- Freestyle fencing with the historical arsenal
Lancelot's tour de sparring in Taiwan
by Lancelot Chan
Before I start talking about the tour, I would like to take the time to thank the ex-chief secretary of Wu Tan Swordsmanship Club, Sharon Siao. Without her help, this tour would not be feasible. She was my host and arranged the living place, foods and transportation within Taipei city for me. She had made my 14 days of stay an enjoyable experience and I owe her many thanks.
Since I have started sharing our sparring videos on the net, there have been talks about the validity of our sparring methods on various forum and some had invited me to fight them in Taiwan. Added to the fact that I have several customers over there, as well as the desire to take a vacation after handing in my master degree dissertation, I decided to pay Taipei a visit and spar with the people there. It was the first time they experienced medieval European swordsmanship in person. Since there were too many bouts video taped, I would only show the bouts that my opponent is trained in martial arts here.
Before I headed off for my trip, I mailed the sparring swords I would use in this trip, which are European Bastard Sword, Katana, Jian and 2 daggers to Sharon's office. On June 18, I took the plane and arrived Taiwan safely. Since I am not new to Taiwan, I took the bus to Taipei city by myself and started looking for Chung Hwa Artistic Swords Conservation Association that both international swordmakers Fred Chen and Paul Chen are members of. I towed my baggage to the national library and found its address, then I walked to the location that was not too far away.
In the shop I introduced myself briefly to the wife of the director, who was the shopkeeper. Later on I talked to the current director of the association, Mr. Wong Sin Ji for hours about swords and examined his collection of both replica and antiques. It was an assuring experience to see that many Chinese sword antiques do handle like our Dao and Jian. Mr. Wong is an very open person to told me which among his collections are fake antiques and which are true. We also talked about the current Taiwan swordmakers.
On 20 June, it was my first day of sparring in Taiwan. My opponents were my customers who bought Chinese Jian. Sharon brought me to the national music theatre for the fight. Unlike in Hong Kong, I can spar right in front of the gigantic government building without getting caught. It also eliminate the weather problem. I could only wish I have such convenience in Hong Kong.
Since they are my customers, I did not want the sparring to be too harsh for them. So before we started going full speed, I let them to have warm up rounds with slow motion movements. I fought Kingfoolish (net handle) first, who practices Taiji Jian.
For those who cannot view the video, here is a result list of the bouts:
Lancelot vs Kingfoolish
3 warm up rounds.
1 Kingfoolish thrust belly.
2 Lancelot cut chest.
3 Lancelot thrust neck.
4 Lancelot thrust chest.
5 Lancelot cut head.
6 Lancelot cut body.
7 Lancelot cut arm.
8 Kingfoolish thrust neck.
9 Kingfoolish cut elbow.
10 Lancelot cut leg.
11 Kingfoolish cut thigh slightly, Lancelot cut head.
12 Lancelot thrust chest.
13 Lancelot cut forearm.
14 Lancelot cut arm.
15 Lancelot cut ribs.
16 Lancelot cut forearm.
17 Kingfoolish thrust neck.
18 Lancelot cut arm.
19 Lancelot cut hand.
Then Lancelot fought another customer, Lieu Lwan, who practices Jian within Wu Tan system in Ching Hwa University
Lancelot vs Lieu Lwan
5 rounds warm up
1 Lancelot cut forearm. Lieu wrong blade alignment hit forearm.
2 Lancelot cut head.
3 Lancelot cut hand.
4 Lancelot cut arm.
5 Lancelot cut chest.
6 Lancelot cut head. Lieu cut body.
7 Lieu slice rib. Lancelot cut arm.
8 Lancelot slice neck.
9 Lancelot cut arm.
10 Lancelot cut chest.
11 Lancelot cut head.
My next fight with martial arts trained opponent was with Ryan. He has been practicing Chinese martial arts including Hung Gar Dao but since I did not brought Dao along with me, he borrowed the Jian to fight and tried to imitate my way of sparring using the 2 edged weapon.
Warm up 3 rounds.
