Hank Reinhardt's The Book of the Sword (42 page)

In the West we have the description of someone being "in the zone." Many people have experienced this, and it is a time when everything is going perfectly. Your body moves with ease, everything works, and you don't have to think about it. You are fully concentrated, and yet you do not feel it. You are merely "doing." In Zen this is known as the state of mindlessness.

I have in the past made some mocking comments about some of the Eastern terminology. Yet as I have grown older sometimes the Eastern terms are the only ones that fit. Consider "Empty Mind." I have to confess that in my 72 years I have encountered many people that were essentially mindless. But this is not what I mean. Rather this is a state where the knowledge imparted to the body and absorbed by the mind flows freely, and without any conscious control. You simply are; and are simply doing.

One way to put this is that frequently the body knows what to do, particularly if it has had training. But all too often the mind will interfere with the body by simply "thinking" of what the body should do. This is wrong. Let the body respond as it has been taught. Properly taught, it is amazing how quickly and simply the body can react as needed. Let me add a quick warning here. The physical limitations that we all suffer from can be alleviated but cannot be denied. On this down note we will now go to something else.

Before going any further into comments on mental conditioning, it has to be emphasized that physical training and practice are required to achieve any level of proficiency, particularly in the field of swordplay. There may be natural killers, there may be natural fighters, natural lovers and natural con artists. But there are no natural swordsmen. Each weapon has its own style of usage which is optimal for that sword. The greatest weapon that Man possesses is his brain, his mind. It has allowed him to develop weapons that have insured his survival in a harsh world. Using mind and knowledge also allows for excellent swordplay.

I prefer the phrase "the calm before the storm" instead of "Empty Mind," for I think it communicates the feeling I wish to describe. The body should be still and calm, but more important, the mind should be still and calm as well. But maybe the term "Empty Mind" should also be used as well, for the mind must be devoid of conscious thought, conscious plan or intent. It should just "be." This is a difficult concept to get across, but on reflection I think that everyone has experienced awareness without thought. This is not meditation which tries to divorce the mind from its physical surroundings. Rather this is a state where you are intensely aware of your physical surroundings, have accepted them, and are prepared to take whatever action is required, but without having to think about it.

This cannot be emphasized enough. There are many ways to becoming good, there are many ways to becoming excellent; however, to become great you must be able to react without conscious thought, and react correctly.

The body must be relaxed and calm as well as the mind. I know this sounds silly when one may be talking about fencing, with lightning quick movements and constantly shifting positions for any small advantage it can give. But the truth is that you move better when you are relaxed. When tense, muscles are poised for action in one direction; in order to change direction they must first relax and shift position, and this requires time.

If you are relaxed prior to the movement, you can strike quicker and harder and more accurately. If you tighten up, harden your muscles preparatory to striking, you will do two things: one, you will give warning that you are about to strike (and often where), and two, you will not strike as quickly. Muscles are easier to control if they do not have to be relaxed before the blow. This problem is most common in the upper body, where shoulders, triceps, forearms and wrist are the primary muscles being used (hip and body movements add tremendous force to a blow but the muscles holding and guiding the sword are the primary movers). When these muscles are tightened up, other muscles, such as the biceps, are also involved, and these muscles must be relaxed before the other muscles can move properly. So be relaxed, you can do much better.

Consider this. When a weight lifter approaches the bar for a clean and jerk, he positions himself, concentrates his force on one explosive movement to bring the weight to his shoulders, then a quick concentration to force the weight overhead. During the setup, his muscles are tense, preparing for that explosive action. But should he suddenly be told that he has to do a snatch instead, he has to then readjust, for his muscles and mind were set for another action. This is always true of swordplay, as you never know where or how you will have to move.

It is a simple fact that you can move quicker in spontaneous action with muscles relaxed than with muscles tense and tight. So in order to be prepared for whatever happens, both mind and body must be relaxed and calm.

You can be born with confidence, you can learn it, you can lose it, you can regain it, it can be false, misplaced, or true, but it is something that you need. It is also something that your opponent must sense and realize when you first meet. Some attempt to impart this by scowling, snarling, growling or glaring. This might impress some people, but for those who are truly competent all it says is that he is trying to scare me because he is not confident that he can win on skill alone. It is much better to be simply calm and impassive. There is no need for any of these silly histrionics.

