It's great to finally see a HEMA vs. Kendo video where both combatants are equally skilled and where the styles are very distinct (as compared to some videos where combatants obviously cross-train).
I've been watching Long sword and sword and dagger hema techniques lately and i was really surprised how similiar they where to techniques i've learned in Aikido. Specially some joint locks and throws where almost the same 🤣 almost as if europeans and asians had the same Body mechanics 😂 But yes, the way to use a sword is kinda different from Japan to Europe.
@@etherealicer I think they're talking about how Hema is focused on historical combat, while Kendo is PURELY formed on point scoring, cause it's like, just because you touch the opponent first doesn't mean you struck a good blow, there is a goal difference as far as I can tell, now Kendo I feel like was based off of Iaido which I believe was used in battle so the point is still moot but HEMA as far as I can tell is purely based on Historical Fighting techniques being taught in a modern setting
@@GoblinLord in kendo you don't score by touching the opponent but by strucking a good blow. It's not like fencing. But yes, definetely it's a sport. And the historical martial art it's based on is Kenjutsu. Iaido is somthing different. You have to take the saber, strike, remove the blood and replace the blade in the scabbard in a codified way.
Nobody: Kendo guy: YUOOOOOOOOOIIOOOO hema guy: *adjusts stance* Edit: I think you Guy's are taking this comment to seriously I went through a stage when I was obsessed with Japanese martial art's too soo I'm quite aware why the kendo guy is shouting and as a person who practices HEMA I know why he adjust stances (to seize the space around him and look for opening's) and especially considering the kendo "guy" hold's his stances much longer then the HEMA "guy" keep in mind: "one hit you're out". So in this situation what they were doing is extremely rational and you Guy's have a taught me a lot about why he "shouts" so I'm actually very grateful to you people and am indeed respectful of you're knowledge however, I thought I needed to clarify I'm not just some guy who spends 15 hours a day online doing nothing and have actually practised HEMA for about 1 and a half years now I'm incredibly sorry if this comment caused irrational dispute and conflict and I hope you find it in you're hearts to forgive me and apologize to others you might of otherwise have offended. My humble apology - "some random dude who likes knights "
Commentator Highlight Reel: 0:52 fatal stab to the face from the knight 1:02 samurai lands a hit to the hairline. If not fatal the force of the blow and the overwhelming amount of blood may debilitate the knight. 1:49 samurai redirects a strike from the knight, which opens up the knight's guard to land a strike to the right collarbone. 2:17 knight responded to the samurai's high guard by switching to the fool's guard (low guard). They clashed blades which canceled both opponents' attack momentum. Samurai chose to raise his guard to protect his head, while the knight decided to push for another attack, giving a cut to the samurai's right hand/arm. 2:47 samurai again redirects the knight's blade then landed the first blow to the head. The knight did land a hit to the head that the samurai could not have blocked. This exchange would've ended up in a double kill. It's hard to say but it seems like the fight was a draw.
@Christopher Jackson The guy has an anime icon and name, something tells me they're not objectively looking for the results of the match. They got confirmation bias, and are using one result to confirm their opinion, and tossing the rest. The match looks incredibly close, it's so cool to see two evenly skilled practitioners at work.
@@decespugliatorenucleare3780 have you ever punched and kicked a man in armor? It hurts a lot. Your hands and feet that is. They guy you're hitting will be fine.
This was so cool to see! It's fascinating how both styles have some similar techniques, but also wildly different approaches. The Italian Longsword practitioner is constantly moving and adjusting his stance, trying to find a new angle of attack, whereas the kendo practitioner is waiting and watching, trying to not overextend or show his hand too soon, especially after that nice hit his opponent got on him in the first exchange!
HerrGeneral since i train Kendo since 15 years, i can say that the style of the Kendoka is essential in Kendo: we say tht if you move to much and special in too big steps, you loose stability in your stand and possibilitys to react fast. For example: if youdo a big step forward and your feets are far from each other and the Opponent attacks, you are not able to change the direction of your move fast - youre damned to run into the opponents attack. So you try to keep your Body axis in a line and stay centered. And: moving too much will tell your Opponent what you will do next. The high ranked Kendokas are very good in attacking surprising from still standing. So yes, in Tournaments there is more moving, but not like the Italian Fencer did it. the moving would be smaller not so „nervous“, if you understand what i mean. My English ist not the best, but i hope you understand what i wanted to say.
As far as such competition is hard to set up, because Kendo and HEMA have such different tournament rulesets, this is by far the best video of such sparring I ever seen ;)
@@nagyzoli ya true that. But you can clearly see that the Kendo Fighter is used to one-strike-techniques where he either gets hit or lands a hit himself. While the hema fighter is more used to "actual swordplay" with follow-up-strikes and combination attacks. Which is probably due to the different rules in tournament. Kendo fighter does that too but much later on in the video. He is used to "hit and freeze" until referee tells who's point it is... i know this from tae kwon do and karate tournaments where it is the almost the same (or was when i was still training...) BUT this does not mean that one art is better than the other!!! The difference i mentioned is in tournaments. Not in a (🤣) "real streetfight situation" between a Templer Knight and a Samurai with the destination to kill to survive 🤪 So dont start hating, fanboys 😉
@@rumpelpumpel7687 I don't agree with that really. Kendo guy looks more comfortable in general and he actually gets himself out of the way when he attacks. HEMA guy lunges in with his feet completely off balance and just reacts and has no feet. HEMA guy often doesn't commit with an attack and pushes his sword out front and then leaves it there for a long time hoping it's in the way of his opponent (same sort of thing untrained people do with their hands in a fight.). It works half the time because Kendo guy is flinching but HEMA guy flinches preemptively, he's flinching before even he attacks. Watch Kendo guy carefully, after he attacks (he often throws combinations if his attack misses.) he quickly moves his feet either off the side or runs straight in while using his sword to try and occupy HEMA guy's sword. That's defence, if you've thrown your strikes you then need to employ some sort of defensive strategy, ideally not one where you stick your weapon out and hope for the best. I think really good practitioners of Kendo will have an advantage because of their experience. More confident, better understanding of fighting fundamentals, a lot less flinching.
Despite the differences, this just goes to show how much thought there is to each movement! Don’t matter if it’s western or eastern, sword fighting is just so bad ass!
I'm Phil Swift, and I chopped this man in half! Wow, that's a LOT of damage!! Watch me fix him with new flesh colored Flex Tape! Now he's ready for a night on the town, and looks good as new!
Much as I thought. When you have two trained and skilled practitioners it basically becomes a bit of a 50/50 proposition. More down to the skill of the fighter(s) and what happens in the moment, rather than any style.
Ok, so basically picking a style is more about your aesthetic preference then, since it is such an even playing field, though if one had a longer weapon this would be a very different thing, like a trained spearman vs a katana is a completely unfair matchup lol
@@GoblinLord polearm >> sword any day. The spear is the most common and successful single weapon in history for the exact reason that you do not need to be master with it to use it well.
@@horsemumbler1 the shape of the head strangly indicates an octopus even if the number of arms is not correct, might be a mutation or it jsut lost some limbs
@@patriciusvunkempen102 You've obviously never seen an actual octopus, if you think that. Only squids have that sort of pointed shape to their heads. The octopus has an amorphous blob for a head.
"Please count the limbs on the aquatic invertebrate pictured in the emblem". Squid, octopi and cuttlefish all have eight limbs, so what will counting them tell us?
As a traditional martial arts guy, I must insist that they play "Princes of the Universe" by Queen. I would represent Duncan MacCleod, immortal who washed up on the shore of Japan after a shipwreck in the 1700s and was taught Jujitsu and Kenjitsu by an actual samurai in feudal Japan, and was given one of his katanas upon his death. Highlander is such an awesome show. It came out when I was high school and I watched it all the time. :) (if you're not familiar, Highlander the Series is about Duncan MacCleod, an Immortal who was born in the highlands of Scotland in 1592 and was still alive in 1992. Immortals live forever without aging, and they regenerate from wounds quickly. The only way to kill them is to cut off their head, so they all have to learn martial arts and sword fighting. Duncan MacCleod started out as a rough edged Han Solo type of guy, but as the centuries passed and he learned more martial arts and gained life experience, he became more sophisticated, and when we find him in 1992, he's a refined gentleman, now more of a Luke Skywalker type like myself, who deals in antique fine art in Seattle and has a hot French girlfriend. His girlfriend is mortal but knows about the Immortals. It's based on the movie Highlander from the late 80s and has the theme song that Queen wrote for the movie, Princes of the Universe. ua-cam.com/video/ypyvcfnu4Gg/v-deo.html )
What I found really interesting watching the two is that the HEMA practitioner kept shifting their weight and moving their feet in the spaces between exchanges, whereas the Kendo practitioner was almost statue-like at times, but still moved lightning fast when necessary. I wonder which of the two for footwork alone is more beneficial.
should have moved diagonally and circled - force any footwork deficiencies to reveal itself. Two handers have reduced reach to the bottom hand side so that´s the direction of circling. Ref. Lee Norris fight in Return of The Dragon. Classic karate strong wide stance vs mobility of JKD.
@@kaialoha Circling outside of the execution of a particular technique isn't that valuable. It takes more effort for a person to circle than it does for the person being circled to track them and realign themselves.
Like other martial artist. Its comment like boxing. With HEMAs bouncing footwork his opponent could predict his rhythm. But if the hema practitioner used the bouncing footwork with feints he can be an unpredictable fighter
The hema bouncing is similar to fie fencing (lots of fie practitioners also train hema), boxing, and middle eastern disciplines. It can help use the energy of the steps to change direction very quickly, lul the opponent into a pattern of rhythm, and keeps blood circulation even to extremities. Being more still can help calm the senses, regain breath/strength, and reduce tunnel vision without giving away your tactical plan. It also can Intimidate.
