The whole idea of fight between knight and peasant who have no protection and have wooden stick against sword is stupid. East will always lose to West, because first is made for self-defense, and second is for war.
Especially that did nothing. I mean even when he was on the ground I doubt punches would do much. Its like trying to win a fight with metal box. If you dont have a can opener he can just relax and wait for you to tire out.
@crimson3274 yeah, armor was designed to deflect and dampen WARHAMMER blows. Your fists won't do squat unless you start taking off the armor itself one piece at a time, but of course, he was sitting there and letting him hit instead of fighting back, because even in training, an armored punch would hurt, whereas he could wail at him as much as he wanted and merely annoy the knight
Fully armoured Knights were just like tanks of medieval wars. Even now the best way to put down a tank is to strip it of mobility first, if you don’t have specialised equipment. Also, I think guy in amour was afraid to injure you with his steel covered fists when you grabbed his leg.
@evangelineyap4990I think that if a knight were wearing metal shoes, as he should, any unintentional step on a bare foot would end the fight instantly 🤣
No he wouldn’t as that would be towards his belt…it would easily be noticed what he is reaching for and his arm would be held down. Why do people always try to make excuses for knights every time a knight advantage gets disproven
@StanSlaughter I'm not sure you can kick out his kneecaps as you describe with all that armor on... but the take down was definitely the right move, exhaust him from that position and then go for a more crippling shot would be the move
@tacob0 It depends on the skill of who welds it. Rapiers conquered armor because it could find their way in between the plates using the point skillfully. But gunpowder completed the extinction of armor.
I found this common with Eastern Martial Artists. They don't understand or acknolwedge the effect of armor or Western weapons. Nor do they understand or practice acknowledging hits. They are used to highly visible results. Eastern Martial Arts are more dramatic and showy, while Western swordplay (fencing) is about the conservation of movement and efficiency for quickness and accuracy. Modern fencing is a martial art that is played as a sport. It developed from dueling, so just as in a duel, the actions are directed, and wounds are acknowledged. This turned out to work well for sports scoring. (The modern Olympics were established by a French nobleman who was both a duelist and a fencer, Baron de Coubertin). I always found it to be a problem when these comparisons are tried. I don't find them very valuable, because they slow down the action, because they are not properly protected, and the Eastern Martial Artists don't try to learn about Western Fencing, while the Eastern Martial Arts are far more commercialized in general.
I really love the fact that Jesee dedicates his life to giving us knowledge through mixing different arts and their respective philosophies. Truly puts into perspective that though there are many ways on top of a mountain, the top provides the same view for everyone.
I would recommend he learn more Korean weapons for these types of battles. Peasants who fought professional soldiers in Korea used metal implements when facing armored opponents.
Your tactic on the knight was spot on. Ground and pound. There's a famous story from the Battle of Agincourt where a group of Welsh longbowmen rushed a French knight, pulled him to the ground, then ripped off his helmet and stabbed him in the face. When your opponent has superior arms and armor, you need to fight dirty.
I mean there isn't really any "dirty fighting" when it comes to combat scenarios and survival. Most historical fighting could be catalogued as "dirty". As for the Agincourt anecdote, that would be the standard tactic employed by lightly armoured fighters against a fully armoured knight. Try to unhorse the knight (there were even specially designed harnesses, lassos and "man-traps" to do the job), have some of your mates hold him down while you're trying to either stab him in the vulnerable parts of the armour (gaps in the armour that allowed for movement, like the neck, armpits, hips and such) or to yank off a piece of the armour (preferably the helmet) and go to town.
There's loads of stories from Agincourt about longbowmen and men at arms killing French knights. One of the reasons the battle is famous in the first place was because of Henry V's unchivalric use of longbowmen against knights and allowing men at arms to use the English warhammer to crush breastplate and helm of French knights.
"It's not about East vs West. It's about who can move the best. A weapon is just an extension of the human body." That is really poignantly put. Beautiful.
Watching Jesse in unarmed combat with the knight I was reminded of the impetus behind judo/jujitsu in the first place. Once weapons are discarded on the battlefield and you still have a massive armored samurai in front of you and you need to throw them down onto the ground.
Throw on ground ??? It amazes me how misinformed most people are . On the battlefield historically you faced an infinite numbers of people trying too kill you . Only an absolute moron would go too the ground , if one of the 50 enemies don't trample you too death , you just placed yourself in weak position. Ring training is not fighting. No such thing as full contact sport unless killing is allowed. WAKE UP
Surprised that there weren’t double kills, that’s usually what happens when fighting new opponents with radically different styles. Also light gloves against a poleaxe is just plain crazy.
gloves and metal knuckles against a pollaxe wouldn't work at full contact, the pollaxe would just snap the unarmored fighters arms like twigs and likely kill them in one blow. You need armor of your own and a comparably strong weapon like a pollaxe of your own or a great sword or a proper shield to have any chance at defending successfully.
If the guy with the poleaxe would have done it seriously, the attacker would have been dead. Ten times. Some sparring doesn´t prove anything, so I agree. A broad swoop against the legs, and the unarmed attacker is on the ground. Then two or three headstrikes finish him. This video is silly.
@jokervienna6433 I agree. The armoured fighter appeared to make the decision to fight weakly in order that Jesse could have teh video footage he wanted. Any well armoured fighter from any culture would have trounced Jesse, be they samurai, knight, cataphract, or anything else.
I have been practicing HEMA for 10 years. It's nice that a great martial artist like you makes such a video. It must be said that HEMA is, as a martial art, at a stage of development that we could define as "embryonic". Historical sources are available, many associations and gyms were born, however each of them is based on its own methodology. This is a necessary logical consequence given that there is no tradition handed down to us to point to and the historical sources (treatises and manuscripts) are often confusing. Personally I believe that the fussiness about martial forms is our thing to do as HEMA practitioners, many times it is the low interest in the guard and the movements, the superficiality in the martial approach, which keeps the HEMA at a low level.
It's also one of the issues with studying it- you can effectively choose whether you are going to learn it for the art or the sport, with the latter discarding much of the former. I train Fiore (Schola Saint George), and have had some wonderful discussions with the instructor of a Meyer school (Freifechter Guild in Oklahoma), where we came to the conclusion that by extending the range of initial engagement, the art actually comes alive in ways that the sport "move fast, hit first" mentality doesn't allow, whether that be by allowing windings to be executed safely, or simply giving the time for a volta or other cover to develop.