Let me go back to Mike Tyson once again. I admired him as a fighter, and one thing that I liked was that I never saw him glare or scowl at any opponent. Instead he was always calm and impassive, and also implacable. He gave the impression that he was there to do a job, and he would do it as if it was no big deal. His opposition found this very intimidating. I do not know if this was planned or that it was simply the way he was, but it worked very well, at least until he met Buster Douglas.

But required along with confidence is caution. I do not mean the caution that breeds fear, but rather the caution that fosters awareness. You are the best at what you do. No question, you are the best. The person you are facing is the second best, and is very tricky. If I am not totally aware, he could win, so I must not let my guard down.

Hank-type fantasy cutting sword. HRC106.

The problem is not so much overconfidence as in underestimating your opponent. Fights, battles and wars have been lost because someone underestimated their opponent. No better example can be used than WWII. Japan was supremely confident in their fighting ability, and completely underestimated the will to fight of the American people. On top of that they underestimated the industrial capacity of the US. Never, ever, underestimate your opponent.

I have had people say that this is contradictory, but it isn't. If you do not have complete confidence in what you are doing, you shouldn't be doing it. But having complete confidence in yourself does not mean you have to belittle or ignore your opponent. It means that you will be able to see what is happening, and will be able to counter the attacks.

This leads to a real striking difference in contest and actual swordplay. (Pun again intended with no shame or remorse.)

In real combat the action is not finished with just one blow. Instead it continues until the winner is assured that his enemy can no longer function. Dead, in short. We read of fights where many blows are struck. In
Egil's Saga,
Egil starts a duel dealing so many blows so quickly and ferociously that the guy he is fighting doesn't have time to return blow for blow. There is a break, and then Egil again attacks the same way and kills the other.

But while this happens in real fights, it is something that cannot be allowed to happen in sparring matches and contests in the various medieval and role playing groups we have today. There is simply too much of a chance for injury. Some may argue that this does not represent real combat, and they'd be right about it. No form of sword "play" can compare with actual combat.

* * *

Many many more pages could be written about the required mental attitudes and physical training needed for sword fights, whether real or in play. It is not the purpose of this book to detail all of the concepts, but I hope the above will give the reader who is interested a good idea of what is involved.

Liddell Hart, B.H.,
Strategy.
Penguin, London. First published 1954, revised 1967.

Musashi, Miyamoto,
Book of the Five Rings.
First published 1643.

Potter, Stephen,
Gamesmanship
, first published 1950,
Lifesmanship
, first published 1951,
Oneupsmanship
, first published 1952. These books are humor, but also give practical examples of how to get inside your opponent's head and were favorites of Hank's.

Tzu, Sun,
The Art of War.
First published possibly 403–221 BC.

[1] Katas: Martial arts body positions and exercises, as in karate.

—Jerry Proctor

The illustrations were selected by the editor after the author's death; if there are any errors the blame falls to the editor.

All interior photography is by Suzanne Hughes unless otherwise indicated. "HRC" in the caption indicates that an item is from the collection of Hank Reinhardt, and the number given is the collection number. All interior drawings are by Peter Fuller.

Measurements of antiques are listed but not that of reproduction weapons. Note that Hank usually refers to blade length in the text; measurements given in the captions are for overall length, following the standard convention for use in identifying individual items.

Introduction
1: Copper and Bronze
2: Iron and Steel
3: Design and Geometry of Swords
4: Wounds and the Effects of Swords
5: The Viking and Early Medieval Sword
6: The Fighting Milieu in the Viking and Early Middle Ages
7: European Swords: The Rapier and the Smallsword
8: European Swords: The Saber
9: European Two-Handed Swords
10: The Katana and
Other Japanese Swords
11: Eastern Two-Handed Swords
 

JAPANESE SWORDS

12: Exotic Blades

AFRICAN SWORDS

13: Basics of Cutting
14: Fighting with the Sword
Note on Illustrations