Just from a HEMA perspective, footwork is very personal. Some folks like to move around - I prefer to remain still and conserve my energy. The masters do instruct when it is advisable to step and not (the Lichtenauer Zettal is extremely firm on the point that a cut without a pass is FALSE AND INCORRECT), but given we're working from a tradition from 1400 (Fiore D'Liberi) to well into the 1570s (Meyer), across the entirity of central Europe and beyond, variation is to be expected
I'm Italian and I am happy to see that something remained intact of my culture and I feel italian longsword is wonderful in its elegance and precision. That said I admit to myself I prefer the japanese style, not in effectiveness, but merely in beauty. Thr concept of not wasting and of total control has a too great fascination for me. It is a side of the way of the warrior that we western often left unexplored.
It's so nice to see a video like this that isn't some click-baity "HEMA PWNZ SAMURAI" video where the "kendoka" is just another HEMA fencer with a very basic approximation of what they think kendo looks like.
I remember one time a I saw a HEMA vs Kendo Video where the kendo guy had a sword the size of his arm and the HEMA guy had a sword the length of his body.
I remember watching a Kendo vs Hema video which was the other way around, where the Kendo dude was a master and the Hema guy was a newbie. It happens, which is why we need these type of videos where you can see both styles at almost equal level.
@@ExtremeDeathman not really "funny" - kendo was a stylized, competitive distillation of kenjutsu, introduced in the Meiji era as a sport. It's closer spiritually to Olympic fencing than either kenjutsu or HEMA.
My respect, I have seen several other videos where guys literally try make the Kendoka look bad and claim to be an experienced individual in Kendo. Whenever I saw them move, it was disgusting, easy to see that they hadn't even practiced at all and dare claim they are black belts. I'm glad this time the HEMA and Kendoka are both well trained in their own styles. It was truly beautiful and magnificent.
Just so you know kendo doesnt have belts so the moment you see someone saying they are black belt in kendo know that they are full of it. We have grades starting from 6th kyu to 1st kyu, you then go from 1st dan to 8th dan (there previously was 9th and 10th dan but they have stopped examining these grades)
@@alexandersmith1264 i thought the highest was 8th dan. And i might have said it wrong. I do Kummooyeh (Korean sword art) which can be done in tournaments ( local). We use the same system as you mentioned. Except we do it with colors. Then you get a black belt with two white stripes after 8 years of training, that belt indicates that you are preparing for the first dan. And then you keep on growing until 8th dan.
Can we just stop for a moment and appreciate the fact that Humphries managed to pull off a kote-kaeshi-men here ? That stuff is hard enough to pull on regular kendo shiai, where the opponent's moves are more predictable, imagine doing that against a HEMA practitioner. Kudos to both.
@@carltomacruz9138 The kote-kaeshi-men? In kendo we break down strikes to generally be either shikake waza (initiating the strike) or oji waza (responsive strikes, i.e. counter attacks), in oji waza there are some other sub groups, in this case the counters, suriage and kaeshi waza, so counters when the attack is deflected and a counter attack made to either the same side or opposite side respectively. So kote-kaeshi-men is meant to be an opponent attacks the wrist and the kendoka responds by parrying and then coming around to the opposite side to strike the head.
@@doctorwho90909 I believe they are, if you slow it down further it is a kote-suriage-men. My shinai stays to his right but looks like it crosses over because of the guard.
I like how this fight really makes there styles stand out so much. Kendo is more attack with speed and commitment, even if it leads to exchange hits. Hema is more defence and counter and won't commit most of the time if they have no leverage over the opponent.
Personal perspective: I think there's a "performer's bias" in a lot of Eastern martial arts, where how it looks in front of a crowd can be just as important, if not more important, than its actual function in combat. I think this is why Eastern martial arts is genuinely more popular than HEMA, because HEMA seems to focus more on the "kill the other guy without being killed yourself" stuff, while Eastern martial arts is more about being able to entertain a crowd by looking really cool while fighting someone.
@@cerebraldreams4738 actually kendo is based on the same spirit of "kill the other guy without being killed yourself", just differently implemented based on different weapons and cultural settings (rules and regulations on duels in peace time since the 17th century, etc.) it also has to do with the teaching methods in kendo or most eastern martial arts, where fundamentals are so stressed, so much so a kendoka will spend the first few months swinging in the air or against a target before actual fighting, and are taught to do the most basic and no fancy stuffs in those fights, until years and years later when advanced techniques are actually taught or learned. One of the fundamentals is the spirit of "not fearing the death and commit to the strike", because in the Japanese mindset that is the biggest chance of survival. It does not mean blindly attacking the opponent with just courage and bravery. Not fearing death is very different from having the faith in the winning moment that you see. But without the spirit of not fearing the death, there is no chance of survival in an actual duel, where the opponent is holding a real sword that cuts you, not a bamboo sword. I say this because I am a beginner and I am the one who bluntly commits to my strikes against higher tier kendoka and I can clearly see the difference between me being blindly committed, and them being much much more committed in their strikes, but they are also patient, fast, smart, and also having perfect defense before the moment comes.
@@RF-xj1ejShinkage-ryu, the koryu which gave us the original shinai, at least so far as I am familiar with it (I only train kendo) has its beginners only train shikake waza; oji-waza is reserved for (approx.) yondan and beyond with the understanding that beginners will lack a technical grasp of seme until they can attack without thinking. Kendo is similar, seme and oji waza are not required until the yondan exam, kuzushi and shikake waza are enough. The defensive strategy in kendo as I understand it is that you read your opponent and stuff their attack in preparation: active not reactive. Many of us without enough shiai experience, abd dare I say isshu-jiai experience become stuck in seito-ha (correct kendo) path and become yariyasui (predictable). Seme shouldn't only work exclusively against proper exam kendo.
This just shows; there is no superior "way of the sword", only different dialects of the same language. This is merely two men having a conversation, as equals
That was actually amazing. Their movements were so smooth and determined. Nice feints, quick reactions and powerful attacks. They stood like rocks, flowed like water and struck like thunder. Really awesome fight. I was holding my breath a couple of times.
Finally! A trained kendo fighter. Usually in fights like this, they make one of the HEMA fighters use katana and say "try to move like in kendo", and dominate him completly with longsword.
@Johannes Liechtenauer If I had to fight with my doppleganger 100 times, but I had a longsword and he had a katana... yeah, I would probably win 65-35.
Sorry, but the otherwise is true for the most part. Many videos about longsword are used by people who know little about HEMA. They know nothing about grappling, foible, and taunts yet they try to slash like they are using a katana. Like those you see in Katana vs Longsword comparation video.
Kendo should always lose to HEMA. Kendo is not a sword fighting style, it is a sport. Pretty much you have 3 kind of cuts and a stab and that is it. (There are some veriations and techniques obviously, but they exist only so you can do one of your 3 cuts or 1 stab). In order to learn how to fight with a katana, you need to master Iaido (how to draw and kill in a single fully controlled cut), kendo (how to react perfectly to everything your oponent does) and kenjutsu (actual sword schools that teach you sword techniques). Please keep in mind that most kenjutsu schools are outdated and they cannot teach you real sword fighting so mastering the katana is almost impossible in our current age as none of the above can prepare you to a real life and death duel mentaly. Even if you have the skill can you kill? The avarage "swordsman" would freeze in the moment of the fatal blow and end up dead by the other fighter who does not hesitate.
@@roberth4395 Good point. I never thought that any of that japanese fencing is bad, although, there is lot of limitations that actually keeps lot of practicioners away from being good fencers.
@@roberth4395 i think kendo and fencers are way more deadly than HEMA fanboys give them credit for. its like saying "oh, boxers should always lose to X. they are super limited in techniques. only punching and thats it" but the reality is they are for sure legit fighters. same as BJJ practitioners "they dont punch, their posture is for striking, they dont kick" but can almos guaranteed make a knot out of most fighters they get a hold on. Sure sports limit the art range wise, but the technical level develops and the "fat" of the techniques are trimmed off. Can you for sure say the HEMA practitioner can, indeed, defend succesfully from the lunge of a fencer or the strike of a kendoka everytime? i dont think so. "HEMA could counter and double hit" maybe. but that wont make him less dead or disabled (and the points the respective sports aim for are super inhabilitating. punctured lung or heart will make you drop instantly. neck the same, and brain... you know the roll).
@@roberth4395 i would even dare say a wrestler has a chance, if instructed on the basics of parrying and guards, to beat HEMA practitioners far more experienced than the wrestler by parrying on the shoot in, grab, and the HEMA guy would be done for. theres no such thing as "always lose" when talking about combat sports.
@@vittocrazi grapling, throwing your enemy to the ground to execute is part of sword fighting. A grapler vs a swordsman would lose in a single strike. The swordsman wod have the reach and a single stab would kill the wrestler.
It's so amazing to see two different techniques from different countries clashed together. Young generation should appreciate these historical techniques used long ago.
Kudos to you both! Testing your skills against another combat discipline is such a great way to grow as a fighter, and thank you for sharing the video!
Maybe one day or in some of our next edits, but you could probably catch the best cuts where we did the slow motion, and to really slow it down switch the youtube playback in settings to 0.25 speed, that should help :)
The kendoka seems to be intimidated by the initial thrust. I think he should have taken advantage of the weight of the shinai to do more and longer flurries of sayumen. He's probably a bit worried the thrust would happen again if he approaches head-on. (Maybe the kendoka are determined to hit the normal kendo score area with rigorous form which is required in kendo to score. It is much harder to do when the opponent not only has a longer sword but can thrust at will) I think the kendoka could definitely use more kote (our beloved hand snipes) and be more mobile in general, use that speed and reflex to his advantage. Men can also be used as a punish to careless advance from the hema practitioner with a bit of pause. At best you score 3 points in hema term or ippon in kendo term at worse you simply double each other, which is more advantageous to the kendo player regardless of the ruleset. The HEMA practationer used footwork nicely. Probably knowing that kendo is a relatively linear system, go around is definitely a better choice to sneak hit in and avoid the attack. However, I was hoping the HEMA practitioner could use the weight of the nylon longsword to do more binding to suppress the shinai. I can't comment on other specific moves as I know nothing about fiore, as a kdf student I was hoping to see a zwerch when the kendoka go into high guard or just more krumpau in general to the kamae stance. But then again the kendoka is going to catch up the game pretty quickly and try to bait the krump out and punish it with a men.
