References for Live Blades - A Follow Up
I just wanted to give some footnotes for Gary's last post on live sword practice. This is some disconnected background that seemed relevent to folks who are interested in more detail.
In contrast to the obvious dominance of the gun in the war-torn pre-modern Europe, the Japanese were able to cling to swords longer during the enforced peace of the Tokugawa despots. Interestingly, before the Tokugawas assumed the shogunate, Japan had been on the path to gun based warfare. Giving Up the Gun by Noel Perrin is an excellent read on how this happened. I highly recommend it to anybody trying to understand the history of Japanese martial arts.
The loss of Western sword skills were, of course, more complex than can depicted in a few sentences. The cavalry saber and sword dueling were still important to officers and gentlemen of the 19th century. While it is a rambling book, By the Sword by Richard Cohen has some good chapters on the evolution of swordsmanship and dueling--and their degradation into fencing--in pre-modern America and Europe. My favorite two details in this are that Abraham Lincoln almost found himself in a saber duel in his early career, and that Teddy Roosevelt used to singlestick fence in the White House. Swords may not have been a focus of combat for centuries, but vestiges of sword culture remained in the West until World War I. The two world wars destroyed a tremendous amount of traditional culture, and changed the way all Westerners thought about violence.
Of course, in a similar fashion, World War II--and the militarization prior to it as well as the forced pacification afterwards--radically changed Japanese martial arts to a degree that most practitioners are not ready to admit. A lot of traditional styles disappeared in this period, and many of the remaining arts were pacified. Kendo in particular had to be purged of its association with military propaganda. Contrawise, it's worth noting that a lot of the most interesting and technically deep Japanese styles extant in the West came from teachers who fled Japan during the pre-war militarization. But this is an essay for another day.
Some of the relevant laws on martial arts weapons in California are in Penal Code 12020-12040. Apparently, this section of the law was written in the '80s when the "ninja craze" was in full swing, so lawmakers were irrationally scared of such mystical Eastern ninja stuff. It's very strange that in California, "nunchaku" are felonious, while you can legally walk around with a sword on your belt (although "disturbing the peace" type laws may trump this). The Sword Forum International Legal Issue Forum is a good place to ask questions or look for more information on other states/countries.
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In contrast to the obvious dominance of the gun in the war-torn pre-modern Europe, the Japanese were able to cling to swords longer during the enforced peace of the Tokugawa despots. Interestingly, before the Tokugawas assumed the shogunate, Japan had been on the path to gun based warfare. Giving Up the Gun by Noel Perrin is an excellent read on how this happened. I highly recommend it to anybody trying to understand the history of Japanese martial arts.
****
The loss of Western sword skills were, of course, more complex than can depicted in a few sentences. The cavalry saber and sword dueling were still important to officers and gentlemen of the 19th century. While it is a rambling book, By the Sword by Richard Cohen has some good chapters on the evolution of swordsmanship and dueling--and their degradation into fencing--in pre-modern America and Europe. My favorite two details in this are that Abraham Lincoln almost found himself in a saber duel in his early career, and that Teddy Roosevelt used to singlestick fence in the White House. Swords may not have been a focus of combat for centuries, but vestiges of sword culture remained in the West until World War I. The two world wars destroyed a tremendous amount of traditional culture, and changed the way all Westerners thought about violence.
Of course, in a similar fashion, World War II--and the militarization prior to it as well as the forced pacification afterwards--radically changed Japanese martial arts to a degree that most practitioners are not ready to admit. A lot of traditional styles disappeared in this period, and many of the remaining arts were pacified. Kendo in particular had to be purged of its association with military propaganda. Contrawise, it's worth noting that a lot of the most interesting and technically deep Japanese styles extant in the West came from teachers who fled Japan during the pre-war militarization. But this is an essay for another day.
****
Some of the relevant laws on martial arts weapons in California are in Penal Code 12020-12040. Apparently, this section of the law was written in the '80s when the "ninja craze" was in full swing, so lawmakers were irrationally scared of such mystical Eastern ninja stuff. It's very strange that in California, "nunchaku" are felonious, while you can legally walk around with a sword on your belt (although "disturbing the peace" type laws may trump this). The Sword Forum International Legal Issue Forum is a good place to ask questions or look for more information on other states/countries.
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