Just wanted to share some comments on a really beautiful disarming technique from Vadi that Ernie Perez and I played with during a recent practice. Of course, a beautiful technique is one that is both simple and deadly. The illustration on the bottom right of the following image shows the man on the right stepping in to disarm the adversary on the left by grabbing the sword and twisting it out of the adversary's hands. Porzio and Mele's (page 123) translated the text of is plate as: "I hit you with my sword on the head. I will quickly disarm you with my cunning." Saddly, Vadi statements do not describe how to perform the technique, leaving us to interpret only the image (if this technique is described else where in Vadi then please post the reference). During practice Ernie performed the technique by: 1) Pushing down with the left hand until extended and allowing it to continue up to head level, 2) Pulling up with the right hand until over the head, keeping the arm extended, and 3) Taking a passing step backward with his right foot. At speed and with intend the backward pass put Ernie's body weight into the pull of his right hand resulting in the sword being violently ripped from my hands. At the end of the technique Ernie was left in a half sword position over his head with the point about six inches from my face - a most enlightening moment. The only downside I see to this technique is letting go of one's own sword.
We would love to hear comments on this and other techniques demonstrated in the plates of Vadi. By the way, are any ARMA scholars currently working primarily from Vadi?
<img src="http://www.thearma.org/Manuals/VadiNewImages/Untitled-8.jpg" >
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