Very well made observation! Yeah, I was trying to stay true to Fiore, so no zwerchs or krumps were made. Binding would have definitely worked, however its annoying to try to bind against wood with a flimsy synthetic. So I was trying not to bind, as it is such unrealistic feel between the wasters used.
@@philswiftHEMA I started with the same synthetic you used, I know how much of a pain it is, many of my senior fencers refuse even to touch it nowadays, Which is why I have to say the level you fought with it really speaks volumes of your skill.
As well, Fiore trends towards staying lower, as he was a shorter man than Lichtenauer, if the art in the manuscript is anything to go by. Using a tutta volta is still a very useful trick in most fights. Though I was surprised that it didn't get used much.
@@philswiftHEMA Great job highlighting Fiore!!! The change of guards was excellent and the footwork made sense. Kendo has some quick hits on the head and wrist. That is why blade control could be a huge advantage to you. He had good centralisation and I thought some feints might have thrown him. It seems like Kendo is quick and really commits to the target. Against Kendo I like what I call a Blink cut! OR when I cut with a flanking step I will turn it into a thrust - Straight if they don't resist or into what I call an ox thrust if they do resist, hinging over their blade. I really like the use of Guards on all three levels. The change of angles was great and your timing was excellent. Loved that opening hit !!! Looking back how would you guard your head and control the high line better? Cheers from Australia
As a person who just discovered HEMA today(previously I only know fencing)..this fight with Kendo guy really give me goosebumps..plus the epic music and shit. Both guys know their stuff
This is a great video, both of them are well trained and I like when twi styles fight each other with this level of respect for his oponent and this level of skill
He did improve in the second video! He definitely took my lunch money :) We are located on a the remote island of Newfoundland, and both of us are the only experienced swords fencers besides the modern sport fencers, and so for him to improve he has to take online classes or fly out for lessons.
I mean Miyamoto Musashi beat skilled opponents with wooden sticks while they held steel.. Miyamoto was probably the best duelist to ever live that was recorded imo
Yeah, that is exactly what it was. Hema was trying to fake, feint, and intimidate, and the Kendo was buying none of it and did not flinch, just putting on a poker face.
I love how the Kendo person makes that sound before a fight. It must be pretty intimidating to come up against someone yelling like that back in the day. Same with if you were used to people yelling and came up against the HEMA guy who is just silent. What awesome martial arts
0:51 made me flinch. I can't imagine there's anything to stop the blade going right through one of the eye slots in the helmet in the case of a direct hit.
I enjoyed watching this, I respect both ways very much and would very much love to find a place to study both I've done mostly hand to hand stuff for about 20 years but have never had much exposure to weapon based arts like this it would be a fun new adventure despite getting older
A lot of people mock Kendo-ka's warcry without sufficient knowledge about it. Open-minded sword practitioner will understand the purpose and power of kiai (warcry). It is hard to describe in short words. However, high skilled practioner in any sword art will understand and never underestimate its potential. And the HEMA person also did his warcry in his way, but not as obvious as Kendo-ka. If you want to understand how it works in simple way, try throw a heavy ball overhead really hard without exhale, then try again with shouting or exhaling hard.
This looks like two practitioners of distinctly different martial arts willing to cross swords to practice what they've trained and to learn. Thank you very much for making and sharing this video!
This is cool. As a person who practices hema I have a deep respect for kendo and other Japanese martial arts. Although I don’t know much about them I can tell they that it is a very advanced complex martial art as well. I see people who do kendo and hema take this so seriously when no one respects each other martial arts which is Retarted.
I am a former professional player who has been training kendo for 9 years. It's a relief that both sides seem to have met at the right level, but to be honest, they seem very slow and beginner.
Lowered and tucked aside kensen, surely the kendoka should have been on that like a flash. Kendoka should be pushing the opponent with many passes and not letting him rest. Hema are used to going into stances and waiting, disrupt that!
I love the distinction in styles personified in people who haven't cross trained, like he is strictly kendo and he is strictly hema. Kendo is more lax patient and precise. While hema is more aggressive, brutal made for clashing head on. As in history in terms of geology and battle the kendo style relied on weak nipton steel katanas and such while hema had forges steel. Swords of European descent made to clash blades and slame and murder and devestate vs the Asian descent blade made to be use as little as possible for it is only to be use to kill fast in duels and the techniques made was that for dueling. A dueling style made for a precise delicate blade or atleast delicate compared to other swords vs a style made for strong swords made to clash in all out war. You can see the skill in both styles as both adapt to each other's style more and more despite each other advantages and disadvantages. A real good show of skill on behalf of both these swords men a real good display. They show case the discipline with justice on both styles.
you are VERY misinformed. "lax, patient and precise"? hema more agressive? have you seen kendo? THATS agressiveness and commitment into attacks. And in a duel you are preserving your life first and your weapon second. and sure, katanas are no lightsabers, but they are not flower petals either. Heavy duty cutting machines are still being produced with the same principle of hard edge protected by tough body (axes also are built this way, and they take A LOT of abuse). Both weapons were made for the same purpose, at the endo of the day: fighting.
@@vittocrazi as a hema practitioner i can say hema is way more aggressive, i do Italian fencing, alot if deflection and top strikes are shown and practice and shown, a odachi or katana isn't made to take alot of damage like European sword, an arming sword can hit a heater shield or a kite shield and or the gaurd or flat of another blade for hours on end with little to negligible damage as most European swords are made for such punishment going from rapier to gladius to broadsword and ziehanders, kendo is made to be done in a few moves to preserve the blade, most moves for hema if you're dueling will try to encourage you to stop and end a bout in a few hits but usually last longer in application to sparring. Kendo against hema require more patience and precision as with the weapon and armor from Europe whether brigadine or just basic chain mail gives the user flexibility and leeway to not be as precise and or inexperienced as more soldier were back then and still be effective hence why pole arms are so effective while training in archery or with a katana or odachi takes years of practice as you have a distinct disadvantage with no hand gaurd and a weaker blade integrity and only a singular cutting side it's not misinformed it's experience, i would any day take a rapier or a short sword and buckler against anyone with a bastard sword then to use a katana or odachi because of how difficult it is to use against a European sword effectively and realistically
Kendo is far more aggressive. It isn't fencing, and we aren't meant to focus on defence but to pursue offensive pressure, seme, and attack. Kendoka pick up defence later to help them in tournaments. Or in short, we do drills of head cuts, wrist cuts over and over, but don't learn "blocks" or fencing's parries.
I wonder too. Their dojo site says he's been practicing since 2014, which doesn't seem like a long time for kendo. Though since kendo isn't too well known in the area he might be as good as it gets there, which is perfectly respectable imo.
@@verybarebones We are pretty isolated with regards to kendo, the next nearest dojo is another province. So practice can be a challenge, though as I mentioned I did grade and attend a taikai so that gave me a lot of valuable experience.
@@Veepee92 Kendo only currently. We have looked at it, but we've no one proficient in it to instruct, we did have a kendoka join once who had trained in it but moved shortly after. We're hoping to include seitei iaido.
And you forget that kendo is theater and pretend- sword play invented by people who lost all sword fighting traditions and invented something with random rudimentary rules and lots of pageantry.
@@agnidas5816 no, even tho unarmed martial arts are my main thing (specially grappling arts like Judo, i practice Judo since i was 4), i have practiced Kendo and know some of ti's history and you are stating wrong facts. The rules are all justified and it has it's roots in Ken-Jutsu the sword martial art that almost every samurai practiced, not every samurai tho, as some practiced Aiki-Jujutsu, others practiced Tenshin Ryu (i also practiced that one), and others practiced Musashi's Hyōhō Niten Ichi-ryū.
Noone will probably find this comment, but the thing i love most about this fight is oddly the moments where "nothing" is happening; the moments of intense pressure, both opponents tryong to find a way through the others defense, all that tension.
Well done guys, I enjoyed the that. Its great to see some proper guarding. I know the plastic is a nuisance to bind with and too flexible, great as a starting tool. 👍
What a refreshing high quality sparring session between 2 different styles but more importantly 2 practitioners who are highly skilled in their own art form.
the samurai: *parrying with the flat of his sword to protect the hard and vulnerable edge* the knight: *going for edge to edge combat cus his sword is monosteel* the samurai: YUUoiUUUiYOOOO the knight: *laughs in divine protection from the Lord*
Sure, it can, but the kata of kendo do teach you to use the flats of the blade. The blade of a katana is a bit thicker to facilitate a more pronounced flat section for that very purpose. The poor quality of native Japanese steel was sidestepped by folding the steel, and then warriors developed ways of getting around the major disadvantages of that. Gotta love human ingenuity. Oh, and he may laugh in his Christian protection, but a samurai will always confidently know the same level of protection from the Kami Hachiman.
@@alexanonimo6876 i think the purpose in blocking with the flat is son the opponents blade actually deflects, and dont bind, to allow for faster counter, not really about preserving the blade since, really, your number one concern when you get in a swordfight should be getting out with the least ammount of damage possible. and about the folding of the steel... its funny since it is the same principle as the damascus steel, only following a different pattern. and damascus steel was highly regarded. so folded steel must have been really decent for the time.
