Ringo
They say, (the mysterious they who say things from on high but we never meet) that everyone who participates in Bohurt wanted to be a knight in their childhood. I don’t get that. I never wanted to be a knight. I hated knights and their armor, Giant swords and brute strength. Arthur never appealed to me. My heroes were tumbling acrobats who wore leathers and were as likely to charm their way past a dragon as slay it. The closest thing to a knight I loved as a kid was Danny Kaye in The Court Jester.
And yet I’ve always wanted swords to be part of my life and in many ways it’s the fundamental aspect of almost every hobby I’ve had. I played DnD to express my love of sword fighting, which turned into a deep dive of all RPG’s, to the point I consider game design a mild interest I occasionally engage in. Pretty much every video game I picked up was just a chance to swing a sword. Like there’s a reason Halo is my favorite First Person Shooter. I tried acting as a kid because sometimes there are choreographed fights with swords. The reason I fell in love with writing is because I used to love to write fight scenes between my favorite characters as a kid.
Sword fighting was my first and really only dream or life goal. It’s the only thing I pursued with any serious interest till I was 22. Even before I knew what that meant. I thought the only way to sword fight was fencing or choreography. That led to most of my middle and high school time studying kung fu movies and trying to recreate them in my backyard. Yes I was that dweeb. Didn’t even join a McDojo, was just on my own. It was…not good.
There’s a bunch of people in Bohurt with similar stories. Others who wanted to be samurai or were pulled in by anime. Cats who never really thought much about it but played WoW or something like that in high school, then found out there was a chance to do it for real. The same is true for every other sword sport I’ve encountered. The SCA and HEMA are full of people who used to do modern fencing and found out there were sports that allowed for more movement and variety. Boffer games have been known to pick up vets looking for a place of belonging and something that provided a mission similar to what they were taught in the military. Each reason exists in each sport, we all share the same thing. A love of sword play.
Despite this there is constant fighting and bickering about the RIGHT way to fight and train. Not necessarily best practices to get better at one’s chosen sport, but reasons why that sport is itself BAD WRONG FUN. People talk about one sport being too crazy and dangerous. Another being too light and silly. Another too stuck up. Others not real enough. The amount of vitriol spread about people enjoying themselves would be unbelievable if I hadn’t experienced 4chan and learned of the pettiness of niche communities. What surprises me though is that in the end, it’s all the same hobby. Simulated Sword fighting. Just expressed differently.
The goals of Staged Choreography, HEMA, Boffer, Rattan, Bohurt, and Modern Fencing are all completely different. They are also all complimentary. I’ve yet to find a type of sword sport I hated. Playing with swords is fun. Learning the period European techniques and drawing parallels to modern sports or to living Eastern Legacies is mentally stimulating and truly fascinating. Further the information provides lots of clues to better fighting that many people have spent decades turning into an art form. Modern fencing is one of the most athletic and technical games in existence and watching masters work at it is as brilliant as watching Micheal Jackson dance. Which is exactly what staged Choregrpahy is. Sword dance, and whether fantastical or based in realism it is the emotions it conveys that truly matter. Boffer provides a competitive field that anyone can access for almost no money and without having to worry about safety or athletic background as much to start, while still scaling up to very intense and physical fights at the upper tiers. Rattan is the fusion of technician and brutality allowing an expression of violence and violent intent, while still keeping the feeling of danger in singles a sword fight should inspire. Any strike could spell your end. And Bohurt? Bohurt is an attempt to be armored combat as a sport. It is the revival of Tournament.
All are lovely and we should love them all. #yesallswords? Or something? Everyone who got into medievalism via sword fighting, no matter the variety, should appreciate all forms of sword fighting. At the end of the day it’s all the same thing, trying to bop the other guy with a sword like object, for the goal of winning a fight. Everything else is just window dressing. We all love swords, so lets love all swords.