1 Lancelot cut leg.
2 Lancelot cut hand.
3 Lancelot cut hand.
4 Lancelot cut leg.
5 Lancelot cut hand.
6 Lancelot cut hand.
7 Lancelot cut shoulder.
8 Lancelot cut forearm.
9 Lancelot cut body.
10 Lancelot slice neck.
11 Lancelot cut thigh.
12 Lancelot cut arm.
13 Lancelot cut back.
14 Lancelot cut body.
15 Ryan cut hand.
16 Ryan slice shoulder.
17 Lancelot cut body.
18 Lancelot cut leg.
19 Lancelot cut hand.
20 Lancelot cut hand.
After everybody had tried sparring with Realistic Sparring Weapons, I performed a small lecture on the techniques I employed during the bouts to introduce medieval European swordsmanship. They had also expressed that the Jian was heavier than the wushu Jian they used to practice with, and the bastard sword was not as heavy as they expected.
Before we left, we took a group photo before heading to Chung Hwa Artistic Swords Conservation Association for more sword-talks.
On the next day, my martial arts friend Crane arrived Taipei city from Miao Lue to spar with me on the same location. He had short term training with Wushu Dao before. Since he did not ask for warm up rounds, we went for full speed bouts from the beginning. He tended to keep his distance too far away.
1 Lancelot cut back. Crane hit with wrong blade alignment.
2 Lancelot cut body.
3 Lancelot cut forearm.
4 Lancelot cut forearm.
5 Lancelot cut hand.
6 Crane cut forearm.
7 Lancelot cut elbow.
8 Lancelot cut forearm.
9 Lancelot cut forearm.
10 Lancelot cut forearm.
11 Lancelot thrust chest.
12 Crane cut forearm.
13 Lancelot cut arm.
14 Lancelot cut forearm.
15 Lancelot cut forearm.
16 Lancelot cut hand.
17 Crane cut hand.
After the sparring, we went to another swords shop called Wu Yin Ji and spent a nice evening with the shop owner.
On 23rd June, I traveled to Taipei University to fight some exciting opponents. One of them, Ju Fa Yue Yi had told me on a forum months ago that his friends wondered how I would match up with them, for they found my style to be "weird and questionable" on videos. So I took the chance to prove myself. We went to the old gym in the university and started sparring there.
My first opponent was a karate player and self-taught Katana user who named himself Karate. He wielded 2 daggers to fight me in this bout, though.
1 Lancelot cut leg.
2 Lancelot cut leg.
3 Lancelot cut body.
4 Lancelot cut leg.
5 Lancelot cut leg.
6 Lancelot cut leg.
7 Karate cut elbow. Lancelot cut head.
8 Lancelot thrust neck.
9 Lancelot cut head.
10 Lancelot cut leg.
Right after, a former kendoka who is now a member of Taiwan University Martial Arts club and practices Chinese martial arts called Weili asked me to fight. He wielded Katana.
1 Lancelot cut hand.
2 Lancelot cut leg.
3 Weili cut hand.
4 Lancelot cut leg. Weili cut chest.
5 Lancelot cut arm.
6 Weili hit arm with wrong blade alignment. Lancelot cut chest.
7 Lancelot cut leg.
8 Weili cut forearm.
9 Lancelot cut belly.
10 Lancelot cut head. Weili hit with wrong blade alignment.
11 Lancelot thrust neck.
12 Lancelot cut belly.
13 Lancelot cut elbow.
Weili expressed after the fight that the Katana was much heavier than the Shinai he used to wield and was like the real sword he had handled. Then of course I had to fight Ju Fa Yue Yi, who is trained in unarmed Chinese martial arts and took up Jian to fight me.
1 Lancelot cut leg. (Ju landed a few mere touches here and there but did not penetrate)
2 Ju slice hand. Lancelot cut forearm.
3 Lancelot cut leg.
4 Lancelot cut hand.
5 Lancelot cut hand.
6 Lancelot cut leg.
7 Ju cut hand.
8 Lancelot cut hand.
9 Lancelot cut leg.
10 Lancelot cut hand.
11 Lancelot cut body.
12 Lancelot cut hand.
13 Lancelot cut head.
14 Lancelot cut body.
15 Ju cut hand.
16 Lancelot cut hand.
17 Lancelot hit the ground.
18 Lancelot cut forearm.
19 Lancelot cut thigh.
20 Lancelot cut hand.
21 Lancelot cut body.
22 Lancelot cut arm.
23 Lancelot cut forearm.
24 Lancelot cut forearm.
Since Karate was handicapped by the choice of weapon in the last bout, I invited him to fight me again. This time he was using 2 swords.