I've been learning Bolenese sword and buckler for a year and a half and the manuals used have to be translated from Italian to English, adding extra confusion to an already confusing text.
Im just not sure how viable it would be against knight. Maybe sort of push kick would be to get them off balance for grappling. Knights armor is designed to receive massive blows from actual weapons so no matter how hard they get kicked i doubt they much at all feels it especially directly to plate.
I also think it was funny during the nunchuck spar, and how shadiversity’s video explained how ineffective they were for actual combat. Then I actually laughed out loud when he lost them because they got caught on the sword
@flyingace1999-f3d Well a large part of shad's point was that quarterstaffs were way more effective than nunchucks, which he also demonstrated by his huge effectiveness with the staff.
We want a collab between Jesse and Skallagrim/Shadyversity. Will really appreciate how Jessy's knowledge about japanese weapons will compare to hema, since apparently a lot of hema nerds tend to ignore how traditional eastern weapons are used. Edit: Matt Easton could be an even better choice!
@timhema5343 thanks. I actually don't watch shad often because host of his videos that get recommend to me are very long form content, which in not a big fan of on YT in general. But I've seen some of the shorter vids. I thought it would boil down to those reasons. I was mostly making sure he didn't do anything wrong or bad to make people dislike him that I was unaware about.
This is great to see, so often this sort of east/west comparison is done by strictly HEMA guys. It's great to see someone properly trained using these weapons. I was wondering, will there be more Taido content? That stuff was seriously awesome.
100 percent agree. Seeing jesse do this was amazing. If only he did a collab with metatron. Out of all the hema youtubers i think those two talking, giving their perspectives, and sparing would be absolute gold. Id love to see it.
Seeing you amazed at just how effective the plate harness is was great. Sengoku jidai armor is also impressive, but European plate armor is a superior marvel of technology for its time
I bet you and Skallagrim would make amazing videos together, he's a pretty good HEMA youtuber who discusses historical weapons from all over the world and even tries out unorthodox weapons too.
Glad everyone had fun. First instinct was a hot take defending the honor of HEMA, but that isn't in the spirit of your video. I enjoyed the interesting and unorthodox combination of weapons. I think it mostly shows that in an unfamiliar context, a master with a great concept of distance has an advantage over less experienced opponents. That isn't to disparage the HEMA athletes, but to compliment Jesse. He has spent years honing his craft, traveling the world, treating it as a full time calling. His skill and adaptability really show here.
Could this be the impetus to show that the weapons of the East can actually be sparred with safely? Could be perhaps even see some Kobudo sparring on the regular, in dojos across the world? One can truly hope!
Also ranged weapons, depending on the timeframe, the knight may have been carrying a crossbow or even pistols. And moving with a level of speed and intensity that no modern karateka could even contemplate. Armored combat is a VERY intense thing, fast and with a level of power that doesn't exist in unarmed/unarmored fighting.
3:58 Problem is that with that kind of shield you are not supposed to parry or block, the buckler is mainly to defend your hands once you go in, not to protect the body. You are supposed to use the sword to change the direction of enemy's weapon.
There is also a cone philosophy for buckler. Basically, by extending it from the body perpendicular to the enemy it creates a cone of protection behind it.
That was an amazing video and quite a bit of fun to watch. I'm really glad your final boss didn't use the polearm to full effect, your armor was nowhere near stout enough to take a solid hit from it. It would be a fun follow up video to have YOU get suited up in full armor so you could get a feel for just how much protection the guy had. Thanks for this treat.
@KARATEbyJesse One of the things that made it especially enjoyable was the mutual respect had by all and the chance to debrief after each match. The final distilled wisdom was great as well.
Yeah, I was worried that he would get clocked on the head by accident or something -- that's a concussion right there, if not a trip to the hospital. Modern fencing masks were not designed to handle poleaxes... I feel as though this exercise did illustrate some interesting things -- infighting is surprisingly viable even against long weapons, provided that one is trained. But at a certain point the gap in gear really nullifies a lot; kicking and armored opponent in the chest isn't really going to do all that much, and while Jesse managed to pull off a takedown, that was only possible because his opponent opted to get rid of his weapon.
@taichi2245 Well said. The average person doesn't understand just how much protective clothing is between the skin and the armor that acts as an additional buffer and how the planes of the outer surface deflect and dissipate force. And then doesn't realize that a blow from a poleaxe or halberd can STILL shatter collarbones or give concussions through it all. You can't really "blunt" what becomes a bludgeoning weapon. I've seen some seriously gnarly injuries from weapons of this type.
the knight was friendly. He could have just made mashed potatoes out of our Karte Master... if he had not held back. No way in hell you could get at somebody armored like this with bare hands...
this was very interesting. One thing to consider is the damage each weapon does. It is much more realistic for a sword to take someone down in one hit since it is a bladed weapon, which is why it makes sense for sparring with those weapons to go only until the first hit. The bo and nunchucks are blunt, however, and the force transfer by the nunchucks is a bit inefficient due to it not being rigid, so it is unlikely to seriously injure someone down in one hit. the stabs from the staff would also not do as much damage, so it is less threatening than a spear for example. when u were fighting the knight, you really must get in close to grappling. you would also have a knife to stab in the gaps.
Blunt weapons can still do damage, and I’m imagining a staff with some metal caps or spikes at the end could help with the impact. But I don’t imagine it being as effective against a person in full plate armor
@flyingace1999-f3d yes, blunt weapons still do damage, but wooden ones won't do nearly as much as a sharp metal object. also, adding metal caps to increase damage would change the weight distribution drastically, making it fight differently. we see tgis in maces.
It seemed kinda ridiculous to me that getting slapped on the wrist with nunchucks counted for the exact same point that getting stabbed in the chest did.
Kobudo weapons and Budo weapons are massively different 😅, karate was born at best in his ancient form around 1800, samurai appaer around 1400 and in a totally different land
Always happy to see more Kobudo and HEMA! Awesome to see its getting more attention from traditional martial artists too like you and Sensei Seth. Awesome as always, Jesse. Keep it up!
Kama against the fencer would not have been my first choice. Honestly, I would have taken something with equal or greater reach, such as a bo stave. The fact Jesse won with the pair of kama is actually quite impressive.
Thanks so much for doing this collab Jesse! Everyone learns so much when doing this type of cross training, and I continue to respect your ability to improvise on the fly when things ‘do not go according to plan’. Great showing for both HEMA and Kobudo
this man has nice skills with the bo-staff, the way he used it. you could really see that he used real strategy and speed to win, thats really cool. and his karate skills is incredible. the way he managed the knight when he threw away his weapon was insane!
