Sword Drawing Techniques - Medieval Knightly Sword

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PATREON - / malaguttifederico
0:00 Drawing!
0:09 Historical and Social Context
1:44 Some Basic Concepts
2:57 Draw 1: Defensive Thrust
3:51 Draw 2: Offensive Thrust
4:39 Draw 3: Sottano (Upward Cut)
5:55 Draw 4: Mezzano (Horizontal cut)
8:36 Draw 5: "Oh sh*t" Parry
9:30 Draw 6: REVERSE GRIP!
10:18 Outro
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WARNING: The advice and movements shown in this video are for informational and educational purposes only. Consult a health professional before engaging in any exercise or martial arts program.

[@bombardboxing]

Japanese iaido/iaijutsu works so well because the scabbard is loose and movable in the belt, so as the sword is drawn the scabbard can be simultaneously withdrawn, greatly speeding things up as well as allowing for a longer and stronger cut with a greater arc

[@nevisysbryd7450]

I have argued this for years! The curvature of the sword is largely irrelevant (at most, it enables you to draw a slightly longer sword without issue); it is mostly a matter of length, and katanas happen to cap out at around the maximum blade length that people can reliably draw under pressure with little likelihood of failure to draw. The comparatively inflexible suspension systems popular in Europe tend to be only particularly good for two draws and suboptimal for another two or three if the suspension methods is hung comparatively loosely (eg late, low-handing longsword suspension systems or rapier sword carriages). The crux of battojutsu/iaijutsu/iaido indeed lies proportionally more in the suspension system. The loose and tied configuration allows it to be easily rotated to alter the angle the draw relative to the wielder profile and the ability to slip backwards and forwards enables a longer blade draw and angle variation by wielder side. The overall setup allows for not the maximum of two-to-five angles of rigid suspension systems but pretty much any angle at which the tip of the sword can clear the mouth of the scabbard, which makes if _far_ less predictable and thus more difficult to prevent or disable.

[@bombardboxing]

@@nevisysbryd7450 well said, particularly about the angles and ability to turn the scabbard.

[@vedymin1]

Depends on the type of scabbard suspension, especially the later types have the scbrd dangle on multiple additional strips off of the belt, it allows lots of freedom.

[@Varim.Gaunniss]

Hello my friend! Let me hang on last method you've showed here at 9:35 it is an actual drawing technique of Polish fencers from Gdańsk. Imagine narrow streets, hallways and corridors, you'd have your saber closer to your dominant hand (so most of the time right hip) and you would draw like a knife to do a parry or maybe prepare to stab your opponent. So not as bad as folks would make it to be, I think this one works better with a curved sword than with straight.

[@epone3488]

I genuinely wonder about Iaido and its practice; primarily because during the Sengoku and earlier eras the hilt [tsuka] of the swords where worn in-line with the body (parallel and parallel with the body or as close as possible) Much of the physical archaeology in the form of art items show this presentation of the swords, scabbard [saya] and hilt [tsuka]. Whereas during the Edo period the "modern" positioning of the sword was adopted with the scabbard [saya] and hilt [tsuka] worn more perpendicular to the waist. It - Iaido - also makes more sense as an artistic pursuit during the Edo period when real battle was much harder to come by, much less prevalent. More ritualized forms of martial pursuits came to the fore during the Edo period. Moreover it was common practice to request the removal of one or both swords; to the point where there are significant references in the period texts (Sengoku) of the hidden blade retained by Samurai to avoid being totally disarmed in such situations. With the tsuka up at nearly 'chin' height would it even be possible to practice Iaido? When seated it may have been more practical with the sword at the side; however period art often shows the sword placed to the side and not on the waist. More research is required, however, I think its still an unresolved issue as to the practice during the Sengoku and earlier.

[@glennericnaylor276]

47min practice. 1hand, SnB, and some time on the pell. Getting stronger. Time for some "full gear bashy bashy practice"!!!

[@nevisysbryd7450]

I have an entire playlist compiled on thsi topic. Tueler drills, and likely predominantly a self-defense technique for civil life ambush contexts.

[@glennericnaylor276]

Great topic Frede! Iaido kept me going when I thought I was gonna be a cripple. I still give it 30min a week for peace of mind. Ok, I gotta go practice, and curse you for getting me into KCD. God only knows how many hours I'm going to loose to that game.

[@FedericoMalagutti]

You are welcome!!