1 Karate thrust side.
2 Lancelot cut shoulder.
3 Lancelot cut forearm.
4 Karate cut arm.
5 Lancelot cut neck.
6 Lancelot cut body.
7 Lancelot thrust chest.
8 Lancelot cut arm.
9 Lancelot cut body.
10 Karate cut head.
11 Lancelot cut body.
12 Lancelot cut body.
13 Lancelot cut neck.
14 Karate cut hand.
15 Karate cut body.
16 Lancelot cut neck.
17 Karate cut shoulder.
18 Karate cut hand.
After everyone had fought enough, comments were exchanged and we went to have our lunch, taking a group photo.
Later on, Ju brought me to the famous swordmaker Chen Tien Yang's shop. He also told me that the best among his friends in Taiwan University martial arts club was not present on the day and he would like me to fight him on another day. In the afternoon, I and Crane returned to the university to have more fights with daggers.
On the Saturday, Sharon brought me to the university she studied in, the World News University, to fight her friends in the martial arts club there. They were all trained in Wu Tan system with the swordsmanship of Jian and Miao Dao. At first, they found my sparring swords to be heavier than their wooden training weapons and it took a few minutes to explain that I was making them after steel blades handling characteristic. I also introduced briefly about the swordsmanship I practice but no one seemed interested at that moment. I knew then that it would take my action to arouse their interest.
My first fight there was with Duke, who picked up the Katana and use Miao Dao method to fight.
1 Lancelot cut hand.
2 Lancelot cut arm.
3 Lancelot cut leg.
4 Lancelot cut thigh.
5 Lancelot cut forearm.
6 Lancelot cut forearm.
7 Lancelot cut knee.
8 Lancelot cut forearm.
9 Lancelot cut hand.
10 Lancelot cut knee.
11 Lancelot cut head. Duke cut arm.
12 Lancelot slice hand.
13 Lancelot cut forearm.
14 Lancelot cut forearm. Duke cut belly.
15 Duke cut forearm.
16 Lancelot thrust shoulder.
17 Lancelot cut arm.
18 Duke hit with wrong blade alignment. Lancelot cut arm.
19 Duke hit the ground.
20 Lancelot cut leg.
I was right. After my first sparring, they had given me another look and one of their best Miao Dao fighters, Kevin, fought me with Miao Dao method.
1 Lancelot thrust chest.
2 Kevin cut neck.
3 Lancelot cut leg.
4 Lancelot cut knee.
5 Lancelot cut hand.
6 Lancelot cut face.
7 Lancelot cut leg.
8 Lancelot thrust neck. Kevin cut hand.
9 Kevin cut forearm.
10 Lancelot cut head.
11 Lancelot cut head.
12 Lancelot cut thigh.
13 Lancelot cut hand.
14 Kevin cut head. Lancelot cut rib.
15 Lancelot cut body.
16 Lancelot cut leg.
17 Lancelot cut arm.
18 Lancelot thrust neck.
19 Kevin cut hand.
20 Lancelot cut belly.
21 Lancelot cut arm.
22 Lancelot cut leg.
23 Kevin cut forearm.
24 Lancelot slice head.
25 Lancelot cut hand.
26 Kevin thrust face.
27 Lancelot cut hand.
28 Lancelot cut arm. Kevin cut arm.
29 Lancelot cut hand.
30 Lancelot cut belly.
31 Lancelot cut head. Kevin cut arm.
32 Kevin cut hand.
33 Kevin point chest. Lancelot cut arm.
34 Lancelot cut hand.
35 Lancelot cut body. Kevin hit with wrong blade alignment.
36 Lancelot cut leg.
37 Lancelot cut leg.
38 Kevin slice rib. Lancelot cut neck.
Afterwards, two of their best Jian fighters tried their hands on sparring, using my equipment and their method. It was a spectacular fight that even though I was not involved, I could not help but to share it here.
Then I fought their Jian fighter Donkey.
1 Lancelot cut leg.
2 Lancelot cut arm.
3 Lancelot cut thigh.
4 Lancelot cut thigh.
5 Lancelot cut arm.
6 Donkey cut forearm.
7 Donkey cut hand.
8 Lancelot cut body.
9 Lancelot cut leg.
10 Donkey cut body.
11 Lancelot thrust chest.
12 Lancelot cut body.
13 Donkey cut chest.
14 Lancelot cut arm.
Then we went on sparring with different weapon combination, including daggers. I sparred Sharon (well, not for the first time already) with both of us using Jian. Later, we ended the day with new friendship forged. They realized the importance of full contact sparring with realistically handling weapons and were impressed by medieval European swordsmanship.