What a great experiment. I’ve trained in martial arts for almost 50 years (black belt in taekwondo, 10 years in kempo and kickboxing, several years in jujutsu), plus I fenced in high school and college, and coincidentally I have a PhD in European history. That gives me some perspective here. What I took away from your experiment was something that I think all good fighters, including you, come to implicitly understand. It’s not the style or the weapon, but the tactics you employ. You instinctively executed a leg sweep to take down the knight, which incidentally is a component of jujutsu that samurai developed to fight their armored opponents if caught themselves unarmed. One additional point that I would add: when European knights fought each other they knew their armor was impervious to most bladed weapons, so they attacked the head for concussion (because even in a steel helmet your head will bounce around inside if hit hard enough) and the legs. Even as a young black belt I didn’t have the speed or flexibility as many of my friends, so I realized on powerful, low side kicks to take my opponents down. Same thing here against an armored opponent. Take out his balance and he’s going down. And don’t forget to grapple. Then finish him off on the ground. This link gives an idea as to how knights were trained in tactics, and to use their whole bodies as weapons. www.google.com/search?q=knight%20training%20manuscripts&tbm=isch&tbs=rimg:CWrdeJMYT1zLYUo4DkNEkUOD8AEBsgIGOgQIABAB&client=firefox-b-1-m&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CB0QuIIBahcKEwiYor7z5_j5AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQDA&biw=1121&bih=820&dpr=2 Great post, Jesse.
@KARATEbyJesse You are very welcome. As a scholar and a martial artist, I really enjoy your posts. They are erudite, humble, thoughtful, objective and informed. Plus you have real skills. That’s much appreciated.
It wasn't shown here, but polearms have more uses than just reach and leverage. They can be combo'd of course, just like any other weapon, but their long length and the wide axe allows one to swing it low and behind to hook the opponent's leg or knee, pulling it forward and causing them to fall. Still, it's an unwieldy weapon at times due to its size, which is why basically every knight always carried a secondary weapon. Daggers were common, but one handed maces were too. Imagine getting your legs swept by a halberd and then a guy covered in metal spends the next 30 seconds beating your chest and face into mush with a small hammer as you flail around helplessly.
Awesome to see you dive into the HEMA community Jesse! I love fighting in armored tourneys. I have often used my training from RyuTe Renmei to compliment my swordfighting.
As a hema and combat sambo practitioner, I loved this video. I almost never see hard sparring with the kinds of weapons you used. Keep'em coming. Well done.
I love how the bo was so effective. Especially the nuki tsuki is such an underrated technique in my opinion. So difficult to react because you don't see it coming.
Now imagine if the bo had a lethal blade attached to it as well to make those strikes truly effective... :) It's easy to understand why varieties of spears and polearms have always been extremely popular in history, all the way up to the invention of rifles. Coincidentally, the naginata has always been one of my favorite Japanese weapons!
Staffs are highly underrated and were much more accessible to people of various cultures in early times. There’s a couple videos of quarterstaff fighting and what it can do to armor and bones.
I mean the bo was effective because it had a massive reach advantage, polearms vs blades in one touch is almost universally going to go to the weapon with reach, not to mention that it was a two handed weapon against an opponent with two one handed implements (who probably wasn't trained to think that the lower leg is a viable target, although frankly I don't know enough about hema scoring to say) frankly the only really interesting matchup was the kama, where I honestly thought the kama would have been at a substantial disadvantage but they proved out nicely, using one to direct the opponents weapon and the other to strike was a really effective strategy.
Funnily, grappling is a big part of European martial arts, especially against armored opponents. So, trying to get a knight on the ground isn’t a bad idea, it’s actually exactly what you’d want to do against one, since while medieval armor was very mobile, you’d still have a little difficulty getting up. But, the tricks are mostly done with assistance of levers, aka your weapon. It was also interesting to see the adaptation to your strategy. Though, it’s not terribly surprising to me that the generally shorter weapons failed against much longer weapons, namely with the sidesword vs kama, but that’s a general issue you’ll find in all weapons. Longer blades generally have a greater advantage since they aren’t as reliant on getting close, I’d recommend Skllagrim’s own video on a similar weapon to the kama about sickle fighting and his spars to test it out. Now, in a realistic scenario outside of sparring, if nunchaku were put up against a rapier and parrying dagger, even with the tonfa in the off hand, nunchucks aren’t very good weapons in general and don’t do well at carrying the energy of a blow when compared to a normal stick, but seeing it in sparring getting namely used against the hands is actually pretty insightful, it does show a bit of a strength they could have, and it’s being able to hit targets that a straight blade would need more effort with, and I admittedly disagree with the assumption that a shorter opponent is faster, it’s normally the taller ones in my experience that are faster. Though, smaller opponents are definitely much harder to hit because they’re small. I admittedly don’t have much to stay about the quarter staff because well… it’s a staff. Staves are historically rather effective weapons, especially if made of thicker and stronger wood, though some techniques you employed were actually also done in medieval Europe, so that underlines a similarity between philosophy in regards to these styles of weaponry. Of course with the armor duel again, what would have been done is that the weak spots in the armor would be exploited or the visor lifted up for visored helms or the helmet completely removed if it was close faced. But with the style of armor, it looks to be about 14th century from my perspective, so the helmet is likely a bascinet. But that’s only my observation from watching this.
Should have done a Top Gear style intro for the armoured knight xD "Some say, he once fought a moose by ending it rightly, and he has been credited with being the only martial artist to ever be so impressive at blocking, that his opponent ran away. All we know is, that he is called the Knight!"
Some say he swam across the English channel in full armor, and that he burned down the London Bridge while drunk. All we know is that he's called the Knight!
As a HEMA and Karate practitioner, I - to little surprise - really enjoyed this video. I'm a bit sad though, as a german, that we didn't see the long sword used. 🙂 I can recommend my teacher Adrian van Bronswijk from Fechtschule Asteria - or maybe you can have a collaboration with Matt Easton from Schola Gladiatoria - for something like that. Would also like to see you try HEMA.
This was really cool. The Kama worked much better than I thought they would, and the Tonfa and Nunchaku were like a flail and parrying dagger! As per facing the armoured opponent - that's what Jujutsu is for. Take him down and then use a dagger in the joints of the armour.
