European Sword Drawing or HEMA Iaijutsu

A lot of people seem to think that drawing the sword and cutting at the same time is a privilige of the katana or other curved swords. The truth is drawing and cutting depends largely on the size of the blade. In this video, we show some basic counter cuts with arming swords (one short, one long) and a longsword against both. Some of the techniques can be found in the treatises of Fiore Dei Liberi, Hans Talhoffer and Angelo Viggiani. Others are extrapolations based on them - if you can do a cut from below, it certainly makes sense that you can make a middle cut or one from above. Some techniques won’t work if the scabbard is on a belt. For others it doesn’t really ma We know historically it was sometimes carried in the hand. The tightness of the scabbards also matters, there are cheaply made from cardboard and cotton. My longsword scabbard was a bit too tight, so there is only just a bit of it. Swords used: Regenyei XIV - 70 cm of blade Albion - 80 cm of blade Regenyei longsword blunt - 92 cm of blade Posting for the HEMAA April Challenge.