No, it's a technique regularly taught in many Japanese fencing styles designed to preserve the sword. It isn't flattamastrong nonsense, just an example of "here is what you should ideally be doing" sort of technique. A traditional tamahagane katana's edge is very brittle, and while the bottom half of the edge would be left dull specifically for the purpose of using it to parry or bind, that was far less ideal in the particular philosophy of Japanese fencing. The very techniques that avoid excessive damage to the blade do not necessarily put the fencer into a position where he instead would be taking damage. Watch this video of this match between a skilled kendoka and a skilled HEMA longswordsman, and you'll see the patient, more static approach of the kendoka that itself evolved from a need to preserve their extremely-expensive and easily-ruined swords. A European sword, on the other hand, could take such abuse far more gracefully and be more easily repaired, and thus you see a bit more dynamism in movement, a greater readiness to occupy space, to dominate lines, and to be ready to cross swords. Damascus steel was also very different, and the exact means by which it was created has been lost. One of the prime differences is that it uses Wootz steel, an extremely high-quality steel. Antique examples of Damascus swords have been found to have carbon nanotubes floating in their matrices, it is insane. Folding steel, however, is only worth it when the steel sucks. You lose carbon with the folds, and the very point of those folds is to put steel of different levels of hardness into strategic parts of the blade to allow for sharp, strong edges, and flexible cores and backs. It essentially repositions what steel there is to be had into the best possible places. It is ingenious, but it is also why the damned things are fairly fragile. What most "damascus" knives and swords are these days are actually pattern-welded, a technique that was extremely popular in the Migration Period of Europe, which is somewhat similar, and is, again, useless and even counterproductive if you have good steel to begin with. Two rods of iron are twisted together, and then flat iron plates are welded on in the smithing process to become the edges, essentially. Beautiful, ingenious, the same general idea as folding, but also possessed of its faults.
@@alexanonimo6876 the thing is the european sword was super Fkn expensive as well (think of about buying a truck). They also had various qualities of steel, and thus swords. and their "monosteel" was nowhere near what we have now. the combination of different grades of steel, and folding is a solution for the lack of technology to produce fully homogenous, predictable steel (wich, at the time, was super duper difficult). and i did read sources stating that, during battle, european swords would bend... and stay bent. so the soldiers had to straighten them back (not so tempered steel like).
Very refreshing. Far too often these kinds of comparisons end with the video maker screeching out how this was proof his system is the greatest fighting style ever conceived by man.
Though I totally agree with you, if I had binded more or hung out in Posta di Longa, and Punta/thrust with gaining, I would've done really well. However, I didn't want to game the match, so I wasn't trying to "win". I wanted to try different approaches and see how my opponent would react in their style. It was more an exchange rather than a competition.
As a 3 Dan Itto-Ryu practitioner, it really makes me happy to see it hold up to something like HEMA. What a beautiful display of swordsmanship from both of them!
It’s so great to see one of these videos where the participants actually have even skill levels. Half the time these videos are of 2 Hema guys sparring and one of them just happens to have a katana.
Much better than the standard HEMA vs "Kendo" videos, but you should really find a dan-level practitioner for a true comparison. The kendoka is ikkyu (a beginner's rank.) He knows the basic postures and strikes but hasn't really learned how to put them together yet.
To be fair, I'm a HEMA Alliance certified instructor but for mainly Rapier. I actually have yet to compete with Longsword. So, Longsword is still somewhat new to me because of my lack of bouting experience.
@@philswiftHEMA That's reasonable, but the main point is not on technique (his fundamentals are sound) but bouting experience. The central principle of Itto-Ryu (and thus Kendo) is that of seme, or "pressuring" your opponent. You absolutely cannot stand still and wait to react, particularly if your opponent has a longer weapon -- which is mostly what I'm seeing here. That's something that's drilled into your head at Dan level and above, where at kyu level it is mostly, "is your strike straight?" That's my point, mainly. I assume that as a HEMA certified instructor, you've had ample bouting time, even if in another weapon.
What this video does for me is demonstrate that the lines of attack are key, and each style's discipline defines itself working around these natural lines.
Based on my observation. Kendo emphasizes spacing while Longsword school focuses on angles. Kendo has more non-restricted footwork because the power of the strikes are generated by the whole upper body. This allows for quick and snappy single edged attacks that takes the quickest path to the target. Longsword school has lead foot and back foot because longsword attacks leverages on footwork, the upper body needs to be flexible in order to make twisting strikes at unpredictable angles.
Hey brother! the Pants come from High Hill Pants, which is made in Spain. You can find my review of them on my channel. Granted it was a super old review before I got better at doing review videos lol.
I was very disappointed to learn this wasn't an ad for FlexTape HEMA gear.
The gear that stops sword cuts fast
What did you expect? Phil swift cut a boat in half with a longsword?
@@dolsopolar yes
Same tbh
Same
It's great to finally see a HEMA vs. Kendo video where both combatants are equally skilled and where the styles are very distinct (as compared to some videos where combatants obviously cross-train).
I've been watching Long sword and sword and dagger hema techniques lately and i was really surprised how similiar they where to techniques i've learned in Aikido. Specially some joint locks and throws where almost the same 🤣 almost as if europeans and asians had the same Body mechanics 😂
But yes, the way to use a sword is kinda different from Japan to Europe.
Kendo was never used for battle. It's a sport, whose aim is to score points. Hardly a fair comparison...
@@ExtremeDeathman HEMA is a sport too... scored with points.
@@etherealicer I think they're talking about how Hema is focused on historical combat, while Kendo is PURELY formed on point scoring, cause it's like, just because you touch the opponent first doesn't mean you struck a good blow, there is a goal difference as far as I can tell, now Kendo I feel like was based off of Iaido which I believe was used in battle so the point is still moot but HEMA as far as I can tell is purely based on Historical Fighting techniques being taught in a modern setting
@@GoblinLord in kendo you don't score by touching the opponent but by strucking a good blow. It's not like fencing. But yes, definetely it's a sport. And the historical martial art it's based on is Kenjutsu. Iaido is somthing different. You have to take the saber, strike, remove the blood and replace the blade in the scabbard in a codified way.
Damn, these new For Honor updates are really looking good
Goddam delayed 400ms lights spam
*laughs in hyper Armour*
Grrreee quepita!!
Sue taiter
Topaz *warden vs orochi
when realistic mods get out of hand...
Turtleling is still a problem :P
Nobody:
Kendo guy: YUOOOOOOOOOIIOOOO
hema guy: *adjusts stance*
Edit: I think you Guy's are taking this comment to seriously I went through a stage when I was obsessed with Japanese martial art's too soo I'm quite aware why the kendo guy is shouting and as a person who practices HEMA I know why he adjust stances (to seize the space around him and look for opening's) and especially considering the kendo "guy" hold's his stances much longer then the HEMA "guy" keep in mind: "one hit you're out". So in this situation what they were doing is extremely rational and you Guy's have a taught me a lot about why he "shouts" so I'm actually very grateful to you people and am indeed respectful of you're knowledge however, I thought I needed to clarify I'm not just some guy who spends 15 hours a day online doing nothing and have actually practised HEMA for about 1 and a half years now I'm incredibly sorry if this comment caused irrational dispute and conflict and I hope you find it in you're hearts to forgive me and apologize to others you might of otherwise have offended.
My humble apology
- "some random dude who likes knights "
Kendo guy: YUOOO
HEMA guy: *whispers* Fuckin' weeb
Soulja boy
@OmteZero HEMA guy: shuffles around to warm up and to confuse the opponent where he will go and strike
Kendo guy: Shouts like he is in an anime
OmteZero shouting can’t clear your mind
@Vayne Carudas Solidor i think he did a bit fairly tbh
Commentator Highlight Reel:
0:52 fatal stab to the face from the knight
1:02 samurai lands a hit to the hairline. If not fatal the force of the blow and the overwhelming amount of blood may debilitate the knight.
1:49 samurai redirects a strike from the knight, which opens up the knight's guard to land a strike to the right collarbone.
2:17 knight responded to the samurai's high guard by switching to the fool's guard (low guard). They clashed blades which canceled both opponents' attack momentum. Samurai chose to raise his guard to protect his head, while the knight decided to push for another attack, giving a cut to the samurai's right hand/arm.
2:47 samurai again redirects the knight's blade then landed the first blow to the head. The knight did land a hit to the head that the samurai could not have blocked. This exchange would've ended up in a double kill.
It's hard to say but it seems like the fight was a draw.
I mean, the kendo guy came out ahead without getting hit in one instance. Doesn't really sound like too much of a draw to me.
A very even bout indeed. Entertaining and educational, both.
@Christopher Jackson The guy has an anime icon and name, something tells me they're not objectively looking for the results of the match. They got confirmation bias, and are using one result to confirm their opinion, and tossing the rest.
The match looks incredibly close, it's so cool to see two evenly skilled practitioners at work.
why don't the kick and punch each other??
@@decespugliatorenucleare3780 have you ever punched and kicked a man in armor? It hurts a lot. Your hands and feet that is. They guy you're hitting will be fine.
“Phil Swift”
That’s a lotta damage!
Found you.
Ikr? I also thought that for a moment. I wonder hiw he feels about sharing a name with a meme.
Flex sword!!!
@@zubayeerahmed3801 It even works underwater!
@@thelouster5815 and to prove it I cut a man in half!!
This was so cool to see! It's fascinating how both styles have some similar techniques, but also wildly different approaches. The Italian Longsword practitioner is constantly moving and adjusting his stance, trying to find a new angle of attack, whereas the kendo practitioner is waiting and watching, trying to not overextend or show his hand too soon, especially after that nice hit his opponent got on him in the first exchange!
In fairness a more tournament orientated/experienced kendoka would definitely move a bit more, but it's still an interesting viewing :)
@@HerrGeneral I've finally got some taikai experience under my belt so v2.0 may be a bit more gritty :)
@@airbornenewfie Yes! Please, more of this will be highly appreciated.
All that jumping around didn't gain him much, the kendoka remained calm and parried nearly every blow in the flurries.