I was very impressed with how well he dealt with the sidesword using kamas, and the bo skills are terrifying. It's very interesting for me who does HEMA but doesn't know much about kobudo
My favorite weapons: - Western - greatsword (other than the Scottish claymore; too heavy/clumsy) - Eastern - naginata (arguably the overall best hand-to-hand weapon ever designed)
@GawainGabhann There is a long list of polearm-style weapons that I have a huge respect for. The naginata is just my #1 on that list. Billhook might be #2 or #3 tho.
@adcyuumi i mean naginata is just one of TONS of various glaives available in the world, but naginata are aften VERY nicely made historically so yknow they do have a nice flare
@elgostine The naginata had a reputation for being a killer, but other glaives never achieved that reputation. The most deadly samurai to ever live (who was a woman btw; I've always found that detail interesting) used a naginata and cut down quite a lot of other samurai in her time. The main reason for the naginata's rep is its blade angle, which is absent on western glaives. Even improvised cuts from odd angles will self-correct into a good cut, so "good form" is less mechanical and more fluid - forgiving in the cut, but on a weapon that will go thru most armor and kill immediately when it does. Western glaives strike a bit awkwardly, like an axe.
Absolutely NOT staged video. The guy with the poleax was even afraid to swing it a little harder. And the man with the sword forgot how to hit with it. It's sad to see that so many people watched it.
You should've done a bo vs halberd match; they both had reach advantages that would've been neat to see against each other. That or bo vs quarterstaff.
A real medieval knight has been trained from childhood on. And a real medieval knight would ignore your punch. Or punching back. With armoured fists. It's like crashing a Golf into a battletank.
Real medieval knights also had other weapons on their person in the case that they lost their main tool. He would've absolutely taken out a dagger or whatever his secondary was had that last fight been a pinch more realistic.
I absolutely love seeing how insanely fast some of the Knight's strikes were with a weapon as large and unbalanced as a poleaxe! I love training and fighting with a sword and shield, but my absolute favorite is the poleaxe, and seeing fights between poleaxes and eastern weapons and techniques is always super fun. All in all, great video!
Actually, in circles of historians distant weapon well-known for it's advantages. If you can chose a weapon - grab spear. You can hold the ground against enemy's cavalry, when you stay in formation, you can keep enemy far from you and attack him before he'll even get able to harm you. As for close quarters... Success of medieval battle depends generally of how successfully cavalry destroyed formation of enemy and how successfully this enemy keeps his formation. And spear fits for this role just brilliantly. For close quarter fight infantryman and archers were using cheap and practical falchions and Messers.
generally yes, longer is better, but if your enemy uses missile attacks frequently, pairing a big shield (like viking round shield or roman scutum) with shorter weapon befitting of the armour your opponent is using is the better call.
It is very nice to see. Have been watching some Hema videos lately, cool stuff. I do feel I have to note the theory versus practical here. When you wear such armor and get kicked, it would not hurt as much as being kicked without armor and the kicker is kicking metal. In reality I think the advantage of the armor is much greater than portrayed in this experiment. Fun fact, Hema is also actually a shopping chain for household items in The Netherlands :)
I believe that HEMA would improve immensely if it included wrestling or judo as a basis for learning weapons, kind of like karate does with empty hand and kobudo, not necessarily because you will use it much when weapons are involved but because it really teaches you what it's like to fight a resisting opponent really close up
It is really a good idea! ...so good, infact, that we already train wrestling, as it is a fundamental component in HEMA, for longsword, pollaxe, rondel dagger and armoured fighting!
They do if you read Fiore's manuscript the first chapter states how wrestling should be the basis for the rest of the arts and ringen or war wrestling was a really big part of European martial culture.
@turtlebutme7103 yup, I believe that was generally one of the go to ways of fighting an armoured opponent on foot besides, polearms, and blunt weapons. Wrestle them to the ground, and then use a dagger to kill or force a surrender.
What I find most interesting is that I could basically predict the outcome of each bout: kama vs sidesword: hm, could go either way, depends on which one understand best how to exploit the weakness of the other (better reach/bettter weapon control) rapier vs tonfa/nunchuck: rapier wins (although long play (dagger closer to the body) would have been more efficient imho) sword and buckler vs bo: oh the swordman is screwed armor vs fists: uh... unless they count any hits on the armour as valid I don't see how he could do anything... (and they did) As they said, it is not the style but the skill that is important... and choosing a weapon that efficiently counters the other's!
Its an awesome weapon choice! Brass Knuckle on fully armored Knight with Halberd. I think you truly know your martial arts. I am sure experienced Samurai saw a knight with a Halberd and first weapon they immediately though was 'let me get my brass knuckle out'
A Spanish Torcier (Light armoured infantry) armed with just a Sabre can kill a Samurai with ease, and you're comparing a Full Armoured Knight to a guy in Kimono
What do you even mean with Samurai in this context? The early naginata spearman, or the traditional yari pikeman, or the late era Swordsmen? Because the Yari pikemen presumably equipped with a smaller type of sword as a sidearm supported by gunners, bowmen and cavalry would be the one they theoretically could have come across, and that seems too much of a mirror match to the Spanish formations of the time to be a matter that could be handled with ease.
i mean, samurai were primarily ranged combatants, so im guessing you mean if the samurai just had a sword. also im curious to know what you're basing that on
My traditional Japanese weapon of choice against an armored medieval knight: Tanegashima. Armor-piercing, easy to use, and longer-ranged. Plus, it's a GUN. Yeah, I don't think I could take an armored knight in anything resembling a fair fight...
@douglasknupp4574 Armored MEDIEVAL knight. Before they bulletproofed it. I know it's cheating... But against an armored knight with a poleaxe? With only Japanese traditional weapons and no ability with the yumi? I'll take time travel over a fair and realistic fight, thank you.
@lordMartiya Even with a yumi, you'd have to be on horseback and have a few of your mates with you and they'd have to be equally skilled or even more so to actually stand a chance against a fully armoured European knigth.
Something more about the final conclusion. A point and an edge are also very nice. I think outside of sparing you would not want to be hit by a sword on the wrist, while you might shake a blunt hit from Nunchakus (or even a staff) off. I think that is poorly represented in sparing with weapons (and not just here, it is a general problem). Touch == Point(s)*, which of course is not true, especially if armor gets thrown in the mix. I mean that is like thinking it does not matter where you get punched (or how hard). *Some rules give different amount of points for different target areas (e.g. head vs torso vs limbs).
