anzya (December 31, 1969 at 6:59 pm)
Thank you chibabay, I admit that it might have been a bit heavy handed to call it artificial :)I think agree with you about the side-walking. You don't tend to do it that extreme in aikido either. You either move forward or backward while moving to the sides but no matter what the direction you are centered against the opponent.But that they are moving that way here is of course due to the sun. Musashi wants to keep it in Kojiros eyes and Kojiro wants to get away from it.
chibabay (December 31, 1969 at 6:59 pm)
interesting point you made.i guess what you might call articicial rule is originated from necessity. not something that purpose was to simply restricd initially. However your comment is close to precision and wonderful to read. about side-walking, it could be depend on which Ryuha you study as well.but generally they dont walk compeletly to the side but slightly angled otherwise they cannot really play with Maai. Again, some Ryuha might allow that though.
anzya (December 31, 1969 at 6:59 pm)
Kendo on the other hand has the artificial rule that you are not allowed to take a step, only glide steps are allowed. Aikido for instance doesn't have that rule and there you move a bit more.It's also worth noting that all the sideways movement they where doing was done while preserving maai. It wasn't possible for either of the swordsmen to close the distance before the other could "untangle" their feet so there wasn't any danger doing so.
roadwarr (December 31, 1969 at 6:59 pm)
Sadly, "clothes-rod" has been defeated. Kojiro became my favorite character from the series, and it's sad to see his end, but it couldn't have ended any other way, I imagine. The backdrop of the rising sun over the rolling waves is spectacular; if he (or any of us!) had to die, there could have been many worse places to do so.p.s. Would Kojiro have been insulted that Musashi dueled with a wooden sword?
ruronik (December 31, 1969 at 6:59 pm)
If the stories of musashi are true then that would make him argurably the most strongest man to ever live to stand out in a time when the country was saturated in its peoples blood.
iDjGriever (December 31, 1969 at 6:59 pm)
thats cool, the dude that died had a masamune =D
chibabay (December 31, 1969 at 6:59 pm)
i am not so sur about legs crossing but this is a typical japanese way of depicting sword fight in many of japanese film. But in real sword fight, they have minimal move, not like this movie clip. and slice the oponet in the 1st or 2nd swing.Look at Kendo, they explains a lot how it might be in real sword fight situations, its a matter of survival.sorry i couldnt answer your question
fatty459 (December 31, 1969 at 6:59 pm)
The key to proper footwork is not keeping your center of gravity over one leg but distributing it evenly and keeping low. In this way it's very difficult for your opponent to take you down. If your crossing your legs and your opponent moves towards you, it's easy to maneuver out of the way so they can't get your legs. Also they are trained a bit differently. It might be a little unorthodox to use some techniques like rolling, leaping, or even kicking. Also you must remember they are using swords
trapper3057 (December 31, 1969 at 6:59 pm)
Can anyone who knows japanese sword fighting answer me a question. The two opponets are constantly crossing their legs, I would think that would be a definite no-no, once a persons legs were crossed it would be easy to manuver him out of position and defeat him. From my boxing and wrestling days, whenever someone crossed his legs I defeated him in seconds, basically the fight was over once he crossed his legs. And in watching this film, I can see the steps to tangle the feet and put them down
gigasbleach99 (December 31, 1969 at 6:59 pm)
Hey Does anyone know the exact sword in real life that Kojiro sasaki used in the movies?