[@theodoreharrold9875]

I found that game long before this channel, and I probably can't fathom how many hours I've put in it, cant wait for the sequel

[@farkasmactavish]

9:42 [SellswordArts has entered the chat]

[@FedericoMalagutti]

LoL

[@Davlavi]

I have always wondered if there was an aido like tradition in western tradition.

[@Manweor]

We were just talking about doing some non-competitive plays and today we saw Fiore's longsword vs dagger!

[@FedericoMalagutti]

Lovely!!

[@lildragon0]

You know what would also be nice? You showed batto (drawing) techniques, but the other half of iaido is noto (returning sword to scabbard). I would love to be able to return an arming sword to its scabbard without looking the way I can do that with a katana. It may not be possible with a double edged blade, but if it is, it would be nice for staying alert.

[@FedericoMalagutti]

I honestly do not care too much about that part! It looks cool of course but I see the re-sheathing of the sword something that you do after the job is done. Plus, I would never put my sword full of biological matter into the scabbard lol!

[@FedericoMalagutti]

But yeah I think exactly what you said, with a double edged sword is extremely hard to do, you can’t feel the “flat” or “the false edge”with the fingers to redirect the sword while doing the action, as the false edge would either cut the scabbard or the flesh

[@lildragon0]

@@FedericoMalagutti Well, to be fair, you put the sword back into the scabbard after you wipe it and after you BELIEVE the job is done. Maybe someone else will try to attack you while you're looking down? Or maybe the downed person is reaching for a throwing knife or crossbow? That's why it helps to keep your eyes alert and up instead of down, looking at your sword and scabbard.

[@nevisysbryd7450]

I have actually experimented with this exact thing. You can do it, although you have to make some modifications. With a symmetrical, double-edged blade, rather than bracing the blade against the spine of the blade, you brace it against the flat, with your fingers on the plane of the flat rather than the face perpendicular to the scabbard (since that is the blade edge on our case). You also draw it against the profile plane of the scabbard opening rather than the distal. It requires more attention and user precision than the katana due to the mechanics, though it is certainly doable. I personally like adding in some of the ritual/aesthetic flourishes to the process, of which you can find a fair bit in battojutsu and iaido disciplines and practitioners. I have a playlist on the topic that I think is set to public on my 'channel.'

[@bombardboxing]

​@@nevisysbryd7450 exactly what I was going to write. That's how I do it.

[@puddel9079]

I was not aware that you could do these draw cuts, interesting.

[@gameragodzilla]

Always was interested in this for Western swords since quick drawing would be very important for any self defense scenario, whether it’d be a Japanese samurai using a katana against a bandit or a modern person drawing a pistol against a mugger.

[@scottk9273]

I'm surprised no ones mentioned this. His body alignment on the draw is superb. It's so easy to get lazy with stance and and positioning.

[@alexthepunk84]

Wide blades for swords like yours are stunning ! Keep up the good work

[@MartinGreywolf]

I have more practical experience in this than most - meaning I managed to do quickdraws in group fights and duels under stress a couple of times, because doing this successfully and not dying is pretty hard. So here are my insights. Being able to attack from a draw is not very useful, and neither is quick drawing per se. You want some proficiency in it to be able to get your hand on your sword grip properly with consistency, but going for iaido levels of speed is overkill. In most situations, a couple hundred millisecnods of difference on draw speed won't matter - but half a second versus two or three might! About the only place you could get much from truly blisteringly fast draw speeds are formal duels, but European duels started at significant distances and with already-drawn weapons, so... Where you will need to draw quickly is in battles if your primary weapon becomes useless. This is where my personal experience is from. In duels starting with spear and shield, you can sometimes decide to throw the spear and draw the sword - this is obviously done at a range of about 5 meters or so, and the real trick to this is using your shield with outstretched arm while drawing under it. There isn't much in the way of viable attacks from the draw you can do here (the two shields being in the way) except maybe a very low mezzano to the legs. It's more important to use your shield well when making contact after your enemy is (hopefully) off-balance thanks to spear throw. The messier and more dangerous quick draw needs to be done when you loose your spear (mine got entangled in enemy shield wall, historical ones could also penetrate shields and get stuck - or get stuck inside someone's ribcage) - if this happens, you want to do a hanging parry as you draw and move it around to deflect spear thrusts as needed, because if the enemy spearmen are paying attention, you loosing your own stabby-stick is going to make you their number one target. You have to draw and sort of wiggle the sword and scabbard as you do so, mimicking how you deflect quick thrusts in Fiore's Croce Bastardo. (You may also opt for quick draw if you loose your spearhead, but you may also use the remaining spear shaft as a staff, I've done both) All of that said, number one quick draw you should be practicing, because it comes up hell of a lot in any even slightly armored fighting (or when shields are involved)? Dagger. If you are able to quickly identify this is a good time to let go of your sword and plunge your dagger into someone, it will win you a surprising amount of fights. Also try to practice this from positions on the ground, nothing reverses a good throw than a bollock dagger to its namesake - although this may be useless for modern competition.

