I figured out how to draw from the back by pulling the scabbard/saya down like that, but never thought to tuck it into a belt, or sheath it by bringing down the shoulder strap. That is a really good method. I'm curious, have you ever had the chance to try any of this with armor on? Clearly the helmet will get in the way of removing the shoulder strap, but I wonder if the draw itself will be effected by the pauldrons/sode (shoulder armor), and by how much? The sword techniques I know are from Eskrima and Kung Fu. In Eskrima, the shorter swords can be drawn from the back easily by virtue of their short length, but I always carry the longer blades at the side - drawing from the back isn't done in my there in my experience - the sword is first removed from the back. In Kung Fu, I have seen a little more back-drawing, by pulling down on the scabbard as you have done in this video. But doing it with armor on is a little bit trickier - not impossible maybe, but perhaps slow enough to consider other options. In fairness, I only own sparring armor and not a historically accurate set (which is why I ask). As far as Chinese swords are concerned, I've seen the backdraw done with both the scholar's sword/jian and the double broadsword/shuangdao, though both only in forms. Typically in any sparring I've done we begin with drawn weapons, or draw from the waist because it's seen as more accessible I suppose. I've always assumed that carrying weapons on the back is for travel, and I can see how it might be useful to carry them on the back for added mobility - for instance, it's extremely difficult to use all of the fancy rolls and flips I've learned from Kung Fu with a weapon at the side, but rolling, at least, is doable with a weapon across the back by using the opposite shoulder. Let me know what you think, I always like to learn more opinions about these edge cases.
Very nice! Thank you for updating!
I figured out how to draw from the back by pulling the scabbard/saya down like that, but never thought to tuck it into a belt, or sheath it by bringing down the shoulder strap. That is a really good method. I'm curious, have you ever had the chance to try any of this with armor on? Clearly the helmet will get in the way of removing the shoulder strap, but I wonder if the draw itself will be effected by the pauldrons/sode (shoulder armor), and by how much?
The sword techniques I know are from Eskrima and Kung Fu. In Eskrima, the shorter swords can be drawn from the back easily by virtue of their short length, but I always carry the longer blades at the side - drawing from the back isn't done in my there in my experience - the sword is first removed from the back.
In Kung Fu, I have seen a little more back-drawing, by pulling down on the scabbard as you have done in this video. But doing it with armor on is a little bit trickier - not impossible maybe, but perhaps slow enough to consider other options. In fairness, I only own sparring armor and not a historically accurate set (which is why I ask). As far as Chinese swords are concerned, I've seen the backdraw done with both the scholar's sword/jian and the double broadsword/shuangdao, though both only in forms. Typically in any sparring I've done we begin with drawn weapons, or draw from the waist because it's seen as more accessible I suppose.
I've always assumed that carrying weapons on the back is for travel, and I can see how it might be useful to carry them on the back for added mobility - for instance, it's extremely difficult to use all of the fancy rolls and flips I've learned from Kung Fu with a weapon at the side, but rolling, at least, is doable with a weapon across the back by using the opposite shoulder.
Let me know what you think, I always like to learn more opinions about these edge cases.