What’s your favorite weapon? 🗡
Nunchaku
AWP Rifle
Call me cliche but I’m going to go with the Katana
stick
European: Sword and Buckler
Okinawan: Tonfa
American: AR-15 lol
coughing baby vs hydrogen bomb
hydrogen baby vs coughing bomb
Coughing baby: Coughs and spreads new deadly virus all over the world. Killing billions.
Hydrogen bomb: Destroys baby.
@Enser-ig8if hydrogen cough v baby bomb
I only clicked this video for your exact comment
i was coming here to comment this after seeing the title but you beat me to it
Scoring a point for a bare foot kicking flat into armor was... generous.
The whole idea of fight between knight and peasant who have no protection and have wooden stick against sword is stupid. East will always lose to West, because first is made for self-defense, and second is for war.
Yep
lol yeah.
Especially that did nothing. I mean even when he was on the ground I doubt punches would do much. Its like trying to win a fight with metal box. If you dont have a can opener he can just relax and wait for you to tire out.
@crimson3274
yeah, armor was designed to deflect and dampen WARHAMMER blows. Your fists won't do squat unless you start taking off the armor itself one piece at a time, but of course, he was sitting there and letting him hit instead of fighting back, because even in training, an armored punch would hurt, whereas he could wail at him as much as he wanted and merely annoy the knight
"So what would you say is your best piece of advice to fight someone like this?"
"Run."
Because the armor is heavy so if they just followed you while running they gonna get heat stroke or pass out
You statistically dont stand a chance unless god decides to smite down the knight you're fighting
And if I can't run?
"Rethink your decisions that got you here"
@Idk1Something
A knight is supposed to be a mounted combattant. That is, he has a horse.
A gun.
2:25 The knight sitting there like: "These peasants are proving to be quite entertaining."
Frwfr
Did played Half sword ?
Jesse: KARATE CHOP!
Knight: HALBERD CHOP!
"He will be using this
- Wait, what?"
Fully armoured Knights were just like tanks of medieval wars. Even now the best way to put down a tank is to strip it of mobility first, if you don’t have specialised equipment.
Also, I think guy in amour was afraid to injure you with his steel covered fists when you grabbed his leg.
А голая пятка в бедро рыцарю Вас не смутила? 😂А так да, 1 удар рыцаря и у противника все кости лица будут переломаны.
I have never seen a knight in tennis shoes 😂
I am trained in long sword and the secret is to stab them in the gouch or the eye slits.
@evangelineyap4990 I have never seen a knight!
@evangelineyap4990I think that if a knight were wearing metal shoes, as he should, any unintentional step on a bare foot would end the fight instantly 🤣
I mean in a real fight the armored man would've just taken out his dagger when you took him down
Even if he doesn't, the armor will take most of the impact, while when he hits back, that'll happen with metal gloves.
Karate-dude would be toast.
In a real fight you'd cripple Armour guy by kicking out his kneecap as you maneuver behind. But... in a spar no one goes for crippling hits.
No he wouldn’t as that would be towards his belt…it would easily be noticed what he is reaching for and his arm would be held down. Why do people always try to make excuses for knights every time a knight advantage gets disproven
@StanSlaughter I'm not sure you can kick out his kneecaps as you describe with all that armor on... but the take down was definitely the right move, exhaust him from that position and then go for a more crippling shot would be the move
If he's got the mobility in his arms left for it, punching with armour can still be REALLY effective
I really like that the armor was just, completely ignored
Nunchak hit equal to rapier trust.
@Crazmuss lt can be. The hit can be worse depending where. Although the rapier is certainly a more lethal weapon in general.
@tacob0 It depends on the skill of who welds it. Rapiers conquered armor because it could find their way in between the plates using the point skillfully. But gunpowder completed the extinction of armor.
I found this common with Eastern Martial Artists. They don't understand or acknolwedge the effect of armor or Western weapons. Nor do they understand or practice acknowledging hits. They are used to highly visible results. Eastern Martial Arts are more dramatic and showy, while Western swordplay (fencing) is about the conservation of movement and efficiency for quickness and accuracy. Modern fencing is a martial art that is played as a sport. It developed from dueling, so just as in a duel, the actions are directed, and wounds are acknowledged. This turned out to work well for sports scoring. (The modern Olympics were established by a French nobleman who was both a duelist and a fencer, Baron de Coubertin). I always found it to be a problem when these comparisons are tried. I don't find them very valuable, because they slow down the action, because they are not properly protected, and the Eastern Martial Artists don't try to learn about Western Fencing, while the Eastern Martial Arts are far more commercialized in general.
"Ouch! My foot!" As he comes into contact with hardened steel armour.
And studs 😅🫢
I really love the fact that Jesee dedicates his life to giving us knowledge through mixing different arts and their respective philosophies. Truly puts into perspective that though there are many ways on top of a mountain, the top provides the same view for everyone.
I appreciate that!
@KARATEbyJesse We appreciate you!
@Jesse Enkamp
Wouldn’t the Tinbe be better against the buckler?
The bo against poleaxe.
"many paths, one way"
I would recommend he learn more Korean weapons for these types of battles. Peasants who fought professional soldiers in Korea used metal implements when facing armored opponents.
Your tactic on the knight was spot on. Ground and pound. There's a famous story from the Battle of Agincourt where a group of Welsh longbowmen rushed a French knight, pulled him to the ground, then ripped off his helmet and stabbed him in the face. When your opponent has superior arms and armor, you need to fight dirty.
I mean there isn't really any "dirty fighting" when it comes to combat scenarios and survival. Most historical fighting could be catalogued as "dirty". As for the Agincourt anecdote, that would be the standard tactic employed by lightly armoured fighters against a fully armoured knight. Try to unhorse the knight (there were even specially designed harnesses, lassos and "man-traps" to do the job), have some of your mates hold him down while you're trying to either stab him in the vulnerable parts of the armour (gaps in the armour that allowed for movement, like the neck, armpits, hips and such) or to yank off a piece of the armour (preferably the helmet) and go to town.
@HoriaNeagu why would anyone use a man catcher when when you can have a billhook or something similar?
The only reliable way to fight someone in full armor if you don’t also have it, is to get 4 of your friends to help.
There's loads of stories from Agincourt about longbowmen and men at arms killing French knights. One of the reasons the battle is famous in the first place was because of Henry V's unchivalric use of longbowmen against knights and allowing men at arms to use the English warhammer to crush breastplate and helm of French knights.
There is no dirty fight for live or death situation. Honor is useless for dead men.
That guy in the armor was really doing you a favor. He was barely moving.
