Hello everyone,
So, in martial arts, swordfighting included, I always like to branch out and not focus on just one form. Competitive Lightsaber Leagues are a thing where they essentially turned Lightsaber Styles into a Martial Art.
I have a passage from a manual that is supposed to be written by an in-universe Star Wars Character. Instead of breaking Saber (sword combat) into the various styles, He posits that there are only two. Upon reading his treatise on it, I could see how it could apply to a sword user in general. Below is his stance on it, edited by me to make more sense.
"There are two key forms of combat a fighter must master: Strong Style and Fast Style. The latter emphasizes footwork, speed, and precision.
Strong style is an ancient philosophy that requires you to combine your body weight and your muscular strength. When used for defense, Strong Style turns an attack back on the attacker, if you deflect a blade at a vulnerable angle, it will draw your opponent in close enough for a winning blow."
Now, he means it more as all fighters either fall into column A or Column B. (He himself was an advocate of Strong Style). While analyzing anyone's fighting methods, I often find myself trying to base my strategy with the question "Is this person more Strong or Fast."
Granted, I do not believe in using just one of these. From my own experience from just sparring with you guys, I have seen that there are times when one must be Fast or Strong.
What do you all think about this stance of "Strong Style" and "Fast Style"? I'm more than happy to discuss with you guys.
Lightsabers fencers are very serious about their art, and it is a lot of fun, but this while as possible fiction lore is fine, it is bad as far as advice for fighting. There is no valid style of fighting that does not emphasize footwork, speed, and precision. Combining body weight and physical strength without proper structure makes you what the masters refer to as a "Buffe; or "Buffalo" and lumbering fighter who tries to be strong always and as such is easily defeated. The masters of the Liechtenauer system were clearthat we are to use strength against weakness, but also weakness against strength all the while using good structure, not relying upon strength and mass as that is unbalanced. Here are some excerpts of what the masters had to say: Sigmund Ringeck tells us " If he now feels how the adversary acts in his fencing, if he is strong or hard, in the very moment he realizes this he should, while the adversary is still protecting himself, become soft and weak and in the case of the adversary being weak, vice versa. To make sure that one cannot come to strikes, he should instantly execute the Nachschlag, that means that he attacks again while the other is still protecting himself from the Vorschlag, be it with a strike or a thrust…"
And later when discussing the schielhau "58 The Squinter breaks-in
Whatever the buffalo strikes or thrusts.
59 Whoever threatens to change,
The squinter robs him of it.
Gloss. Note here that the squinter is a cut which breaks-in the
cuts and thrusts of the buffalo ([one] who acquires victory
with power), …"