[@corrugatedcavalier5266]

Fun stuff! I really like the stepping back and to the left to buy yourself a bit of space/time.

[@mintyyqueen1703]

Love your content

[@koloblican11763]

Fede, I am glad you keep making videos. Helps me remember so many things, and refreshes me for teaching :D You are a great model for our art!

[@FedericoMalagutti]

Thank you for the kind words!

[@joshdeeney8456]

The more I practice Fiore, the more I realize all the sections apply to each other. So, in my opinion, every section is about sword drawing.

[@FedericoMalagutti]

Well, it may be that every section follows sword drawing, but the one handed sword starts there where the scabbard is. Horse section is connected to it.

[@ryanvreeland1388]

Reverse grip draw could be good in armor. I found it was quicker and easier to draw blade with hand on same side as the sword(as in your left hand if scabbard is on left). Especially if you need to draw quick if your spear/poleweapon is comprimised(aka broken, or more likely enemy got around tip). Though, dagger in scenerio of rushing enemy is the better option. Food for thought.

[@FedericoMalagutti]

Interesting!

[@farkasmactavish]

through some experimentation on my part, I've found that stepping back on the side you wear the sword helps. Sort of drawing the scabbard of while drawing the sword out.

[@FedericoMalagutti]

It’s more about timing I would say! Because the crucial point is the relationship between scabbard, hip and sword-hand shoulder positioning! Doing it together makes it faster!

[@farkasmactavish]

@@FedericoMalagutti Agreed. It's especially crucial if you have a rapier, which I have pulled off, but it's very tricky.

[@genustinca5565]

Many thanks for this video. Love the sword also. Where did you obtain it? I think for the last one ('giant knife') it is not so much about speed but about the amount of force you can exert. That's why it is often depicted as knights trying to force their way through the armor of their opponent.

[@FedericoMalagutti]

It’s an Albion Sheriff ^^

[@ProsperTipaldi]

Great video! I would love to see sparing practice involving sword drawing! I wonder if there is some fun way it could be implemented into the rules. (And what about the famous "Pommel right into the opponent's face" draw? 😄 🙃 )

[@FedericoMalagutti]

The pommel to the face works only if you are the one starting the violence and the other chap is talking at lesser than 1m from your face, lol ;-) Sparring can be done but it needs restrictions to be useful and doable

[@nevisysbryd7450]

Medieval 'real scenario' training. One person seeks to get the jump on you, you to defend yourself. And as Federico said, it would need tighter safety restrictions, much as similar practices for knife and firearm drawing-under-pressure practices today. It is far easier to accidentally injure someone when a lack of awareness is and weapons potentially caught up scabbards are involved.

[@radianman]

Another great video! Coincidentally I am working on a similar video using a longsword (a new weapon for me). I have been studying Iaijutsu and Iaido for the past 32 years and I was curious about whether or not I could use Iaijutsu techniques with the longsword. In Iaijutsu the uchi katana is part of a weapon-set that includes the saya (scabbard), obi (belt) and hakama. My initial test was to use the longsword with obi and hakama, from which I determined it is not possible, however next I want to buy a sword belt to see if that will work. May I ask where you purchased your belt?

[@FedericoMalagutti]

It has been made by a local Artisan named “Mastro Girolamo”. You can easily find him on Facebook and Instagram

[@radianman]

@@FedericoMalagutti Thank you!

[@PoorMansHEMA]

Nice video as always! Who makes that sword?

[@FedericoMalagutti]

It’s an Albion Sheriff (sharp)

[@PoorMansHEMA]

@@FedericoMalagutti Much appreciated

[@fabricio-agrippa-zarate]

I would argue that the reason why we don't have sword drawing techniques ls because of the difference in shapes, compared with Japanese swords. Katanas, as curved blades, can be much more quickly drawn than a straight sword.

