You know if you are into training with the blade then a good bit of your training may involve counter the counter moves where you may have some parrying going on. If so then you really need to make sure that you are protecting your blade edge during the exchange. Take the six or ten count (sumbrada) drill. (or more if you add the dagger into it) If you are parrying a strike of course you want to cut the opposing practitioner’s incoming limb. However, if you cannot then you need to move your blade edge in a way that you are not having blade edge to blade edge contact but instead using the side of your blade for parrying. This is an essential skill that well sometimes gets lost in the training. I do not want to damage my blade edge nor do I want it cut or stuck in another persons blade. So if I cannot cut, my hand movement must move my blade to a parrying position where the fine edge is protect and the side is used. This is an essential skill that any good FMA practitioner recognizes or any serious blade practitioner around the world also practices with. Bottom line any tool needs to be used in the most efficient manner with the greatest possibility for success. Use your Blade edge wisely and you will be rewarded!
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Brian R. VanCise
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“However, if you cannot then you need to move your blade edge in a way that you are not having blade edge to blade edge contact but instead using the side of your blade for parrying.”
In the Bujinkan, as well as many other Japanese martial arts, the edge IS used for parrying. We do not care if the edge is damaged. We are not sword collectors, we are budoka. Basically, it’s doesn’t matter all that much for us, but there was a study of damage to antique katana done a few years ago, and they determined that the edge was used for every purpose (cutting and parrying).
Danny, I think that any study of antique swords used in battle over any culture would show damage to the blade edges. Still protecting that edge is important because failure to not could be catastrophic in the moment if your blade edge gets stuck or damaged so bad as to be unuasable. However I would concur that in the moment what is most important is just surviving. Through my travels in the Bujinkan I have noticed a high propensity for protecting the blade edge as well. Though I would agree that we are not sword collectors but budoka.
Brian
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