HerrGeneral since i train Kendo since 15 years, i can say that the style of the Kendoka is essential in Kendo: we say tht if you move to much and special in too big steps, you loose stability in your stand and possibilitys to react fast. For example: if youdo a big step forward and your feets are far from each other and the Opponent attacks, you are not able to change the direction of your move fast - youre damned to run into the opponents attack.
So you try to keep your Body axis in a line and stay centered.
And: moving too much will tell your Opponent what you will do next. The high ranked Kendokas are very good in attacking surprising from still standing. So yes, in Tournaments there is more moving, but not like the Italian Fencer did it. the moving would be smaller not so „nervous“, if you understand what i mean. My English ist not the best, but i hope you understand what i wanted to say.
As far as such competition is hard to set up, because Kendo and HEMA have such different tournament rulesets, this is by far the best video of such sparring I ever seen ;)
I think they kept it bare metal. Any hit is a hit and just have fun. They did not bothered with specific rules
@@nagyzoli ya, but also there is good video quality and quite pure, visible technique, and good video lenght :)
@@nagyzoli ya true that. But you can clearly see that the Kendo Fighter is used to one-strike-techniques where he either gets hit or lands a hit himself. While the hema fighter is more used to "actual swordplay" with follow-up-strikes and combination attacks. Which is probably due to the different rules in tournament. Kendo fighter does that too but much later on in the video. He is used to "hit and freeze" until referee tells who's point it is... i know this from tae kwon do and karate tournaments where it is the almost the same (or was when i was still training...)
BUT this does not mean that one art is better than the other!!!
The difference i mentioned is in tournaments. Not in a (🤣) "real streetfight situation" between a Templer Knight and a Samurai with the destination to kill to survive 🤪
So dont start hating, fanboys 😉
@@rumpelpumpel7687 I don't agree with that really. Kendo guy looks more comfortable in general and he actually gets himself out of the way when he attacks.
HEMA guy lunges in with his feet completely off balance and just reacts and has no feet. HEMA guy often doesn't commit with an attack and pushes his sword out front and then leaves it there for a long time hoping it's in the way of his opponent (same sort of thing untrained people do with their hands in a fight.). It works half the time because Kendo guy is flinching but HEMA guy flinches preemptively, he's flinching before even he attacks.
Watch Kendo guy carefully, after he attacks (he often throws combinations if his attack misses.) he quickly moves his feet either off the side or runs straight in while using his sword to try and occupy HEMA guy's sword. That's defence, if you've thrown your strikes you then need to employ some sort of defensive strategy, ideally not one where you stick your weapon out and hope for the best.
I think really good practitioners of Kendo will have an advantage because of their experience. More confident, better understanding of fighting fundamentals, a lot less flinching.
@@7dayspking Would've been interesting to see the Kendo guy initiate an attack at least once. His defense is very good, but where's the offense?
Despite the differences, this just goes to show how much thought there is to each movement! Don’t matter if it’s western or eastern, sword fighting is just so bad ass!
this comment made me smile:D
I’ll be honest, I only clicked because of the name “Phil Swift” and I thought this was flex tap.
I swear it's the youtube algorithm.
I'm Phil Swift, and I chopped this man in half! Wow, that's a LOT of damage!! Watch me fix him with new flesh colored Flex Tape! Now he's ready for a night on the town, and looks good as new!
Same
Much as I thought. When you have two trained and skilled practitioners it basically becomes a bit of a 50/50 proposition. More down to the skill of the fighter(s) and what happens in the moment, rather than any style.
As far as I know, the kendo guy instantly won this match for his epic battle shout.
Ok, so basically picking a style is more about your aesthetic preference then, since it is such an even playing field, though if one had a longer weapon this would be a very different thing, like a trained spearman vs a katana is a completely unfair matchup lol
@@GoblinLord polearm >> sword any day. The spear is the most common and successful single weapon in history for the exact reason that you do not need to be master with it to use it well.
@@semirrahge plus I'm 90% sure you can still use a shield soooo
If you were competing in one of these styles, you might be able to learn some tricks you can bring back with you.
seeing that one side has an asian symbol and the other one and octopus , i already fear the worst
LMAO!
@@horsemumbler1 the shape of the head strangly indicates an octopus even if the number of arms is not correct, might be a mutation or it jsut lost some limbs
@@patriciusvunkempen102
You've obviously never seen an actual octopus, if you think that. Only squids have that sort of pointed shape to their heads. The octopus has an amorphous blob for a head.
@@horsemumbler1 was the head pointed? then i have seen it wrong, i beg pardon
"Please count the limbs on the aquatic invertebrate pictured in the emblem".
Squid, octopi and cuttlefish all have eight limbs, so what will counting them tell us?
They do play this background music during the fight right, that’s not just edited in? I hope they do.
I hope not, that would be childish and lame.
As a traditional martial arts guy, I must insist that they play "Princes of the Universe" by Queen. I would represent Duncan MacCleod, immortal who washed up on the shore of Japan after a shipwreck in the 1700s and was taught Jujitsu and Kenjitsu by an actual samurai in feudal Japan, and was given one of his katanas upon his death.
Highlander is such an awesome show. It came out when I was high school and I watched it all the time. :)
(if you're not familiar, Highlander the Series is about Duncan MacCleod, an Immortal who was born in the highlands of Scotland in 1592 and was still alive in 1992. Immortals live forever without aging, and they regenerate from wounds quickly. The only way to kill them is to cut off their head, so they all have to learn martial arts and sword fighting. Duncan MacCleod started out as a rough edged Han Solo type of guy, but as the centuries passed and he learned more martial arts and gained life experience, he became more sophisticated, and when we find him in 1992, he's a refined gentleman, now more of a Luke Skywalker type like myself, who deals in antique fine art in Seattle and has a hot French girlfriend. His girlfriend is mortal but knows about the Immortals. It's based on the movie Highlander from the late 80s and has the theme song that Queen wrote for the movie, Princes of the Universe. ua-cam.com/video/ypyvcfnu4Gg/v-deo.html )
@@abstractfactory8068 I bet you're fun at parties
It actually just shows up when they walk into the ring.
@@MaestroAlvis Only at sex parties or covid19 parties.
What I found really interesting watching the two is that the HEMA practitioner kept shifting their weight and moving their feet in the spaces between exchanges, whereas the Kendo practitioner was almost statue-like at times, but still moved lightning fast when necessary. I wonder which of the two for footwork alone is more beneficial.
should have moved diagonally and circled - force any footwork deficiencies to reveal itself. Two handers have reduced reach to the bottom hand side so that´s the direction of circling. Ref. Lee Norris fight in Return of The Dragon. Classic karate strong wide stance vs mobility of JKD.
@@kaialoha Circling outside of the execution of a particular technique isn't that valuable. It takes more effort for a person to circle than it does for the person being circled to track them and realign themselves.
Like other martial artist. Its comment like boxing. With HEMAs bouncing footwork his opponent could predict his rhythm. But if the hema practitioner used the bouncing footwork with feints he can be an unpredictable fighter
The hema bouncing is similar to fie fencing (lots of fie practitioners also train hema), boxing, and middle eastern disciplines. It can help use the energy of the steps to change direction very quickly, lul the opponent into a pattern of rhythm, and keeps blood circulation even to extremities. Being more still can help calm the senses, regain breath/strength, and reduce tunnel vision without giving away your tactical plan. It also can Intimidate.
Just from a HEMA perspective, footwork is very personal. Some folks like to move around - I prefer to remain still and conserve my energy. The masters do instruct when it is advisable to step and not (the Lichtenauer Zettal is extremely firm on the point that a cut without a pass is FALSE AND INCORRECT), but given we're working from a tradition from 1400 (Fiore D'Liberi) to well into the 1570s (Meyer), across the entirity of central Europe and beyond, variation is to be expected
I'm Italian and I am happy to see that something remained intact of my culture and I feel italian longsword is wonderful in its elegance and precision. That said I admit to myself I prefer the japanese style, not in effectiveness, but merely in beauty. Thr concept of not wasting and of total control has a too great fascination for me.
It is a side of the way of the warrior that we western often left unexplored.
Swords are beautiful no matter what. Respect to the art of swords no matter what to me.
It's so nice to see a video like this that isn't some click-baity "HEMA PWNZ SAMURAI" video where the "kendoka" is just another HEMA fencer with a very basic approximation of what they think kendo looks like.
Agreed. Kendo fighter couldn't be more than 2nd dan (weak left leg, bad posture etc...)
I remember one time a I saw a HEMA vs Kendo Video where the kendo guy had a sword the size of his arm and the HEMA guy had a sword the length of his body.
I remember watching a Kendo vs Hema video which was the other way around, where the Kendo dude was a master and the Hema guy was a newbie.
It happens, which is why we need these type of videos where you can see both styles at almost equal level.
Funnily enough, no Samurai ever used kendo for battle. Their art was ken jutsu and they used bokken...
@@ExtremeDeathman not really "funny" - kendo was a stylized, competitive distillation of kenjutsu, introduced in the Meiji era as a sport. It's closer spiritually to Olympic fencing than either kenjutsu or HEMA.
My respect, I have seen several other videos where guys literally try make the Kendoka look bad and claim to be an experienced individual in Kendo. Whenever I saw them move, it was disgusting, easy to see that they hadn't even practiced at all and dare claim they are black belts.
I'm glad this time the HEMA and Kendoka are both well trained in their own styles. It was truly beautiful and magnificent.
Thank you, Please stay tuned for our second video!
I agree it was really well done. I loved how you could see the kendoka using the kendo style blocks to good effect.
i enjoy watching both not sure which is better i dont even know if thats even something that can be really proven considering the origins of both
Just so you know kendo doesnt have belts so the moment you see someone saying they are black belt in kendo know that they are full of it. We have grades starting from 6th kyu to 1st kyu, you then go from 1st dan to 8th dan (there previously was 9th and 10th dan but they have stopped examining these grades)
@@alexandersmith1264 i thought the highest was 8th dan. And i might have said it wrong. I do Kummooyeh (Korean sword art) which can be done in tournaments ( local). We use the same system as you mentioned. Except we do it with colors. Then you get a black belt with two white stripes after 8 years of training, that belt indicates that you are preparing for the first dan. And then you keep on growing until 8th dan.