[@bombardboxing]

Also the way the scabbard is carried. Japanese scabbard are loose and movable in the belt so you can simultaneously draw the sword and pull the scabbard backwards, greatly speeding things up and allowing for a longer cut.

[@FedericoMalagutti]

The difference brought by this is minor. Sword length is what mainly matters ;-)

[@fabricio-agrippa-zarate]

@@FedericoMalagutti true! Thanks for your insight.

[@thfkmnIII]

​@@FedericoMalagutti the way the scabard is fixed also makes katana better for drawing cuts. It can move forward and back which allows the swordsman to unsheathe while also pulling the scabard back. European martial arts doesnt have this

[@nevisysbryd7450]

Blade curvature is irrelevant for draw speed. It might enable a longer blade to be drawn _at most,_ and the effect of that is likely negligible regardless. Europe had comparable blades, anyways; 'Swiss sabers' have an almost identical blade length, geometry, and handle length aside from the swept hilts. What matters is predominantly blade length and the suspension system. Tokugawa Era suspension systems are optimized to nigh-perfection for battojutsu/iaijutsu/iaido. Notably, this discipline seems to have been largely invented during that era, which was characterized as distinctly lower in military activity and increased mercantilism and beaurocracy. Most of the context of battojutsu indicates a comparatively modern civil context rather than military, much as that is also when we started to see quickdraw and drawing-attack discliplines be further developed in Europe much later on as well. It is likely not that European swords prevented this disclipline from developing in the European context, but that Europeans did not develop this discipline or design their suspension systems to a comparable design because they did not consider it as important as the Tokugawa Japanese did. My personal hypothesis is that the socioeconomic and sociopolitical context resulted in a lot more unarmored ambush violence in Japan as compared to European context where formal duels and more frequent open military conflict meant it was proportionally less of a concern in the minds of the populace.

[@KougarManx468]

I never thought that there was an european equivalent to iaido ? Those techniques were rather interesting to see in my opinion , l wonder could a person use the crossguard as a kind of hook during a sword drawing techique ? Maybe if the sword is in a longer lenght it could work , instead of completley drawing the sword out you pertialy draw it to around half it's lenght and if the opponent's blade get's caught bellow the crossguard to the blade you could either continue to do a cutting motionwhile grabing the opponent's arm/weapon in the process or by putting the sword back inside the scabard while gabing the opponent's weapon in order to dissarm him/her , this may or may not work in theory but in practice on the other hand it might be a little specific .

[@FedericoMalagutti]

It may be cool for a show fight but I wouldn’t consider it for fighting situations ;-)

[@KougarManx468]

@@FedericoMalagutti thank you for giving your persprctive on such an idea for a move or technique , cause l heard of the murderstroke technique in which the crossguard and pommel is used like a hammer and so l thought that something like that could also work for drawcuts .

[@nevisysbryd7450]

There is not, per se. While quickdrawing and draw-attack techniques exist in historical HEMA treatises, the discipline was not particularly elaborate or extensive. Fiore is the first European to broach the subject, afaik, and his coverage is very rudimentary. The accumulated techniques over the next couple of centuries added some, though not a lot, in comparison to the dozens of plays and techniques developed in Tokugawa Japan. Western quickdrawing disciplines did not become remotely as extensive until very recently, and moreso with knives and firearms than swords. I would probably not bother with the hooking thing, at least in the manner that you are describing. Reliability is paramount in quickdrawing as you are generally defenseless (and therefore maimed/dead) if it fails, and that sort of high-precision, awkward handling would have a much higher failure rate, assuming it _could_ work at all. At most, it might have hooking utility in a multi-action bind akin to some of the more complicated battojutsu/iaijutsu/iaido plays, after it has already been drawn and used to block and bind with an offending weapon.

[@AlexisB-gv1tk]

I've never been in a life death sword duel, but I feel like you could just dodge a draw cut.

[@FedericoMalagutti]

Many things can be done, fighting is full of variables

[@yowza234]

Why are you stepping before presenting your weapon as a threat?

[@FedericoMalagutti]

Because stepping is a component needed to draw the sword comfortably as I explain. And if I’m stepping forward most probably I’m the first one drawing. Plus I am showing things step by step.

[@PetrKavan]

Are you also as disappointed as me by sword not making that zzzziiiinggg sound when being drawn? It just makes sword drawing so less fun ...