Originally posted by Jay Vail
I am sorry, guys, these responses are not helpful. Of course you avoid parrying if at all possible. And of course your prime objective is to cut your opponent instead of parrying. But if you engage in any free play, you must know that these objectives are ideals that are not always capable of achievement in the breach.
So, what is the recommended practice when you must block or parry? Edge or flat?
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By "free play," how long do you really think an engagement with razor sharp blades and no armor between two duelists would really last to have some extended type of "sword play" where use of the mune of a sword would be put into much use. Armed combat on a battlefield aside mind you. While none of us have been in a real sword fight (except that one American samurai guy out of Chicago, who beats ninjas off with a stick regularly), I think the closest non-lethal way to simulate a life and death duel would be to give two kendoka or koryuers some bokuto without protective gear, tell them the first strike decides the match and have them both sign away all their belongings and assets in any accounts, and then set them to it (multidirectional cameras and such couold be used for millisecond judging). I think sword duels take on a whole new meaning when you know you have only one shot at it. In this sense, the only #$#5-ing way anyone would deliberately block instead of cut IS the "OH ¤¤¤¤" method. If you don't like that answer, then your mind cannot grasp what japanese sword arts are about and no amount of explaining with change that. Accept it or move on. As for the mune, I am sure in the hands of a masterful swordsman, it might be used to "redirect" the on-coming sword out of the way (parry) to open up a strike, but it really depends on how much attacking force is being directed at that mune doesn't it? Your questions cannot be answered without fleshing out more details about the attack (force, type of strike (overhead, wound up, etc.), does the defender pivot the blade as the attack comes or just K-rady block it straight on?), and even then, it would be dificult to surmise an outcome.
Greg Ellis
I like autumn best of all, because its tone is mellower, its colors are richer and it is tinged with a little sorrow. Its golden richness speaks not of the innocence of spring, nor the power of summer, but of the mellowness and kindly wisdom of approaching age. It knows the limitations of life and it is content.