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Chapter 1. Why learn swordplay or HEMA (or martial arts in general) in this day and age
Swordplay or martial arts has a tremendous background that historians are still figuring out to this day. Every society and people have their roots to military or warriors as early as 2700 BCE (Earliest recorded battle) and it is fairly safe to assume the art of combat was around well before even that point of history. But what is the significance of learning it today?
Lets start with the benefits of learning and examples of application
1. Choreography. Movies and videogames need better and more accurate melee fighting. The importance being all the more into the historical side for era specific movies when HEMA is entered into the mix. The depth and impact of the movements is more thrilling in games when the mechanics realistically work, and the movesets are more than just "swing sword or block". More of us in the field is improvement for audiences as well as promoting notoriety for the swordplay community at large.
2. Health. Martial arts is active meditation! It is exercise as well as brain food for understanding complex movements and establishing eye-hand coordination. It takes a multitude of different muscles to maintain good posture, balance, swing, thrust, wrestle, pivot, twist, and lunge. The cardio and endurance will improve for you overall and through time you will grow as a more confident and capable person in more than just swordplay.
3. History. When learning HEMA, you are honoring and taking part in the culture of another era, possibly one of your very ancestors even! The benefit doesn't stop there though, it is historians that translated and theorized and made it possible to study Treatises and learn HEMA to begin with. Becoming learned in combat has the potential to help the further translation and understanding of treatises or manuscripts currently known, or ones that possibly haven't been uncovered yet.
4. Self defense. This topic is particularly a gray area because its hard to prove empirically. The fact of the matter is even professional knife fighters and trainers know the hard reality that you generally don't leave unscathed in a fight. Always attempt to flee first (if it truly is the best avenue for your situation). If lets say, you are backed into a corner though, would you not stand to benefit knowing how to swing something effectively in an attempt to remove yourself from the danger? You or I are not invincible, but having knowledge and, more importantly, PRACTICE of the mechanics of martial arts gives us a better fighting chance to survive unfavorable and dangerous encounters.
5. Science! The minute you start learning anything regarding swordplay and applying it, you are, in hilarious fashion, a Scientist of Violence! You, as a practitioner, are creating a formula of your own making by incorporating measurements of timing, balance, biomechanics, angles, physics, psychology, health and fitness, and even philosophy to create your very own unique interpretation of the art. By practicing and more importantly, sparring, you are engaging in rigorous experimentation to form conclusions that will eventually master your form with enough open minded adjustments and practice.
Furthermore, the craft as it stands as I write this, is actually very lacking in cohesion and proper application. Very few who practice it actually implement fluidity to both the understanding and mechanics of melee combat, and there are far more examples of poor swordplay in Hollywood and videogames than there are good. This makes the idea of picking up a sword and swinging it sound rediculous to quite a few people, or just plain stupid to put it bluntly. This book is not for them. We, being you and I, will prove them wrong by improving the field by instilling a framework that can be applied to hopefully all melee forms of martial arts, creating a golden era of knowledge and improvement to the field in tremendous glory.
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