The dude was scared he was gonna hurt him and barely did anything
@Hk-ox4bb yeah but if he moved even a little, he would really have hurt him
"It's not about East vs West. It's about who can move the best. A weapon is just an extension of the human body."
That is really poignantly put. Beautiful.
West is way better come on man don't even play around full plate makes you practically invincible to everything but long bows and the elements
@camarobro1897 but why christian is losed during crusade with more advanced equipment??
@ok17tahunyanglalu40 since they have limited resources and also because of the unfamiliar terrain. Bro google is free just search it
@Michael Nguyen like bro if you want to learn more why they lost just do your own research on something deadass we ain't google
@camarobro1897even against longbows
Watching Jesse in unarmed combat with the knight I was reminded of the impetus behind judo/jujitsu in the first place. Once weapons are discarded on the battlefield and you still have a massive armored samurai in front of you and you need to throw them down onto the ground.
Well spotted!! 👊👊👊
Yep, in HEMA it wrestling or ringen which included dangerous throws and locks similar to those found in jujutsu.
Throw on ground ??? It amazes me how misinformed most people are . On the battlefield historically you faced an infinite numbers of people trying too kill you . Only an absolute moron would go too the ground , if one of the 50 enemies don't trample you too death , you just placed yourself in weak position. Ring training is not fighting. No such thing as full contact sport unless killing is allowed. WAKE UP
@KARATEbyJesse really good ko soto gake from you at the end with the knight.
Which is kinda the whole point of having a dagger 😅
6:19 I'd have respond : "don't die" 😄
just when i thought Jesse-san had reached the epitome of martial arts content....he goes medieval in all the best ways 🤣
Haha thanks!
@KARATEbyJesse please do staff and single stick tutorail
Surprised that there weren’t double kills, that’s usually what happens when fighting new opponents with radically different styles. Also light gloves against a poleaxe is just plain crazy.
Not really a double kill, but it definitely looked like the third round of bout 1 was a kill that was also leaving a pretty severe arm injury.
Thats true but he kind of pull it off.
The knight did not really win that round thanks to the weapon.
gloves and metal knuckles against a pollaxe wouldn't work at full contact, the pollaxe would just snap the unarmored fighters arms like twigs and likely kill them in one blow. You need armor of your own and a comparably strong weapon like a pollaxe of your own or a great sword or a proper shield to have any chance at defending successfully.
If the guy with the poleaxe would have done it seriously, the attacker would have been dead. Ten times. Some sparring doesn´t prove anything, so I agree. A broad swoop against the legs, and the unarmed attacker is on the ground. Then two or three headstrikes finish him. This video is silly.
@jokervienna6433 I agree. The armoured fighter appeared to make the decision to fight weakly in order that Jesse could have teh video footage he wanted. Any well armoured fighter from any culture would have trounced Jesse, be they samurai, knight, cataphract, or anything else.
an unarmed man, against a dude in metal armor.
I have been practicing HEMA for 10 years. It's nice that a great martial artist like you makes such a video. It must be said that HEMA is, as a martial art, at a stage of development that we could define as "embryonic". Historical sources are available, many associations and gyms were born, however each of them is based on its own methodology. This is a necessary logical consequence given that there is no tradition handed down to us to point to and the historical sources (treatises and manuscripts) are often confusing. Personally I believe that the fussiness about martial forms is our thing to do as HEMA practitioners, many times it is the low interest in the guard and the movements, the superficiality in the martial approach, which keeps the HEMA at a low level.
Thanka for sharing 👍
It's also one of the issues with studying it- you can effectively choose whether you are going to learn it for the art or the sport, with the latter discarding much of the former. I train Fiore (Schola Saint George), and have had some wonderful discussions with the instructor of a Meyer school (Freifechter Guild in Oklahoma), where we came to the conclusion that by extending the range of initial engagement, the art actually comes alive in ways that the sport "move fast, hit first" mentality doesn't allow, whether that be by allowing windings to be executed safely, or simply giving the time for a volta or other cover to develop.
its great for self defense!
Respect to the post here, this is a common and valid opinion, but by no means the majority opinion, of high level HEMA practitioners.
I've been learning Bolenese sword and buckler for a year and a half and the manuals used have to be translated from Italian to English, adding extra confusion to an already confusing text.
The back kick against a knight is something i wasn't expecting to see, but definitely needed it
It was pure instinct! 😎
@KARATEbyJesse Did that hurt?
@TheEndKing Didn’t feel anything 😜
Im just not sure how viable it would be against knight. Maybe sort of push kick would be to get them off balance for grappling. Knights armor is designed to receive massive blows from actual weapons so no matter how hard they get kicked i doubt they much at all feels it especially directly to plate.
Not sure how it counted as a win, though.
Skallagrim did a video on historical sickle-fighting a few weeks back. It'd be neat to see kama go against European sickles.
Totally!!
Как насчет серпа и молота?
The European gets a falx
I also think it was funny during the nunchuck spar, and how shadiversity’s video explained how ineffective they were for actual combat. Then I actually laughed out loud when he lost them because they got caught on the sword
@flyingace1999-f3d
Well a large part of shad's point was that quarterstaffs were way more effective than nunchucks, which he also demonstrated by his huge effectiveness with the staff.
We want a collab between Jesse and Skallagrim/Shadyversity. Will really appreciate how Jessy's knowledge about japanese weapons will compare to hema, since apparently a lot of hema nerds tend to ignore how traditional eastern weapons are used.
Edit: Matt Easton could be an even better choice!
Skall sure. Shad? No thanks.
@heresjonny666 why no shad? Just wondering, not trying to argue
@dvldgz6306 armchair expertise, shortcuts, fallacies. Seriously, take everything on this channel with a massive grain of salt.
Skall is definitely legit
@timhema5343 thanks. I actually don't watch shad often because host of his videos that get recommend to me are very long form content, which in not a big fan of on YT in general. But I've seen some of the shorter vids. I thought it would boil down to those reasons. I was mostly making sure he didn't do anything wrong or bad to make people dislike him that I was unaware about.
5:26 he just stay... Aurafarming stay
This is great to see, so often this sort of east/west comparison is done by strictly HEMA guys. It's great to see someone properly trained using these weapons.
I was wondering, will there be more Taido content? That stuff was seriously awesome.
We just did a whole Taido seminar, check my community tab!
@KARATEbyJesse I will, thanks!
100 percent agree. Seeing jesse do this was amazing. If only he did a collab with metatron. Out of all the hema youtubers i think those two talking, giving their perspectives, and sparing would be absolute gold. Id love to see it.
