Sparred with Korean swordsmanship today

Chan Lancelot · Post by **Chan Lancelot** » Sat Jul 17, 2004 2:44 pm

Anthony Boyd has been practicing Haidong Gumdo for 7 years in Korea and he had paid us a visit today. You may read the report of the event here:

http://www.rsw.com.hk/activities.htm#anthony

Noe · Post by **Noe** » Mon Jul 19, 2004 10:09 am

Hey Lance,

I'm really wanting to have a look at that Korean style of swordsmanship, but for some reason downloads are really loggy from your site today. Is everything okay?

How would you characterize Korean swordsmanship. It isn't famous, and I would like to hear an evaluation.

Chan Lancelot · Post by **Chan Lancelot** » Mon Jul 19, 2004 10:31 am

Yeah, many people have been getting the videos of Anthony's bouts lately... it should be better now after the rush is over.

Korean swordsmanship, compare to Japanese swordsmanship, is more comprehensive as a style. They include test cutting, sparring and form works. The action is more open and practical, with leg cutting, punches and kicks mixed with the swordwork. Moreover, like Tae Kwon Do, there are many jumps and spins. If one has read the manga "Samurai X", one could not help to think that Haidong Gumdo is the Samurai X's style in real life.

Chan Lancelot · Post by **Chan Lancelot** » Mon Jul 19, 2004 10:35 am

Anthony posted on Swordforum to provide his side of comments.

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It was a great pleasure to meet Lancelot and his group this weekend in Hong Kong. I really had no idea what to expect from the equipment or the sparring club members, but I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised.

It took me much longer to adapt to the freedom allowed by the weapons RSW have created than I would have expected. I kept pulling shots and shifting targets at the last minute... mistakes gladly taken advantage of by my cheerful opponents. Looking over the videos it strikes me that I have lost all the flow I used to have and have drifted much closer to a kendo style than I would have thought possible. The mindset of the referrees I spar under will allow little else. It took quite a few matches to try and find my real style again. I didn't quite get there but I caught a glimpse of it from time to time.

One of the highlights of the day for me was the use of an honor system in recording strikes. While the observers also serve to maintain honesty there were more than a few times when my opponents called hits I didn't notice landing in the heat of an exchange. Some real ego destruction has been going on in this group.

I am looking forward to doing this again soon. I was just starting to get a sense of things when we had to call it a day. Lancelot and his group got a lot of amusement from the so-called 'killer move' in my last bout. I couldn't say why it thrilled them so much, but I was glad to bring a little bit of joy to an otherwise rainy day...

-Anthony Boyd on 19-7-2004

Noe · Post by **Noe** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 12:24 pm

Did anyone else check out the videos of the korean sword fighting. I also went to their site and check it out there.

Hey Lance, do you know if the whole spinning attack thing is part of their system, or just an idiosyncracy of the guy you were fighting? We've always held that an opponent who uses spinning attacks is a gift from God. Do you know if they have a system for actually making it work?

Chan Lancelot · Post by **Chan Lancelot** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 12:40 pm

Yes, it's part of their system and Anthony actually managed to parry my attack during his spin, once.

The other time, he got killed.

They put their sword on the back during the spin to attempt parrying any incoming attack aiming to their back... and it worked.

Noe wrote:Did anyone else check out the videos of the korean sword fighting. I also went to their site and check it out there.

Hey Lance, do you know if the whole spinning attack thing is part of their system, or just an idiosyncracy of the guy you were fighting? We've always held that an opponent who uses spinning attacks is a gift from God. Do you know if they have a system for actually making it work?