#krumphau

[vidilpoge]

2023-04-21 Training Log

Waiting for everybody to arrive I had the chance to ask to the instructor if I could sign up for the steel sword bracket in the next tourney. In our club we only drill and spar with syntetics and you need the instructors approval to wield steel, you usually get it after passing the end of the year exam and being a decent student that shows up at training and fence safely. The thing is I never ever went to the end of the year exam, so my instructor has to ask to the elders. To avoid losing face with strangers if people mess up they do not want you to join steel tounaments organized by other clubs if you have not competed in a our-club steel one, and frankly this rubs me the wrong way. If I catch wind of a event where I can fence with new people I want to be free to join.

Finally, in preparation for said upcoming club tournament, we sparred.

But first, warm-up, Lichtenauer's form and more drills about krumphau. We finally did the thing you are supposed to do with krumphau, that is to "break ochse". From vom tag recht doing so to ochse recht is easy stuff, it was just a little bit more interesting trying to swat a ochse linchs. If you get in the situation where you both are clycling throu guards without committing and somewhat you get in vom tag recht against an ochse linchs, you get to spin it to your advantage by swatting your "extended krumphau" into their hands. As the starting proposition is really situational and you need lighting flash decision making to pull it off I don't know who of us can really make it happen. Still it was a blast to drill.

Then we introduced kurtzhau, the Short Haw, and they told us "is a false edge krumphau". You really need to nail the tempo on this one. After a couple of drills we got to put our kit on and spar.

I was not feeling much tired and I had an appropiated pre workout snack. To my surprise, my sparring partner, that usually just goes chop chop, tried out a lot of ochse and a couple times also ventured for a thrust. That was me! Telling the whole hall and expecially him to frigging use all the binden and winden stuff we spent months drilling. The thing is forcing yourself to try out new tecniques takes a toll on you. In the debriefing we had after I told him that I noticed that he assumed lots of point forward guards and that was novel but I also noticed how much tiring it was for him and maybe to try to balance experimentation with things he already felt confortable with. Poor fella, didn't even know that to spar you need to manage your fatigue, both mental and physical.

Then we switched around and I got the guy with lotsa of sparring knowledge, in kickboxing, that is. We did technical, slow sparring as he doesn't have a jacket yet and his fingers hurt for reason unrealeted to fencing. He has a couple problems, if I must say

Very shortsighted, takes off spectacles to put the mask on

Very entusiastic, reads the primary sources and tries stuff at home alone in the mirror

Very confident, has years of boxe sparring under his belt

This results in a overconfident guy that wants to be Fiore but has never really drill'd a thing with a real person in front of him and who CANNOT keep giusta misura because he is blind. Giusta misura being what we call the distance between two squared off duelist so that they are just out of reach, in a way that they are safe from each other's blade, but they have to commit to forward movement to strike. You know, misura, one of the three component of fencing in the modern fencing theory. The other two are tempo (time) and velocità (speed). He can't keep out of reach and wants to be Fiore, good thing we are not allowed to do close combact and wrestling or he would be abraçare-ing our asses.

Just a little extra for having read all this, you will find amusing how abbracciare in modern italian means to hug, so you can read the last sentence like "hugging our asses"

[artist-kili]

I feel like Gilbert's favourite sword move would be the Krumphau.

It generates a lot of energy, is kinda technical difficult and it's just Zwerchhau's little brother. The zwerch is too basic for Gilbert tho so he loves throwing Lithuanias blade aside by krumping.

Its totally not because I really like it. Couldnt be. (I am also very terrible at it but its fun to figure it out!)

[dogesterone]

Krumphau burger cut or bust!!!

whatever you say, boss

CHOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE!

[i krumphau the burger. my angle and edge alignment is perfect, because of course it is. the burger is sliced in twain, top and bottom, along a plane that perfectly bisects the patty into two thin discs of meat of equal size. of course, i do this so flawlessly that my blade hardly disturbs the burger at all, and even as i sheath my blade, the hamburger looks no different than it did before]

OR

[i krumphau the burger. the burger goes flying and now my kitchen is a huge mess.]

[loathsome-little-creature]

German fencers so funny wtf is a “krumphau”

She zorn on my schwert till I krump

[manticoremedusaminotaur]

Krumphau-finis

[archipithecus]

i’ve been infected by longsword it’s in my dreams. every waking moment i’m thinking oberhau > kron > duplieren > ochs > retreat krumphau muterin > pflug schielhau > kron etc etc etc

[recoiloperated]

krumphau

Sauerkraut

[longswordsinlondon]

Krump quickly and throw the Ort on his hands [...] Here learn and know that the Krumphau is an Oberhau which is done in a bent manner with a good step to one side.This is why Liechtenauer says whoever wants to execute this strike, should step well to the right side while striking and shall throw or thrust the point over the hilt of the adversary onto his hands.