Can we just stop for a moment and appreciate the fact that Humphries managed to pull off a kote-kaeshi-men here ? That stuff is hard enough to pull on regular kendo shiai, where the opponent's moves are more predictable, imagine doing that against a HEMA practitioner. Kudos to both.
In English, please.
Please stay tuned for our second video! Lots of great Kendo footage from Humphries!
@@carltomacruz9138 The kote-kaeshi-men? In kendo we break down strikes to generally be either shikake waza (initiating the strike) or oji waza (responsive strikes, i.e. counter attacks), in oji waza there are some other sub groups, in this case the counters, suriage and kaeshi waza, so counters when the attack is deflected and a counter attack made to either the same side or opposite side respectively. So kote-kaeshi-men is meant to be an opponent attacks the wrist and the kendoka responds by parrying and then coming around to the opposite side to strike the head.
@Ramash440 are you talking about the exchange at about 1:47?
@@doctorwho90909 I believe they are, if you slow it down further it is a kote-suriage-men. My shinai stays to his right but looks like it crosses over because of the guard.
I like how this fight really makes there styles stand out so much. Kendo is more attack with speed and commitment, even if it leads to exchange hits.
Hema is more defence and counter and won't commit most of the time if they have no leverage over the opponent.
Personal perspective: I think there's a "performer's bias" in a lot of Eastern martial arts, where how it looks in front of a crowd can be just as important, if not more important, than its actual function in combat. I think this is why Eastern martial arts is genuinely more popular than HEMA, because HEMA seems to focus more on the "kill the other guy without being killed yourself" stuff, while Eastern martial arts is more about being able to entertain a crowd by looking really cool while fighting someone.
@@cerebraldreams4738 actually kendo is based on the same spirit of "kill the other guy without being killed yourself", just differently implemented based on different weapons and cultural settings (rules and regulations on duels in peace time since the 17th century, etc.)
it also has to do with the teaching methods in kendo or most eastern martial arts, where fundamentals are so stressed, so much so a kendoka will spend the first few months swinging in the air or against a target before actual fighting, and are taught to do the most basic and no fancy stuffs in those fights, until years and years later when advanced techniques are actually taught or learned. One of the fundamentals is the spirit of "not fearing the death and commit to the strike", because in the Japanese mindset that is the biggest chance of survival. It does not mean blindly attacking the opponent with just courage and bravery. Not fearing death is very different from having the faith in the winning moment that you see. But without the spirit of not fearing the death, there is no chance of survival in an actual duel, where the opponent is holding a real sword that cuts you, not a bamboo sword.
I say this because I am a beginner and I am the one who bluntly commits to my strikes against higher tier kendoka and I can clearly see the difference between me being blindly committed, and them being much much more committed in their strikes, but they are also patient, fast, smart, and also having perfect defense before the moment comes.
@@RF-xj1ejShinkage-ryu, the koryu which gave us the original shinai, at least so far as I am familiar with it (I only train kendo) has its beginners only train shikake waza; oji-waza is reserved for (approx.) yondan and beyond with the understanding that beginners will lack a technical grasp of seme until they can attack without thinking. Kendo is similar, seme and oji waza are not required until the yondan exam, kuzushi and shikake waza are enough.
The defensive strategy in kendo as I understand it is that you read your opponent and stuff their attack in preparation: active not reactive.
Many of us without enough shiai experience, abd dare I say isshu-jiai experience become stuck in seito-ha (correct kendo) path and become yariyasui (predictable). Seme shouldn't only work exclusively against proper exam kendo.
This just shows; there is no superior "way of the sword", only different dialects of the same language. This is merely two men having a conversation, as equals
For a second there, I thought the swordsman was gonna start selling me Flex-seal
The fact that your name is "Phil Swift" gives you a permanent lifelong damage boost
*stabs kendo guy in face*
Phil: NoW THaT's AlOt oF dAmaGe
Also Phil: *slaps flex tape on dude's forehead*
You son of a gun...
That was actually amazing. Their movements were so smooth and determined. Nice feints, quick reactions and powerful attacks.
They stood like rocks, flowed like water and struck like thunder. Really awesome fight. I was holding my breath a couple of times.
Phil: I cut this guy in half, and repaired him with only flex tape.
Finally! A trained kendo fighter. Usually in fights like this, they make one of the HEMA fighters use katana and say "try to move like in kendo", and dominate him completly with longsword.
Yup lol
@Johannes Liechtenauer If I had to fight with my doppleganger 100 times, but I had a longsword and he had a katana... yeah, I would probably win 65-35.
@Johannes Liechtenauer
In real battle.with armor...samurai use nodachi. Katana is for armorless duels u know.
@@eddsmokalot6200 Citation needed
Sorry, but the otherwise is true for the most part. Many videos about longsword are used by people who know little about HEMA. They know nothing about grappling, foible, and taunts yet they try to slash like they are using a katana.
Like those you see in Katana vs Longsword comparation video.
This is super amazing to me, i love seeing people who are actually good at their respective style doing some real sparring, simply great
Kendo should always lose to HEMA.
Kendo is not a sword fighting style, it is a sport. Pretty much you have 3 kind of cuts and a stab and that is it. (There are some veriations and techniques obviously, but they exist only so you can do one of your 3 cuts or 1 stab).
In order to learn how to fight with a katana, you need to master Iaido (how to draw and kill in a single fully controlled cut), kendo (how to react perfectly to everything your oponent does) and kenjutsu (actual sword schools that teach you sword techniques).
Please keep in mind that most kenjutsu schools are outdated and they cannot teach you real sword fighting so mastering the katana is almost impossible in our current age as none of the above can prepare you to a real life and death duel mentaly. Even if you have the skill can you kill? The avarage "swordsman" would freeze in the moment of the fatal blow and end up dead by the other fighter who does not hesitate.
@@roberth4395 Good point. I never thought that any of that japanese fencing is bad, although, there is lot of limitations that actually keeps lot of practicioners away from being good fencers.
@@roberth4395 i think kendo and fencers are way more deadly than HEMA fanboys give them credit for. its like saying "oh, boxers should always lose to X. they are super limited in techniques. only punching and thats it" but the reality is they are for sure legit fighters. same as BJJ practitioners "they dont punch, their posture is for striking, they dont kick" but can almos guaranteed make a knot out of most fighters they get a hold on.
Sure sports limit the art range wise, but the technical level develops and the "fat" of the techniques are trimmed off. Can you for sure say the HEMA practitioner can, indeed, defend succesfully from the lunge of a fencer or the strike of a kendoka everytime? i dont think so. "HEMA could counter and double hit" maybe. but that wont make him less dead or disabled (and the points the respective sports aim for are super inhabilitating. punctured lung or heart will make you drop instantly. neck the same, and brain... you know the roll).
@@roberth4395 i would even dare say a wrestler has a chance, if instructed on the basics of parrying and guards, to beat HEMA practitioners far more experienced than the wrestler by parrying on the shoot in, grab, and the HEMA guy would be done for. theres no such thing as "always lose" when talking about combat sports.
@@vittocrazi grapling, throwing your enemy to the ground to execute is part of sword fighting.
A grapler vs a swordsman would lose in a single strike.
The swordsman wod have the reach and a single stab would kill the wrestler.
Thats crazy I didnt know the Flex Tape guy does HEMA
if it's dry and still leaks, let it dry!
Here's the comment I was looking for.
"To show you the power of Flex Tape, I sawed this Kendoka in half!"
*gets hit by zwerchhau*
THATS A LOTTA DAMAGE
I literally clicked on the video to look for Flex Seal comments.
It's so amazing to see two different techniques from different countries clashed together. Young generation should appreciate these historical techniques used long ago.
Kudos to you both! Testing your skills against another combat discipline is such a great way to grow as a fighter, and thank you for sharing the video!
I would like to see some kenjutsu style against Fiore tbh.
But this was cool to see.
I need a highlight reel to see where the hits and parries actually occurred
Maybe one day or in some of our next edits, but you could probably catch the best cuts where we did the slow motion, and to really slow it down switch the youtube playback in settings to 0.25 speed, that should help :)
They slowed them down
You can advance and rewind UA-cam frame-by-frame using the keys for period and comma.
Everbody else: wow an interesting display of Martial arts
For Honor devs: WE'RE GONNA MAKE A BUGGY BUT AWESOME GAME ABOUT THIS
NO SUPERSTES
That Kendo guy is pretty good :) since they not using kendo rules, he has to improvise a lot, and he does this very well!
They're not using HEMA rules either. No cuts to the leg.
@@grandadoboman1995 that's because cuts to the legs are very difficult to do and cutting someone towards the torso is easier
also because kendo gear doesn't have leg protection
It's amazing how many epic martial arts battles occur on indoor basketball courts.
You need the height, especially for two handed swords. Tall guy in our club hit the basketball hoop with his shinai accidentally.
The kendoka seems to be intimidated by the initial thrust. I think he should have taken advantage of the weight of the shinai to do more and longer flurries of sayumen. He's probably a bit worried the thrust would happen again if he approaches head-on. (Maybe the kendoka are determined to hit the normal kendo score area with rigorous form which is required in kendo to score. It is much harder to do when the opponent not only has a longer sword but can thrust at will) I think the kendoka could definitely use more kote (our beloved hand snipes) and be more mobile in general, use that speed and reflex to his advantage. Men can also be used as a punish to careless advance from the hema practitioner with a bit of pause. At best you score 3 points in hema term or ippon in kendo term at worse you simply double each other, which is more advantageous to the kendo player regardless of the ruleset.
