotherhood
of knights”. Its main focus
is to reproduce the historical life and everything around it. But you just want
to fight, don’t you? In
fact you have a variety of historical fencing schools you can enrol in in Poland. The one
that I personally have chosen is “Akademia-Broni”, and I highly recommend
it. Marcin Żmudzki, the owner, in 1998 created a unique fighting
system called F3 (Fight For Fun). From that day his school has been constantly
occupied by students. You can learn there how to fight with almost every
European edged weapon like a single
hand sword, a long sword, a sabre, a foil or a rapier. You will be equipped
with all necessary protective gear so you don’t need to worry about injuries.
All you need is a little money. Adrenaline guaranteed!
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| My Facebook profile. |
A funny
fact: did you know that Marcin Żmudzki helped during the production of video
game “The Witcher”? Each fight scene of the main character “Geralt” was
created using a motion capture technique. And Marcin Żmudzki was the one whose
movement was captured.
What
do you think about that kind of sport? Maybe you have some experience in
fencing and want to share your opinion with us.
Sources:
I do believe that Historical European Martial Arts must be very interesting especially for guys. I have heard that there is a long historical substrate. We can say that ‘renaissance' in meaning of rebirth was at 1990 when in Europe and North America have emerged many of communities. It seems that the most popular events are still in United States although since 1998 there are also organized in Italy and since 2006 in Sweden. There also exists so called ‘umbrella’ organization that has goals like reconstructing historical base, explain more deeply the context of art, promote and publicize,establish many groups and organize annual events.
ReplyDeleteThat is very reassuring that also Poland is involved in sustaining HEMA culture. At Youtube where are videos from “Skunks” which is HEMA event and longsword tournament (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmP1MgfEUmY and original source http://gesellschaft-lichtenawers.eu/tsc/en/gallery/videos/71-skunks-2010.html).
One of the biggest events that were held in Poland this year was W3 "Warszawsiek Warsztaty Walki" and the winner of this tournament was a student from "Akademia-Broni" :)
ReplyDeleteI link a play list where you can watch the final part of the tournament:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-HeDOqi0Ae0bblou691E06meO-yJfxNf
In my opinion this sport is interesting but I'm not type of a person who wants to learn it.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy watching all this complicated scenes in movies, where actors are fighting. In Zlote Tarasy at the night premiere of Witcher 2 there were people who worked on the main character "Geralt" using motion capture technic and they presented their skills.
I imagine it must be really interesting - especially for the ones interested in medieval history, or fantasy words, or games (I would't really make the 'guys' and 'girls' divisions :)). And I think you can make great use of it by organising LARPs or using it for motion capture, like the author mentioned.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I wouldn't diminish other forms of martial arts (referring to the first paragraph and the comment about fencing) - I guess everyone has different interests and we shouldn't say others' interests are worse than ours :)
This kind of sport is not the one I would like to train, but it seems to be interesting.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Patrycja, that people how are into medieval or games might be interested in this.
This might be a thing that would connect those 2 words in one, and make hobby more "real"
I was never interested in martial arts in any form but this article about HEMA really caught my attention.
ReplyDeleteI have always been curious how the fight with medieval swords looked like: how knights could operate such heavy pieces of weaponry.
Maybe one day I will attend the presentation or an event but my attitude to this king of hobby is quite similar to the one that Karolina presents.
After reading this article I searched the web a little and interestingly, since 1990 Historical European Martial Arts started to become popular even In United States!
Fight with a real sabre must be a great experience. Awareness, that there is no protection, clangs, competition one to one - all of this for sure is exciting.
ReplyDeleteI never hold a sword, I suppose it's heavy and therefore, probably swordsman needs a lot of practice to wield it with perfection. I'm curious, is it a big difference in use between modern sword and historical?
I'm a huge sports fun and all information about sport is interesting for me, even I do not have anything to do with the discipline. I heard about mentioned sport only from you and it sounds quite interesting but I prefer team sports like football or volleyball.
ReplyDeleteI think it's a really interesting type of sport but I never had a chance to try it, and I think I wouldn't be a good swordsman. However, I do love to watch such fights. My only experience with something like this are shows held during events such as Piknik Naukowy.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was around 6-10 I used to fight with wooden sticks with my friends. It was our best form of entertainment. But now when I think about it I'm really surprised that no one of us didn't get hurt while fighting. I think that is really nice form of exercise and entertainment, but when you are doing it you should wear proper protecting equipment not like me in the past. In my whole life only one in museum I had opportunity to touch real medieval sword.
ReplyDeleteI really like Matrial Arts especially in games and movies. I would also like to try in future when I will have more free time.
Aneta Majewska:
ReplyDeleteSwords are not that heavy. Most one-handed swords weighs about 1 kg or less. Long swords, that were usually held in both hands, weighs no more than 1,5 kg. We are trying to imitate real life so we are using weapons of similar weight.
Here you can look up specification of our weapons:
http://www.akademia-broni.pl/submenu-12,broN-biaLa.html
I have no experience in such sport but after i read this article i watch some videos of fencing,HEMA etc. and i found it really interesting so i think i'll try it in future. I'm the big fan of fantasy at all so i could find myself in 'real' fights. I think it could be a great opportunity to play in movies as a swordsman characters.
ReplyDeleteIn respect to Karolina Wieczorek comment about organization called 'umbrella' i was searching internet for groups like this in poland. I found 'Stowarzyszenie Lubelska GRH Fron't and my goal for next year is to join the reconstuction of a battle of Tomaszów Lubelski.
I do believe that HEMA and F3 can have many fans and people that enjoy that kind of sport but it's not my cup of tea. Fans of historical weapons and everything what is connected with history and sports fram that times can be really in. I prefer team sports instead of just 2 people in battle. I really appreciate the fact of Marcin Zmudzki's success and I really didn't know about that fact.
ReplyDeleteThis kind of sports for me is very interesting. I really like watching scenes of fight in moves and theatre.
ReplyDeleteI never have occasion to be on swordsman training. I really like every kind of sports and here: http://www.akademia-broni.pl/submenu-1,aktualnoSci.html I noticed that I can try swordsmanship.
I believe that Historical European Martial Arts is another hobby for a person who enjoy millitary point of history but it is also an activty which keeps him fit and strong.
ReplyDeleteSome people spend their free time playing sports, sew or watching films and other who are freaks about
medieval spend their time trying to recreate those times. There is a small castle next to the town I live in and
ther is also The Brotherhood where people meet, talk and fight. Ever year there is a tournament with a recration of battle from the past.
A lot of people come and try to learn how everything worked.