Education with a battle axe
Published: Thu, 09/26/13
I was training with Hugh last night and we worked our way through
the basics and advanced exercises with the axe. To use the axe
correctly it needs a lot of control and focus and you quickly
become aware of when you are on the line of the web and when you
are not. Of course the attacker needs to be able to cut according
to the web line so that the attacks teach awareness of the web.
The reason Ivar trained in Japan for 14 years was so that he could
learn to cut correctly. In Japan Ivar trained with the boken
(literally stick sword) or actual Katana for some solo training but
the skill translates directly to the axe. Ivar learned a great
deal in Japan but being able to cut on the web lines was the most
important thing. By combining the stances, the five principles and
the ability to genuinely work with the lines meaningful martial
training becomes possible. Because Ivar was able to cut correctly
I could learn to see the lines myself (although it doesn't come
quickly, probably around eight years of training and solo practice
before seeing the lines becomes intuitive) so when I am teaching I
can provide the same opportunity to my students.
Anyway, back to our training session last night. We were trying
one of the variations on the trel exercise where the defender draws
back from an attacking cut to the hip and draws the axe from the
belt ring. From there the axe is raised to the head and used to
intercept a follow up cut straight down to the head. There is a
tendency for the defender to want to get to one side of the attack
and avoid being directly in line of the second cut. This is
understandable but the result is that the cut will push past the
defender's weapon and if it was a serious attack the defender
would be wounded or killed every time. But if the defender can
intercept from the centreline then the defenders weapon will
deflect the attacker's axe and leave the attacker's head
open to a counter.
Sorry if this is a bit technical but the lesson is that if you are
going to hold your position and dominate the centerline you have to
do it with full commitment to remaining in the centre of your web.
If you try and hedge your bets by shifting into what seems like a
safer position then you lose. If you are not going to be fully
committed then get right out of the way. It is easy to read
endless theory about thinking your way to success but the advantage
of martial training is that you get first hand experience of how
the web works and physical feed back to show whether or not your
are getting it right. A picture may be worth a 1000 words but
avoiding getting hit with a wooden axe is probably worth 100 times
that.
This is why I believe Stav is worth learning and this is why I am
developing the membership scheme so that I can teach more even at a
distance. Hopefully you will still train face to face with an
instructor sometimes but you will be better prepared when you do if
you have practiced what you will be able to learn as an Ice and
Fire member. After the 5th of October membership will cost
£20 per month but until then you can join for £15 per
month, visit http://www.iceandfire.org.uk/join.html for details.
regards
Graham
PS I used to live with several cats and one had a litter of
kittens. We kept one called Bruin. We called her Bruin because
she was small and brown and looked a bit like a teddy bear.
Bruin's mother liked to sit in the top of our bedroom wardrobe
where she was well out of the way of the other cats. She could be
on her own up there because there was actually no way for even a
cat to get up there. Bruin's mother used to get me to pick her
up so that she could get onto my shoulder and from there into the
top of the wardrobe. There she would sit and Bruin would come into
the bedroom, see her mother there and want to join her. I
didn't want to lift the kitten up there partly because I knew
the mother wanted some peace and quiet and partly because it was
much to high for a tiny cat to jump down from. But Bruin was
determined that she would get into the top of the wardrobe... to be
continued.