The HEMA practationer used footwork nicely. Probably knowing that kendo is a relatively linear system, go around is definitely a better choice to sneak hit in and avoid the attack. However, I was hoping the HEMA practitioner could use the weight of the nylon longsword to do more binding to suppress the shinai. I can't comment on other specific moves as I know nothing about fiore, as a kdf student I was hoping to see a zwerch when the kendoka go into high guard or just more krumpau in general to the kamae stance. But then again the kendoka is going to catch up the game pretty quickly and try to bait the krump out and punish it with a men.
Very well made observation! Yeah, I was trying to stay true to Fiore, so no zwerchs or krumps were made. Binding would have definitely worked, however its annoying to try to bind against wood with a flimsy synthetic. So I was trying not to bind, as it is such unrealistic feel between the wasters used.
@@philswiftHEMA I started with the same synthetic you used, I know how much of a pain it is, many of my senior fencers refuse even to touch it nowadays, Which is why I have to say the level you fought with it really speaks volumes of your skill.
As well, Fiore trends towards staying lower, as he was a shorter man than Lichtenauer, if the art in the manuscript is anything to go by. Using a tutta volta is still a very useful trick in most fights. Though I was surprised that it didn't get used much.
@@philswiftHEMA Great job highlighting Fiore!!!
The change of guards was excellent and the footwork made sense. Kendo has some quick hits on the head and wrist. That is why blade control could be a huge advantage to you. He had good centralisation and I thought some feints might have thrown him. It seems like Kendo is quick and really commits to the target.
Against Kendo I like what I call a Blink cut! OR when I cut with a flanking step I will turn it into a thrust - Straight if they don't resist or into what I call an ox thrust if they do resist, hinging over their blade.
I really like the use of Guards on all three levels. The change of angles was great and your timing was excellent. Loved that opening hit !!!
Looking back how would you guard your head and control the high line better?
Cheers from Australia
English, please.
As a person who just discovered HEMA today(previously I only know fencing)..this fight with Kendo guy really give me goosebumps..plus the epic music and shit. Both guys know their stuff
This is a great video, both of them are well trained and I like when twi styles fight each other with this level of respect for his oponent and this level of skill
Love that the two combatants called each others' shots out honestly, great show of sportsmanship
Anyone knows the dan of the Kendo guy? I assume somewhere between 1st and 2nd. His posture has to improve, as well as his left leg and his cut.
He did improve in the second video! He definitely took my lunch money :) We are located on a the remote island of Newfoundland, and both of us are the only experienced swords fencers besides the modern sport fencers, and so for him to improve he has to take online classes or fly out for lessons.
@@philswiftHEMA For this he does pretty good! If I ever travel to your are I will bring my bougu and we can have practice together! All the best!
@@HaraldHofer That would be lovely! We will welcome you with open arms!
EpicRapBattles. Miyamoto Musashi vs Fiore dei Liberi. Who loose? Who wins?
I mean Miyamoto Musashi beat skilled opponents with wooden sticks while they held steel.. Miyamoto was probably the best duelist to ever live that was recorded imo
Johannes Liechtenauer
@@rocklee775 He was pretty much the western Musashi. That would be an interesting fight.
Loose? You're grasp of English spelling, I'd say.
@@whiskeysour1179 or loooose
It's almost a reversal of psychological warfare, with one making his strike feared and the other hiding his move
Must admit, even the Aaaaarrhh warcries in anime sound better than Wwhooo.
Yeah, that is exactly what it was. Hema was trying to fake, feint, and intimidate, and the Kendo was buying none of it and did not flinch, just putting on a poker face.
I just came for the "That's a lot of damage!" memes. Carry on.
these were wonderful exchanges! I love both martial arts...
Both of them have an immaculately clean technique. It's like a work of art that you can watch.
I love how the Kendo person makes that sound before a fight. It must be pretty intimidating to come up against someone yelling like that back in the day. Same with if you were used to people yelling and came up against the HEMA guy who is just silent. What awesome martial arts
Yes, one of the great parts of doing, or watching, kendo. Also helps bravery and focus.
0:51 made me flinch. I can't imagine there's anything to stop the blade going right through one of the eye slots in the helmet in the case of a direct hit.
He’s wearing a fencing/HEMA mask, so he’s fine
Nice, wish there were more inter discipline sparring videos on UA-cam.
yeah a eskrimador, silat or fencing against any japanese discipline would be good
I enjoyed watching this, I respect both ways very much and would very much love to find a place to study both I've done mostly hand to hand stuff for about 20 years but have never had much exposure to weapon based arts like this it would be a fun new adventure despite getting older
I always think how cool it is that the movements in longsword HEMA and Kendo are so similar.
Without blood gushing, the occasional arm falling off or a light when hit, it’s a bit hard to keep track of who hits who.. but fun all the same.
“OOOUOOH SHIIIIIIITTTT!!!!!!”
Is what I would’ve loved to hear at the end.
In my head I certainly shouted an "ohh shit", I hesitated when I stepped in and could only watch while Phil took full advantage XD
A lot of people mock Kendo-ka's warcry without sufficient knowledge about it. Open-minded sword practitioner will understand the purpose and power of kiai (warcry). It is hard to describe in short words. However, high skilled practioner in any sword art will understand and never underestimate its potential. And the HEMA person also did his warcry in his way, but not as obvious as Kendo-ka.
If you want to understand how it works in simple way, try throw a heavy ball overhead really hard without exhale, then try again with shouting or exhaling hard.
This looks like two practitioners of distinctly different martial arts willing to cross swords to practice what they've trained and to learn. Thank you very much for making and sharing this video!
This is one of the best and coolest bouts I have ever seen in my life
This is cool. As a person who practices hema I have a deep respect for kendo and other Japanese martial arts. Although I don’t know much about them I can tell they that it is a very advanced complex martial art as well. I see people who do kendo and hema take this so seriously when no one respects each other martial arts which is Retarted.
I am a former professional player who has been training kendo for 9 years. It's a relief that both sides seem to have met at the right level, but to be honest, they seem very slow and beginner.
Lowered and tucked aside kensen, surely the kendoka should have been on that like a flash.
Kendoka should be pushing the opponent with many passes and not letting him rest. Hema are used to going into stances and waiting, disrupt that!
I love the distinction in styles personified in people who haven't cross trained, like he is strictly kendo and he is strictly hema. Kendo is more lax patient and precise. While hema is more aggressive, brutal made for clashing head on. As in history in terms of geology and battle the kendo style relied on weak nipton steel katanas and such while hema had forges steel. Swords of European descent made to clash blades and slame and murder and devestate vs the Asian descent blade made to be use as little as possible for it is only to be use to kill fast in duels and the techniques made was that for dueling. A dueling style made for a precise delicate blade or atleast delicate compared to other swords vs a style made for strong swords made to clash in all out war. You can see the skill in both styles as both adapt to each other's style more and more despite each other advantages and disadvantages. A real good show of skill on behalf of both these swords men a real good display. They show case the discipline with justice on both styles.
you are VERY misinformed. "lax, patient and precise"? hema more agressive? have you seen kendo? THATS agressiveness and commitment into attacks. And in a duel you are preserving your life first and your weapon second. and sure, katanas are no lightsabers, but they are not flower petals either. Heavy duty cutting machines are still being produced with the same principle of hard edge protected by tough body (axes also are built this way, and they take A LOT of abuse). Both weapons were made for the same purpose, at the endo of the day: fighting.
@@vittocrazi as a hema practitioner i can say hema is way more aggressive, i do Italian fencing, alot if deflection and top strikes are shown and practice and shown, a odachi or katana isn't made to take alot of damage like European sword, an arming sword can hit a heater shield or a kite shield and or the gaurd or flat of another blade for hours on end with little to negligible damage as most European swords are made for such punishment going from rapier to gladius to broadsword and ziehanders, kendo is made to be done in a few moves to preserve the blade, most moves for hema if you're dueling will try to encourage you to stop and end a bout in a few hits but usually last longer in application to sparring. Kendo against hema require more patience and precision as with the weapon and armor from Europe whether brigadine or just basic chain mail gives the user flexibility and leeway to not be as precise and or inexperienced as more soldier were back then and still be effective hence why pole arms are so effective while training in archery or with a katana or odachi takes years of practice as you have a distinct disadvantage with no hand gaurd and a weaker blade integrity and only a singular cutting side it's not misinformed it's experience, i would any day take a rapier or a short sword and buckler against anyone with a bastard sword then to use a katana or odachi because of how difficult it is to use against a European sword effectively and realistically
Kendo is far more aggressive. It isn't fencing, and we aren't meant to focus on defence but to pursue offensive pressure, seme, and attack. Kendoka pick up defence later to help them in tournaments.
Or in short, we do drills of head cuts, wrist cuts over and over, but don't learn "blocks" or fencing's parries.
This is legit, each combatant show distinct style of their own discipline. Thx for the upload
какой результат? почему на экране не показали?
What rank is the Kendoka?
I wonder too. Their dojo site says he's been practicing since 2014, which doesn't seem like a long time for kendo. Though since kendo isn't too well known in the area he might be as good as it gets there, which is perfectly respectable imo.
I recently graded ikkyu.
@@verybarebones We are pretty isolated with regards to kendo, the next nearest dojo is another province. So practice can be a challenge, though as I mentioned I did grade and attend a taikai so that gave me a lot of valuable experience.
@@airbornenewfie Is your club Kendō only, or do you also follow the classic Ono-ha Ittō-ryū syllabus as well?
@@Veepee92 Kendo only currently. We have looked at it, but we've no one proficient in it to instruct, we did have a kendoka join once who had trained in it but moved shortly after. We're hoping to include seitei iaido.
People seem to forget that warcries in martial arts were a thing WAY before anime was invented.
And you forget that kendo is theater and pretend- sword play invented by people who lost all sword fighting traditions and invented something with random rudimentary rules and lots of pageantry.