5:34 the way he turned his head and say run😭
😂😂 yesss
That was I was gonna say
captured it and send to all my hema guys^^
Seeing you amazed at just how effective the plate harness is was great. Sengoku jidai armor is also impressive, but European plate armor is a superior marvel of technology for its time
"I won against HEMA fencers" .... by ignoring when I was hit ... lol
And counting clear misses.
Jesse's past trainings in staff fighting come in handy during this duet. Impressive
I bet you and Skallagrim would make amazing videos together, he's a pretty good HEMA youtuber who discusses historical weapons from all over the world and even tries out unorthodox weapons too.
Sellsword Arts, Blumineck, and Let's ask Shogo are also amazing swordsmen
He would end him rightly.
Glad everyone had fun. First instinct was a hot take defending the honor of HEMA, but that isn't in the spirit of your video. I enjoyed the interesting and unorthodox combination of weapons.
I think it mostly shows that in an unfamiliar context, a master with a great concept of distance has an advantage over less experienced opponents. That isn't to disparage the HEMA athletes, but to compliment Jesse. He has spent years honing his craft, traveling the world, treating it as a full time calling. His skill and adaptability really show here.
Bro is no one gonna talk about how the medieval knight keeps wearing runners throughout the video, like this is cursed 😂😂😂
Bro that's what I was saying 😂
Could this be the impetus to show that the weapons of the East can actually be sparred with safely? Could be perhaps even see some Kobudo sparring on the regular, in dojos across the world? One can truly hope!
Who knows!! 🤩
Who would win? A state of the art medieval plated knight vs some guy with a metal stick
Something rather essential was missing from that knight's arsenal.
A horse that is also wearing it's own suit of armor.
And let's not forget: That horse is _mean._ Stallions are naturally pretty aggressive, and European knights trained them to be even _more_ vicious.
Also ranged weapons, depending on the timeframe, the knight may have been carrying a crossbow or even pistols. And moving with a level of speed and intensity that no modern karateka could even contemplate. Armored combat is a VERY intense thing, fast and with a level of power that doesn't exist in unarmed/unarmored fighting.
Being of Okinawan descent and a martial artist as well, I appreciate and respect what you do Jesse Sensei! 🙏🏽
3:58 Problem is that with that kind of shield you are not supposed to parry or block, the buckler is mainly to defend your hands once you go in, not to protect the body. You are supposed to use the sword to change the direction of enemy's weapon.
Fascinating
There is also a cone philosophy for buckler. Basically, by extending it from the body perpendicular to the enemy it creates a cone of protection behind it.
and lets be real, the staff hits shouldnt count as actual hits, bc they dont do that much dmg (expept head, balls)
@timk8869 bo staffs can easily break bones.
@zenexgamingseries never said they couldnt, but k
What a nunchuck or stick can do to a guy with full armour
That was an amazing video and quite a bit of fun to watch. I'm really glad your final boss didn't use the polearm to full effect, your armor was nowhere near stout enough to take a solid hit from it. It would be a fun follow up video to have YOU get suited up in full armor so you could get a feel for just how much protection the guy had.
Thanks for this treat.
Glad you enjoyed it!
@KARATEbyJesse One of the things that made it especially enjoyable was the mutual respect had by all and the chance to debrief after each match. The final distilled wisdom was great as well.
Yeah, I was worried that he would get clocked on the head by accident or something -- that's a concussion right there, if not a trip to the hospital. Modern fencing masks were not designed to handle poleaxes...
I feel as though this exercise did illustrate some interesting things -- infighting is surprisingly viable even against long weapons, provided that one is trained. But at a certain point the gap in gear really nullifies a lot; kicking and armored opponent in the chest isn't really going to do all that much, and while Jesse managed to pull off a takedown, that was only possible because his opponent opted to get rid of his weapon.
@taichi2245 Well said. The average person doesn't understand just how much protective clothing is between the skin and the armor that acts as an additional buffer and how the planes of the outer surface deflect and dissipate force.
And then doesn't realize that a blow from a poleaxe or halberd can STILL shatter collarbones or give concussions through it all. You can't really "blunt" what becomes a bludgeoning weapon. I've seen some seriously gnarly injuries from weapons of this type.
HEMA is my favorite martial art and seeing a proper kobudo practitioner like you, Jesse, spar with them is so cool!
Great to hear!! 😁
@5:07 - The Silver Stig.
They say he makes quick work of whom utilizes karate.
the knight was friendly. He could have just made mashed potatoes out of our Karte Master... if he had not held back. No way in hell you could get at somebody armored like this with bare hands...
this was very interesting. One thing to consider is the damage each weapon does. It is much more realistic for a sword to take someone down in one hit since it is a bladed weapon, which is why it makes sense for sparring with those weapons to go only until the first hit. The bo and nunchucks are blunt, however, and the force transfer by the nunchucks is a bit inefficient due to it not being rigid, so it is unlikely to seriously injure someone down in one hit. the stabs from the staff would also not do as much damage, so it is less threatening than a spear for example. when u were fighting the knight, you really must get in close to grappling. you would also have a knife to stab in the gaps.
You’d have to remember that he’d have the same thing. Like they said in the video, unless you have a similar level of armor, your best bet is to run.
Blunt weapons can still do damage, and I’m imagining a staff with some metal caps or spikes at the end could help with the impact. But I don’t imagine it being as effective against a person in full plate armor
@flyingace1999-f3d yes, blunt weapons still do damage, but wooden ones won't do nearly as much as a sharp metal object. also, adding metal caps to increase damage would change the weight distribution drastically, making it fight differently. we see tgis in maces.
It seemed kinda ridiculous to me that getting slapped on the wrist with nunchucks counted for the exact same point that getting stabbed in the chest did.
Conclusion for samurai - If you see the knight, run! 😂😂😂
no
Kobudo weapons and Budo weapons are massively different 😅, karate was born at best in his ancient form around 1800, samurai appaer around 1400 and in a totally different land
turns head: *R U N*
Always happy to see more Kobudo and HEMA! Awesome to see its getting more attention from traditional martial artists too like you and Sensei Seth.
Awesome as always, Jesse. Keep it up!
Just doing what I love!! 😇 Thanks for supporting my work 🙏
Merging HEMA with Martial Arts of the Orient? Hell yeah! 👊🥋
My master always taught me to run away immediately if i see an armed enemy
Your bo staff skills are really impressive
It's the first weapon I learned! Thank you
“At the end of the day, maybe it’s not about the east vs the west, but who can move the best.”
