Main > The Round Table

"What it means to be a Martial Artist" a post by Kevin Murakoshi.

<< < (2/4) > >>

Sir William:
The phrase 'to each their own' spends well here.  Like the author, in my less mature days, I would scoff at just about anyone who wasn't doing what I did as a matter of course.  I chalk it up to the incorrigibility of youth, my own most especially.

Like you, Sir Edward, I have been witness to many a discussion along these lines and I generally don't engage- I think as I've gotten older, I find that I no longer need to seek validation amongst my peers for what it is I feel like doing.  They're either on board or not...I'm still moving forward.

Sir Ivan, well put - 'being knightly is something you do alltimes, not sometimes'.

Sir Rodney:

--- Quote from: Sir William ---The phrase 'to each their own' spends well here...  They're either on board or not...I'm still moving forward.
--- End quote ---

My sentiments exactly.  I do not worry about that which I can not control.

Das Bill:
Yeah, Kevin's a good guy, and you can really see it in that post.

I [foolishly] participated in the myArmoury discussion of "SCA sport or martial art?", and the part that bugs me is how quick people are to either 1) take offense to the word "sport", or on the other extreme 2) claim that what they do is somehow more "real" than what other people do. Both positions are silly.

One of the things that I was trying to say there is that anytime you engage someone with fake weapons with rules of engagement (and there are always rules, no matter what people claim, unless if you really are trying to kill one another), then you are participating in a sport. That means that when I put my fencing mask on and fence another person with a longsword, I'm still doing a sport version of longsword. It doesn't matter that I'm trying to use martial arts techniques; it's still a sport. It's no different if I do SCA, sport fencing, Kendo, etc. All of these are sports. But as Kevin points out, that doesn't mean you aren't also a martial artist. Rather, it means you use sports to enhance your martial arts, which is COMPLETELY HISTORICAL. It's what every militarty has done since the dawn of time: Using combat sports to develop better fighters.

Somehow, though, when I say things like this, people either immediately assume I'm trashing the SCA (which I would never do), or they assume I'm trying to claim that the word "sport" somehow is a dirty word and should not be used in HEMA (which is silly because I use sportive combat, i.e. free fencing, as part of my training). In the end, Kevin summed things up pretty nicely there.

Sir Brian:
hmm although I only recently started with MASHS I definitely feel an affinity to the training as a genuine martial art which is the same experience I had thirty years ago when I studied Ketsugo Jujitsu, which I actually had to use and served me well on occasion in my younger years. I approach my lessons with the same mentality of someday I just may have to use this stuff and so I try to execute the moves as precisely and cleanly as possible. I don't know or really care if that constitutes as a sport, historical reenactment or role playing, I just want to learn and better myself...besides if I happen to get caught up in a time warping vortex that dumps me into the middle ages I want to at least have a slight chance of surviving a sword fight!  :D

Thorsteinn:
@Das Bill: What an awesome point! :D
It made a lovely picture in my head.

I will have to share this with others if that's OK with you.

-Ivan
BTW I'm thinking of changing my SCA name to (Ivarr, Kori, or Hrafn) Rauttskegg, if it's period that is.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page