This is a group lesson that we did at practice yesterday. The goal of the lesson was to look at a couple of options for dealing with attacks to the low line – specically, the scannatura as described in plate 13 of Capoferro. From the instructor’s invitation in 3rd, straight thrust From the instructor’s engagement [...]
As a followup to the post on feints the other day. Today’s lesson was about the arrest. The idea was to build the action up to a feint direct and disengage, and then show how it can be defeated, both with a defensive action and with a counteroffensive action. The lesson was more about showing [...]
Cappoferro says some pretty confusing things about feints in his manual. At the beginning of the manual he talks about how you shouldn’t use them very much, but by the time you get to the plates, it’s clear that feints are a fundamental part of the system. So what’s the deal with that? Is he [...]
Capoferro talks a fair amount about different guards in his manual, but uses the term in a couple of different ways. He refers to the four basic guards, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, and defines them as being a certain orientation of the hilt and sword. Earlier though he says that 1st and 2nd aren’t [...]
This is a lesson I did a few weeks ago. The goal was to cover the techniques covered in the basic plays of the first half of the single sword plates in Capoferro. (I’m writing this from memory, so there may be some inaccuracies) From the instructor’s invitation in 4th, straight thrust From the student’s engagement [...]