In the final week of my stay, because of the typhoon near Taiwan, my RA started to act up and caused me great pain. Just one day before I headed back to Hong Kong, Ju Fa Yue Yi finalized an event on Thursday where I could meet the Taiwan University martial arts club chairman. I invited Wu Yin Ji's shop owner to come over and watch our sparring. So I headed there for my last fights of this tour. My first fight was with Weili again. He expressed that it was a regret that he could not fight me with Jian on the last meeting so I gave him the chances to kill me with the Chinese sword.
1 Lancelot cut elbow.
2 Weili cut hand.
3 Lancelot slice finger.
4 Lancelot cut leg.
5 Lancelot cut body.
6 Lancelot cut forearm. Weili cut hand.
7 Weili cut his shin accidentally.
8 Weili cut leg.
9 Lancelot cut hand.
10 Weili thrust face.
11 Lancelot cut forearm.
12 Lancelot cut forearm.
13 Weili thrust forearm.
14 Lancelot cut hand.
15 Lancelot cut elbow.
Then I got to fight Ju Fa Yue Yi again.
1 Lancelot cut forearm. Ju cut hand.
2 Lancelot cut hand.
3 Lancelot cut leg.
4 Lancelot cut hand. Ju cut hand.
5 Lancelot cut back.
6 Lancelot cut hand.
7 Lancelot cut wrist.
8 Lancelot cut forearm.
9 Lancelot cut wrist.
10 Lancelot cut back.
11 Lancelot cut arm.
12 Lancelot cut arm.
13 Lancelot cut leg.
14 Lancelot cut hand.
Leo, the chairman, eventually showed up during my sparring with Ju and we sparred after I had taken enough rest from the previous fight. This fight happened to be my longest fight in Taiwan.
1 Lancelot cut hand.
2 Leo cut his own leg.
3 Lancelot cut hand.
4 Leo cut leg.
5 Lancelot cut back.
6 Lancelot cut hand.
7 Leo cut hand. Lancelot cut forearm.
8 Lancelot cut leg.
9 Lancelot cut head.
10 Lancelot cut forearm.
11 Lancelot cut wrist.
12 Lancelot cut back.
13 Lancelot cut leg.
14 Lancelot cut hand.
15 Leo hit the ground.
16 Lancelot cut leg.
17 Lancelot cut back.
18 Lancelot cut body.
19 Lancelot cut head. Leo slice neck.
20 Lancelot cut thigh.
21 Lancelot cut neck.
22 Lancelot cut hand.
23 Lancelot cut elbow.
24 Lancelot cut leg.
25 Lancelot cut body.
26 Leo cut arm.
27 Leo cut side. Lancelot cut back.
28 Leo cut forearm.
29 Leo cut belly. Lancelot cut head.
30 Lancelot slice body.
31 Lancelot thrust chest.
32 Leo hit the ground.
Weili proposed to fight me with Katana again. After all, his Kendoka blood runs deeper than his Chinese martial arts blood.
1 Lancelot cut leg.
2 Weili cut armpit.
3 Lancelot cut hand.
4 Lancelot cut hand.
5 Lancelot cut thigh.
6 Lancelot cut hand.
7 Weili thrust throat.
8 Weili slice forearm. Lancelot cut arm.
9 Weili cut rib.
10 Lancelot cut arm.
11 Lancelot cut hand.
12 Lancelot cut forearm.
13 Weili cut elbow. Lancelot cut forearm.
14 Lancelot cut thigh.
15 Lancelot cut hand.
16 Lancelot cut hand. Weili hit with spine of the Katana.
17 Lancelot cut hand.
18 Weili cut forearm. Lancelot cut shoulder.
19 Lancelot cut hand.
20 Weili cut hand.
Afterwards, Wu Yin Ji's shop owner expressed that she did not expect to see us fighting in full contact full body targeting mode. She thought the swordfight I mentioned to her back in her shop last week was more like the pre-arranged sparring on film and I had opened up her eyes. We went to Wu Yin Ji for lunch and talk. Hours later, Ju took me to Paul Chen's shop in Taiwan, Xia Ke Shin and the shopkeeper there was very welcoming. He allowed us to take photos and handled every weapon on display there. He talked to us about swords in detail for many hours. After knowing what I practices, he took out some European swords from the storage that were not on display to share with me. Showed following are some photos I had taken in the shop.
There ends my tour de sparring in Taiwan.