Edges and Flat

[Lance Chan]

I'm not surprise since Krabi Krabong and Muay Thai fighting system is totally different than most fighting system. It breaks every rule other martial art have like going on the offensive which is also a good way to defend yourself and more.

German longsword is also very famous for relying on staying offensive as it also defends well.

[Alan Abu Bakr]

I'm not surprise since Krabi Krabong and Muay Thai fighting system is totally different than most fighting system. It breaks every rule other martial art have like going on the offensive which is also a good way to defend yourself and more.

German longsword is also very famous for relying on staying offensive as it also defends well.

And then, there is the old saying "Attack is the best form of defence" or "The best defence is a good offence"

[LafayetteCCurtis]

And by the way, yes, there are some sensible Japanese ryu which advocate similar methods of displacing with katana and so forth.

No, there are many. The traditional Japanese styles, with heritages really going several centuries back, use the back or the flat of the single-edged blade to deflect or block attacks. Only the newer, non-traditional, and non-martial styles regularly block with the edge.

It breaks every rule other martial art have like going on the offensive which is also a good way to defend yourself and more.

Mmm...I'm not sure this breaks any rule in the world of martial arts. All the practical martial arts I know advise turning to the offensive as soon as possible--even the "peaceful" art of aikido requires the practitioner to control the opponent rather than being controlled by the opponent. Losing the initiative is an easy way to die anywhere, anytime, in any system of martial arts.

[Jeffrey Hull]

And by the way, yes, there are some sensible Japanese ryu which advocate similar methods of displacing with katana and so forth.

No, there are many. The traditional Japanese styles, with heritages really going several centuries back, use the back or the flat of the single-edged blade to deflect or block attacks. Only the newer, non-traditional, and non-martial styles regularly block with the edge.

Yes, but only in Japan it seems. I wager that a lot of the Japanese sword-arts as practiced outside of Japan would be found lacking by most Japanese senseis.

By contrast, you often see ridiculous demonstrations by groups in America (at a shopping mall, on YouTube, wherever) -- dudes in old-glory gis swinging chromed katanas hacking edge-to-edge, all to some butt-rock soundtrack. Or dudes who treat the katana like a tai chi internal-energy development devices, instead of what it is, a weapon; or dudes who treat katana-wielding like baton-twirling or wushu acrobatics; or dudes fixated on the one-trick pony of iaido quick-draw; or dudes who can only do tameshigiri but could not spar or fight an agressive foe with a sword to save their lives.

Admit it -- the Japanese sword arts outside of Japan tend to be practiced with a lot of nonsense, if not just plain wrongly. And a lot of that nonsense is practiced, regretfully, right here in the USA by profiteering McDojos and gladhanding hucksters. And almost nobody seems willing to challenge them on it -- except of course me and others in ARMA.

Well, this is now definitely off-topic, so I refuse to argue that particular point any further.