@@agnidas5816 Elaborate? This comment piqued my interest
@@agnidas5816 no, even tho unarmed martial arts are my main thing (specially grappling arts like Judo, i practice Judo since i was 4), i have practiced Kendo and know some of ti's history and you are stating wrong facts. The rules are all justified and it has it's roots in Ken-Jutsu the sword martial art that almost every samurai practiced, not every samurai tho, as some practiced Aiki-Jujutsu, others practiced Tenshin Ryu (i also practiced that one), and others practiced Musashi's Hyōhō Niten Ichi-ryū.
Very instructive -- and indeed just beautiful stuff. What an engaging, even poetic "conversation in blades."
Closest we'll ever get to an equal samurai vs knight duel
Noone will probably find this comment, but the thing i love most about this fight is oddly the moments where "nothing" is happening; the moments of intense pressure, both opponents tryong to find a way through the others defense, all that tension.
Where is the American with a shotgun using the "this is my backyard" style
About 500 years in the future, somewhere in the American Southwest.
Um right here.
That was originally the Chinese
Alexzander sure but the Americans took it to a all new level.
@@timesthree5757 oh yeah no doubt, but for the time period the chad gunweilding chinese dominated the veigin sword bois
Well done guys, I enjoyed the that. Its great to see some proper guarding. I know the plastic is a nuisance to bind with and too flexible, great as a starting tool. 👍
Nobody:
The fighters: WHOOOOO
the kendo fighter*
@@DarkValorWolf
Yeah man, that was all the kendo fighter.
Did Phil Swift use flex seal liquid on the sword handle? And was the sword made from flex seal from a sword which was sawed in half?
What a refreshing high quality sparring session between 2 different styles but more importantly 2 practitioners who are highly skilled in their own art form.
Very cool, respect to both Champions!
the samurai: *parrying with the flat of his sword to protect the hard and vulnerable edge*
the knight: *going for edge to edge combat cus his sword is monosteel*
the samurai: YUUoiUUUiYOOOO
the knight: *laughs in divine protection from the Lord*
i really think preserving the steel is not the main concern when fighting with swords... also, monosteel can get badly damaged on the edge as well.
Sure, it can, but the kata of kendo do teach you to use the flats of the blade. The blade of a katana is a bit thicker to facilitate a more pronounced flat section for that very purpose. The poor quality of native Japanese steel was sidestepped by folding the steel, and then warriors developed ways of getting around the major disadvantages of that. Gotta love human ingenuity.
Oh, and he may laugh in his Christian protection, but a samurai will always confidently know the same level of protection from the Kami Hachiman.
@@alexanonimo6876 i think the purpose in blocking with the flat is son the opponents blade actually deflects, and dont bind, to allow for faster counter, not really about preserving the blade since, really, your number one concern when you get in a swordfight should be getting out with the least ammount of damage possible.
and about the folding of the steel... its funny since it is the same principle as the damascus steel, only following a different pattern. and damascus steel was highly regarded. so folded steel must have been really decent for the time.
No, it's a technique regularly taught in many Japanese fencing styles designed to preserve the sword. It isn't flattamastrong nonsense, just an example of "here is what you should ideally be doing" sort of technique. A traditional tamahagane katana's edge is very brittle, and while the bottom half of the edge would be left dull specifically for the purpose of using it to parry or bind, that was far less ideal in the particular philosophy of Japanese fencing. The very techniques that avoid excessive damage to the blade do not necessarily put the fencer into a position where he instead would be taking damage. Watch this video of this match between a skilled kendoka and a skilled HEMA longswordsman, and you'll see the patient, more static approach of the kendoka that itself evolved from a need to preserve their extremely-expensive and easily-ruined swords. A European sword, on the other hand, could take such abuse far more gracefully and be more easily repaired, and thus you see a bit more dynamism in movement, a greater readiness to occupy space, to dominate lines, and to be ready to cross swords.
Damascus steel was also very different, and the exact means by which it was created has been lost. One of the prime differences is that it uses Wootz steel, an extremely high-quality steel. Antique examples of Damascus swords have been found to have carbon nanotubes floating in their matrices, it is insane. Folding steel, however, is only worth it when the steel sucks. You lose carbon with the folds, and the very point of those folds is to put steel of different levels of hardness into strategic parts of the blade to allow for sharp, strong edges, and flexible cores and backs. It essentially repositions what steel there is to be had into the best possible places. It is ingenious, but it is also why the damned things are fairly fragile.
What most "damascus" knives and swords are these days are actually pattern-welded, a technique that was extremely popular in the Migration Period of Europe, which is somewhat similar, and is, again, useless and even counterproductive if you have good steel to begin with. Two rods of iron are twisted together, and then flat iron plates are welded on in the smithing process to become the edges, essentially. Beautiful, ingenious, the same general idea as folding, but also possessed of its faults.
@@alexanonimo6876 the thing is the european sword was super Fkn expensive as well (think of about buying a truck). They also had various qualities of steel, and thus swords. and their "monosteel" was nowhere near what we have now. the combination of different grades of steel, and folding is a solution for the lack of technology to produce fully homogenous, predictable steel (wich, at the time, was super duper difficult).
and i did read sources stating that, during battle, european swords would bend... and stay bent. so the soldiers had to straighten them back (not so tempered steel like).
When "For Honor" Players decide to take the game to a new level hahaha
What sparked my HEMA interest and actually joining a club is all because of a game Kingdome Come Deliverance.
1v1 me IRL
@@vittocrazi lmao this comment has a threatening aura
That was entertaining. It was nice to see a video in which the participants have an equal grasp on their style.
@Matteus Brandt check this out!
Very refreshing. Far too often these kinds of comparisons end with the video maker screeching out how this was proof his system is the greatest fighting style ever conceived by man.
If the HEMA practicioner will use more thrusting with closing the line of attack (like it is in the fiore style) he would win definitely.
Though I totally agree with you, if I had binded more or hung out in Posta di Longa, and Punta/thrust with gaining, I would've done really well. However, I didn't want to game the match, so I wasn't trying to "win". I wanted to try different approaches and see how my opponent would react in their style. It was more an exchange rather than a competition.
Sekiro Fans vs Dark Souls Fans
Very nice work ;-)
Excellent video. Good demonstration!
Sorry for my ignorance but could anyone please explain why the Hema guy is using his sword while the samurai guy is using a dummy?
Thanks
The only thing missing is Morpheus saying 'Free your mind.'
2:30 he fell for that feint so hard you can see the exact moment when he's like "aw shit"
ちゃんと防具付け替えてるの偉い
As a 3 Dan Itto-Ryu practitioner, it really makes me happy to see it hold up to something like HEMA. What a beautiful display of swordsmanship from both of them!
It’s so great to see one of these videos where the participants actually have even skill levels.
Half the time these videos are of 2 Hema guys sparring and one of them just happens to have a katana.
I bet Phil’s sword has a flex seal coated grip.
Much better than the standard HEMA vs "Kendo" videos, but you should really find a dan-level practitioner for a true comparison. The kendoka is ikkyu (a beginner's rank.) He knows the basic postures and strikes but hasn't really learned how to put them together yet.
To be fair, I'm a HEMA Alliance certified instructor but for mainly Rapier. I actually have yet to compete with Longsword. So, Longsword is still somewhat new to me because of my lack of bouting experience.
@@philswiftHEMA That's reasonable, but the main point is not on technique (his fundamentals are sound) but bouting experience. The central principle of Itto-Ryu (and thus Kendo) is that of seme, or "pressuring" your opponent. You absolutely cannot stand still and wait to react, particularly if your opponent has a longer weapon -- which is mostly what I'm seeing here. That's something that's drilled into your head at Dan level and above, where at kyu level it is mostly, "is your strike straight?"
That's my point, mainly. I assume that as a HEMA certified instructor, you've had ample bouting time, even if in another weapon.
Looked like a good scrap. I know dick all about sword fighting but that was kinda fun to watch.
*To show you the power of longswords, I sawed this boat in half.*
Are the weapons similar weights? I would feel like the long sword would be at a disadvantage because the bamboo stick is so much faster.
Actual longswords and katana weigh about the same, not sure about the training versions
Hema looks more alive and entertaining, the guy moves a lot, stands in different guards, while kendo master is just a robot that kills you
that's the fun part about kendo, lmao. the kiai (shout) is fun to do as well, and very intimidating.
@@shadowfire04 i like hema more anyway
When the DnD game on the last weekend turned sour
To show you the power of flex tape, I CUT THIS PERSON IN HALF
What this video does for me is demonstrate that the lines of attack are key, and each style's discipline defines itself working around these natural lines.
Based on my observation. Kendo emphasizes spacing while Longsword school focuses on angles.
Kendo has more non-restricted footwork because the power of the strikes are generated by the whole upper body. This allows for quick and snappy single edged attacks that takes the quickest path to the target.
Longsword school has lead foot and back foot because longsword attacks leverages on footwork, the upper body needs to be flexible in order to make twisting strikes at unpredictable angles.
2:10 he is charging his energy bar before release his special move
Yes, I've played Kengo as well - I recognise the moves.
Sekiro Player: oh neptune
Note that the HEMA guy is wearing modern shoes whereas the kendo guy is true to the old ways and is on bare feet!😂
Well... The "Old Ways" for HEMA would probably be boots and sabatons and I suspect that wouldn't be particularily nice for the floor...
@@darthplagueis13 samurai also used those straw sandals for fighting, did they not?
@@lucaslimal3 I don't really know but I'd imagine it kinda comes down to the terrain they werfe moving in.
To show you the power of HEMA...
*Intense cutting noises*
I sawed this weeb in half!
I dont know what it is but I really like the sound the kendo guy makes after each bout, very cool to hear.
Does anyone know where to buy the pants that hema dude has?
Hey brother! the Pants come from High Hill Pants, which is made in Spain. You can find my review of them on my channel. Granted it was a super old review before I got better at doing review videos lol.
@@philswiftHEMA thanks