...the bulk of my experience of zorhau-on-zornhau causes a few things:
1 - Edge-on-edge contact...
2 - ...unless one of us compensates for it by introducing our flat (which changes the dynamic of the binds in the manual) or by striking our edge to their flat (which seems to result in an effective versetzen--not a bad thing at all, but not what's in the manual).
Jake
I in this post that I hope I am addressing your primary question. Like Bart, I find it hard to explain. After all, we are trying to explain what we think the masters were trying to explain. <img src="/forum/images/icons/smirk.gif" alt="" /> It's like trying to write instructions on how to tie your shoes. <img src="/forum/images/icons/confused.gif" alt="" /> I will try to go step by step in order to form a better picture of what should be happening.
The first thing to consider is that your Zornhau <u>cannot</u> be aimed at the adversary. Since a Zornhau is thrown at about 45 degree angle from the right shoulder to the adversary's left upper opening. You can think of the mid-point of the cut as being a long-point in the adversary's heart (having cut from the left side of the adversary's body). Thus, two men cutting a Zornhau at each other at the very same time, with the very same speed and force, etc., would result in their swords binding <u>as</u> they have kill each other. In the technique, as described by all of the masters, the adversary has started a Zornhau, meaning he is in the Before, and you are reacting to the cut, meaning you are in the After. This means that if you cut at the adversary then his sword will cut into your body before your sword reaches him. At best, both of you will be killed, but more than likely he will kill you without suffering a serious wound.
We now know that 1) you must stop the adversary's Zornhau before you can perform a counter cut/thrust, and 2) your actions to stop the adversary's Zornhau must allow you to make up the time difference of him being in the Before and you being in the After. The goal of your Zornhau is to stop the adversary's Zornhau while leaving you in the Before.
As stated earlier, the adversary's Zornhau will be coming from his right shoulder to the upper left section of your body. The path of your Zornhau will be in front of the adversary's left shoulder, completely missing his body. This path is shorter than the path of his cut, thus you make up the time difference. Also, your Zornhau can be a little closer to the body - shorter path - since you are not trying to cut the adversary at this point in the technique. With the correct timing, your Zornhau is coming down as the adversary's Zornhau is coming down, resulting in your long edge striking the flat of the adversary's blade and knocking it off of its path. At the very least your Zornhau will stop the adversary's Zornhau and leave his blade on the outside of your blade. A bind may or may not happen, it depends upon the amount of energy in each of the Zornhau cuts. If there is a bind then most likely the strong of your blade will be against the weak of the adversary's blade. Regardless of a bind or no bind, you are now in the Before and can thrust at the adversary. If needed, you can wind your blade to the upper left during the thrust, keeping his sword to the outside. At this point you should be in a position similar to what is shown in Image 1 of Goliath.
Being slower than most of the other members of our study group I found that when I use this technique in sparring I do better if I step directly into the adversary's attack. This leaves me in a high left Pflug with the adversary's blade on my strong and my long edge guard and my point just inches from the adversary, which makes it hard for them to display before I can complete a thrust. The downside is that against senior ARMA scholars this opens me up for grappling, which I am not very good at.
Hope this makes sense. I really should not try to write in the late night. <img src="/forum/images/icons/crazy.gif" alt="" />
