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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MythandLore" data-source="post: 129455" data-attributes="member: 180">Traditional western fencing can be good.This Basic western fencing comes out of the old rapier styles.The sport is mostly full contact sparing with protective gear and a metal sword.You can find orginazations, schools and clubs in many places.Foil - Basic Thrusting swordEpee - Heavier Thrusting sword with larger had protectionSaber - Cutting swordDepending on the style of sword you use the points are scored diffrently.(No mixed weapons, ie. no epee vs saber etc)As you said, these are very popular, they are an Olympic event.First off you should not have to be a "experienced martial artist" to take a Japanese sword style, some schools are sticklers about this, but really, using a katana is not the same as throwing a punch.KendoThe most popular japanese sword art.Mostly full contact sparing while wearing armor and use a shinai (semi flexible bamboo sword)Personally I think this is the most fun/useful of the Japanese sword arts.KenjutsuReally a blanket term for "killing art of the sword" it's very hard to find a legitimate place to learn this.Most of the time people who do iaido or batto-do claim to do Kenjutsu.IaidoSecond most popular japanese sword art (not even close to kendo in the amount of people doing it)Focus mainly on drawing the sword (drawing a sword and striking in one motion is the main idea, this is the "quick draw" style of sword fighting)Mostly they use Bokken (wooden sword) or iaito (a practice/dull katana) to practice their sword drawing forms.Some use shinken (live blade katana) to do tameshigiri (cutting bamboo, straw bundles, etc.)Some times they will do light sparing with NO protective gear.It seems like every akido teacher also does "iaido", many times not wanting to teach it to students by itself.Sword arts are seprate from boxing arts and you should not have to take one to do the other.IaijutsuThe "killing art of the sword draw", Like kenjutsu it's pretty hard to find a legitimate teacher, it's mostly just people that do iaido and want to make it sound tuffer.Batto-do (or Batto Jutsu) they focus mainly on tameshigiri (though the name would make you think it's mostly about drawing).Seems like mostly people who are interested in sword collecting do this.In alot of ways it is similar to iaido.<a href="http://www.toyamausa.com/" target="_blank">http://www.toyamausa.com/</a>ARMAThey are about using medieval and renaissance european weapons in a historic manner.Rapier, fencing, western swords (and other weapons) of all kinds.They do some forms and alot of full contact sparing with protective gear, the "medieval" weapons tend to be made out of a foam over strips of wood and metal. (a very nice design)They do make me laugh sometimes though. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><a href="http://www.thehaca.com/Videos/Videos.htm" target="_blank">http://www.thehaca.com/Videos/Videos.htm</a>You can compare a guy from ARMA's ablity to cut to someone that does Botto-do with these clips.Who do you think is better? <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><a href="http://www.thehaca.com/Videos/cutting_edited.avi" target="_blank">http://www.thehaca.com/Videos/cutting_edited.avi</a><a href="http://www.toyamausa.com/bob_6_wara.mov" target="_blank">http://www.toyamausa.com/bob_6_wara.mov</a>SCAThe SCA is not "really" about the fighting, there are lots of people that are in the SCA that will never do any fighting, the SCA is more about renactments, you could brew ale or make clay pots and still be in the SCA.From what I know about them, they pretty much cover the same weapons as ARMA, they aren't as serious about themselves and the best thing about them is the mass full contact sparing they do, all kinds of weapons, armor, sheilds.What a roit! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />As far as the "medieval" weapons go, they make theirs out of padded ratton sticks.I think they are the best way to go if your looking for a "medieval" style swordplay.I know how their rules of conduct are for the fighting and it is very well thought out, they also have a process of testing you before you are allowed to fight which is also well done.<a href="http://sca.org/" target="_blank">http://sca.org/</a>This is a really really great video about what the SCA is all about.WATCH IT NOW!<a href="http://www.gamers.com/i/gx/feature/000725-sca/video/main/big_sca_main_video_cut.asf" target="_blank">http://www.gamers.com/i/gx/feature/000725-sca/video/main/big_sca_main_video_cut.asf</a>There are a few other posiblities you have over looked.Escrima or Kali (Filipino Stick Fighting)Rattan Sticks, mostly form with light sparing, some places have full contact sparing using protective gear now.(Real weapons are Machettes or Short swords and dagger)The only problem is there are so many different family styles out there that you may not know if a teacher is legitimate.Another possiblity is a Chinese Style but the problem with these tends to be there is almost no weapon sparing, and there are so many different family styles out there that you may not know if a teacher is legitimate.I've been doing martial arts for 22 years now, my focus has always been the sword.I learned from my father mostly and from other people he knows and from some of my friends.A couple of quick words on martial arts, DON"T USE METAL SWORDS!DON"T USE METAL SWORDS! DON"T USE METAL SWORDS!!!Western fencing are the only ones you should ever use while sparing (they are made special for it), and even then it's with protective gear.Be extra careful with metal weapons of any kind, it's very easy to hurt yourself or someone around you, trust me you don't want to be a part of that.I hoped my answer helps you decide what you want to do, if you have anymore questions I'll try to help if I can.I hear that brother! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />But any of the "weapon" arts can be expensive, five grand for a good shinken - ouch!I've found in genral most martial arts tend to need a lot dedication if you ever want to get good.</blockquote>

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