Shinai in Ansteorra

[Pug]

> For anyone still in the dark, a shinai is a practice weapon made of
> split bamboo designed to simulate the weight and feel of a katana(which
> many people now call a "samarai sword").

I understand this now. I was quite confused since I thought it was the
practice sword, but the way it was referred to it implied that it was a
style of fighting that I didn't know.

> I personally have mixed feelings about shinai fighting. First of all I
> don't know that much about SCA shinai fighting except that people do
> it. Ysoulde, your explanation has not cleared up my understanding much.
> You have said that it is unarmored and then told us about the armor
> regulations. You have said that it is "no holds barred" and then told
> us that there you are trying to pass strict rules. So I'm a little
> confused.

Ahh!! I'm not the only one confused on this! Good!

> In my 10 years of SCA fighting the thing that I have found most 
> striking(NPI) when I have encountered other fighting styles is not the
> differences, but the similarities.

What we know day in and day out (even by observation) is probably heavily
influencing our styles of combat in the SCA. (ie. when 2 people stand up
to fight, they look like "so", and when two large groups of people stand
up opposite each other they move like "so") Being in a different country
may affect the style of fighting since the types of activities in every
day life are changed subtly.

Btw, took me a long while to get NPI. Yet another TLA I didn't know.

Ciao,

-- 
Phelim Uhtred Gervas  | "I want to be called. COTTONTIPS. There is something 
Barony of Bryn Gwlad  |  graceful about that lady. A young woman bursting with 
House Flaming Dog     |  vigor. She blinked at the sudden light. She writes
pug at arlut.utexas.edu  |  beautiful poems. When ever shall we meet again?"