- “Pseudo-Doebringer” Gloss

Since I’ve been on a roll with shitty explanatory art. Here’s angles and distances in the Krumphau to the hands vs Langort 101. Blade and arm lengths are more or less measured, so the geometry works xD

[langenschwert]

Here we have Alex (left) demonstrating the Krumphau (Crooked Strike) with Brian last night. It’s an incredibly useful technique, as it creates a large area of defence: the Krumphau can defend against attacks coming from nearly any angle! “…when you come to him with the pre-fencing, then stand with the left foot before and lay your sword to your right side in the Barrier-Guard (or hold it on your right shoulder). If he then hews above to the opening, then hew strongly with your long edge with crossed arms against his hew… then hew him with your short edge Meanwhile, from the sword to his head or to his body.” -Starhemberg Fechtbuch, 1452 #yyc #calgary #alberta #canada #yycmartialarts #martialarts #hema #fencing #sword #fight #swordfight #sport #medieval #longsword #blade #training #renaissance #fun #instagood #people #theforgewma #blade #history #swordsmanship #kenjutsu #practicemakesperfect (at The Forge: Western Martial Arts) https://www.instagram.com/p/CVD-IbCh6XU/?utm_medium=tumblr

[celestial-naiad]

The krumphau is a German longsword master stroke where when an opponent is striking you, you present your blade and strike it a way with a turn parallel to you, using the edge, the edge is specifically used because it does not flex giving additional strength to the blow in the bind, this is usually a good opening to pull back your sword into a thrust or advance and lift your sword presenting the blade to face

Again, listing a few specific strokes where the edge of the blade is used, doesnt mean the edge is always used and not the flat of the sword. You'll end up with a messed up blade if you repeat blocking and parrying with the edge over and over.

[vidilpoge]

2023-04-18 Training log

I had as my pre-workout snack a pre-workout energy jelly thing and I was struck down with a bad case of tummy hurt, I had to tap out midway throu the training. It wasn't really that bad but I couldn't move my body as I liked and it was aggravating in more way than one.

We started doing a new form, one cobbled together from german longsword tradition, so we call it "Lichtenauer's form" to contrast "Fiore's form" we've been doing. We are not doing it all to the end because the latter part contains meisterhau we didn't study yet this year. I am quite sure I will get in trouble if I post it around, as we are expected to not do so. I cringe everytime I read on the bottom of the print outs that we cannot share them around.

Then we did some drill about krumphau and as I said I was NOT doing good, messing up tempo and moving wrong, being very out of it. It was a shame because we did something that translated would be "noble war" (eiden kreig? eilden kreig?) that was so good. Just, good. Partner A would try to get a stitch in as partner B would krumphau the extended blade, and partner A had to durckweksen (still I have not checked how to spell it but having know that my notes came with the notion that we could not show them to anyone can you blame me for hating readind them?) to avoid the blow and continue pressing for stabs. Obsessing on how closely I imagine modern olympic fencing can be boiled down to "go in for a thrust, avoid the parry, go for another thrust etc". And they called it the noble war. It's like, given a long pointy metal tool and the occasion to study how to use it to poke another guy with a long pointy metal tool you converge on one thing.

I like fencing with a two handed sword because I find it extremely fun to being able to cut and thrust, and I dislike when people think of the weapon as heavy, unwieldy. It is not a metal club and both the german and italian schools have left us tecniques that require finessing the point, just trust me on this one bro. I had at least one petty fight with strangers online because they said you cant "fence" with a longsword, you can't "parry", you "swordfight" and you "block" with it. Asinine.

I will elaborate further in a post I have yet to write but it's bubbling in my head, intertwining with another one the working title would be "how I reconciled with what a sword is for someone that has never wielded one".

[artist-kili]

It feels so damn good to be sufficient enough in HEMA so that you were appointed to teach a newcomer some basics (footwork, guards and "Meisterhäue").

I was very awkward and I got some help from someone more experienced because I wasnt 100% sure for the Meisterhäue but I am still super proud that the old man from our group has enough faith in me now to teach someone without direct supervision. (I am doing HEMA for over a year now)

(It went alright btw! I learnt smth as well xD And I got compliments because my krumphau looked good -^- (after I fixed my grip))

[rilsir]

Ciąg dalszy nauki #kunstdesfechtens Dalej kombinuję z ciosem mistrzowskim #krumphau (a w zasadzie z patentami, które można wykonać, gdy nie pójdzie on po naszej myśli). Przy okazji testuję miecz treningowy od @aureusswords - model Swoosh Alexander II, który doskonale odzwierciedla odczucia jak przy pracy mieczem bojowym. Partnerem treningowym jest ponownie Krystian Jordanek. Miejscówka to nowootwarte korty tenisowe w #kety #kdf #miecz #kunstdesfechtens #desw #hema #sword #ruchtozdrowie #trening #sztukiwalki #kubapotocki #szermierka #reko #rekonstrukcjahistoryczna #sztukiwalki #liechtenauer #freifechter #rycerz (w: Kety) https://www.instagram.com/p/BzXhM_snjsU/?igshid=1jesa6w2lbvec

[hemaphilia]

Free.

That's how I feel this weekend. Free.

There's no weight of expectation. No good brain/bad brain battle. No worrying about letting down myself or anyone else.

After all, how can there be? I've barely touched a sword in the last few months. I can't expect anything. All I can do is try to stay on my feet. On my toes.

So I just fence.

And I am free.

*******

I love competition, but there is a point where it becomes too much.

2018 starts well enough, but quickly I am overwhelmed. Matches I should have won but I didn't, techniques I should have pulled off but couldn't, moments I wish I had that escaped me.

In September and October I have four events in six weeks (and a fifth I am running). In six longsword tournaments, I manage to win two fights - out of around thirty. I feel slow and lethargic, like I have lost everything I've learned.

The emotions, the thoughts of inadequacy, pile onward and upward. My sword breaks at IGX and it seems a perfect metaphor for my emotional state. I make it through Krump Pow in the next week, but only barely. I mention to a few, I don't know if i can keep doing this.

When I come home, I put my SportTube with all of my longsword gear neatly under my heater.

It stays there, untouched, for the next three months.

******

Later on, after my fighting is done, I am talking to Sara when she says to me -

- "You have good footwork. You always kept moving."

I try to explain to her that this doesn't make any sense; after all I am not exactly known for good footwork, and you aren't supposed to suddenly improve after going three months without training.

"Maybe you just managed to turn your brain off," she says.

*******

Had I not committed to going to SoCal 2019 over the summer, I doubt I would have gone after last fall. But I am a firm believer that commitments once made should be seen through.

After all, I tell myself, I'm going because I want to see friends and go somewhere warm in February. The swords are just a nice bonus.

******

SoCal has a cutting qualifier for Open Steel. When I was here in 2015, I didn't manage a single cut. The last time I tried cutting in any competitive setting, back at IGX, I couldn't manage a left oberhau.

I don't expect to cut with any success this time. I don't have a great track record with competitive cutting, and I haven't been practicing as much as I should.

...So, of course, I manage the qualifier with more ease than any other cutting I've done. It is a sign of the weekend to come.

******

Before I leave for SoCal, Patrick gives me two goals - stay on my toes, and try a durchswexel.

The first is much easier managed than the second, but I am able to accomplish things beyond that -

I stay mobile. No one bullies me. I do not give up on any exchange, nor do I fight scared. I mange a sword grab (sort of), and I am even comfortable enough to try a krumphau. I am fighting aggressive fighters and physically large fighters, fencers who not too long ago would have dismantled me without trying, and I don't give in.

********

This weekend is the catharsis I've been yearning for. A re-set button, a draining of all the muck in my brain.

I dance and I enjoy each step, even when I stumble.

I don't always win.

I don't need to. Not anymore.

And I can't wait to fight again.

<3.

[manticoremedusaminotaur]

Is this a Krumphau when using sword & buckler?

No writing with this one and I am full of hope.

[theodorebennas]

Cutting with my newly sharpened Ronin Katana No. 7 Longsword and it is a beast. The sword is Oakeshott Type XVIIIB which means it is modeled after late medieval and early Renaissance longswords that balanced between cutting an unarmored opponent and thrusting into the gaps of someone’s armor or into chainmail.

The strikes in this video are:

The Oberhau: Translated as the Upper Strike from Middle High German. A basic strike from the high guard. The target is generally the head.

The Krumphau: Translated as the Crooked Strike. Known as once of German longsword fencing’s Master Cuts or Secret Strikes. This strike starts from the same place as the oberhau but quickly transitions into something else entirely with a step off of the middle. This strike is meant to defeat the stance known as Ochs and anyone using horizontal thrusts may encountering the nasty surprise of losing their hand.

The Mittelhau: Translated as the Middle Strike. A horizontal cut that looks easier than it is.