BARS
Kama against the fencer would not have been my first choice. Honestly, I would have taken something with equal or greater reach, such as a bo stave. The fact Jesse won with the pair of kama is actually quite impressive.
Bro is a part of the lin kuei💀💀💀
Thanks so much for doing this collab Jesse! Everyone learns so much when doing this type of cross training, and I continue to respect your ability to improvise on the fly when things ‘do not go according to plan’. Great showing for both HEMA and Kobudo
I love how every person’s advice when encountering a man in metal armor is to run
this man has nice skills with the bo-staff, the way he used it. you could really see that he used real strategy and speed to win, thats really cool. and his karate skills is incredible. the way he managed the knight when he threw away his weapon was insane!
What a great experiment. I’ve trained in martial arts for almost 50 years (black belt in taekwondo, 10 years in kempo and kickboxing, several years in jujutsu), plus I fenced in high school and college, and coincidentally I have a PhD in European history. That gives me some perspective here. What I took away from your experiment was something that I think all good fighters, including you, come to implicitly understand. It’s not the style or the weapon, but the tactics you employ. You instinctively executed a leg sweep to take down the knight, which incidentally is a component of jujutsu that samurai developed to fight their armored opponents if caught themselves unarmed. One additional point that I would add: when European knights fought each other they knew their armor was impervious to most bladed weapons, so they attacked the head for concussion (because even in a steel helmet your head will bounce around inside if hit hard enough) and the legs. Even as a young black belt I didn’t have the speed or flexibility as many of my friends, so I realized on powerful, low side kicks to take my opponents down. Same thing here against an armored opponent. Take out his balance and he’s going down. And don’t forget to grapple. Then finish him off on the ground.
This link gives an idea as to how knights were trained in tactics, and to use their whole bodies as weapons.
www.google.com/search?q=knight%20training%20manuscripts&tbm=isch&tbs=rimg:CWrdeJMYT1zLYUo4DkNEkUOD8AEBsgIGOgQIABAB&client=firefox-b-1-m&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CB0QuIIBahcKEwiYor7z5_j5AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQDA&biw=1121&bih=820&dpr=2
Great post, Jesse.
Thanks for sharing your insights and observations!
@KARATEbyJesse You are very welcome. As a scholar and a martial artist, I really enjoy your posts. They are erudite, humble, thoughtful, objective and informed. Plus you have real skills. That’s much appreciated.
Easier said than done. But I suppose if you are about to die anyway you may as well try something :)
Its was very nice of them to take it so easy on you
“I cast big fucking hammer”
It wasn't shown here, but polearms have more uses than just reach and leverage. They can be combo'd of course, just like any other weapon, but their long length and the wide axe allows one to swing it low and behind to hook the opponent's leg or knee, pulling it forward and causing them to fall. Still, it's an unwieldy weapon at times due to its size, which is why basically every knight always carried a secondary weapon. Daggers were common, but one handed maces were too.
Imagine getting your legs swept by a halberd and then a guy covered in metal spends the next 30 seconds beating your chest and face into mush with a small hammer as you flail around helplessly.
I gotta appreiciate these kinds of people man, super respectful and humble
I see this as Elden Ring weapon user vs Nioh weapon user face off in a Hellish Quart match lmao.
Awesome to see you dive into the HEMA community Jesse! I love fighting in armored tourneys. I have often used my training from RyuTe Renmei to compliment my swordfighting.
As a hema and combat sambo practitioner, I loved this video. I almost never see hard sparring with the kinds of weapons you used. Keep'em coming. Well done.
Thanks!!
The karate was more impressive than I was expecting, but also the way he took that kick like it was almost NOTHING.
Knights are scary, man.
I love how the bo was so effective. Especially the nuki tsuki is such an underrated technique in my opinion. So difficult to react because you don't see it coming.
Like a snake!
Now imagine if the bo had a lethal blade attached to it as well to make those strikes truly effective... :) It's easy to understand why varieties of spears and polearms have always been extremely popular in history, all the way up to the invention of rifles.
Coincidentally, the naginata has always been one of my favorite Japanese weapons!
Staffs are highly underrated and were much more accessible to people of various cultures in early times. There’s a couple videos of quarterstaff fighting and what it can do to armor and bones.
I mean the bo was effective because it had a massive reach advantage, polearms vs blades in one touch is almost universally going to go to the weapon with reach, not to mention that it was a two handed weapon against an opponent with two one handed implements (who probably wasn't trained to think that the lower leg is a viable target, although frankly I don't know enough about hema scoring to say) frankly the only really interesting matchup was the kama, where I honestly thought the kama would have been at a substantial disadvantage but they proved out nicely, using one to direct the opponents weapon and the other to strike was a really effective strategy.
thats why many soldiers used spears, it is the improved form of the Bo
Funnily, grappling is a big part of European martial arts, especially against armored opponents. So, trying to get a knight on the ground isn’t a bad idea, it’s actually exactly what you’d want to do against one, since while medieval armor was very mobile, you’d still have a little difficulty getting up. But, the tricks are mostly done with assistance of levers, aka your weapon. It was also interesting to see the adaptation to your strategy. Though, it’s not terribly surprising to me that the generally shorter weapons failed against much longer weapons, namely with the sidesword vs kama, but that’s a general issue you’ll find in all weapons. Longer blades generally have a greater advantage since they aren’t as reliant on getting close, I’d recommend Skllagrim’s own video on a similar weapon to the kama about sickle fighting and his spars to test it out. Now, in a realistic scenario outside of sparring, if nunchaku were put up against a rapier and parrying dagger, even with the tonfa in the off hand, nunchucks aren’t very good weapons in general and don’t do well at carrying the energy of a blow when compared to a normal stick, but seeing it in sparring getting namely used against the hands is actually pretty insightful, it does show a bit of a strength they could have, and it’s being able to hit targets that a straight blade would need more effort with, and I admittedly disagree with the assumption that a shorter opponent is faster, it’s normally the taller ones in my experience that are faster. Though, smaller opponents are definitely much harder to hit because they’re small. I admittedly don’t have much to stay about the quarter staff because well… it’s a staff. Staves are historically rather effective weapons, especially if made of thicker and stronger wood, though some techniques you employed were actually also done in medieval Europe, so that underlines a similarity between philosophy in regards to these styles of weaponry. Of course with the armor duel again, what would have been done is that the weak spots in the armor would be exploited or the visor lifted up for visored helms or the helmet completely removed if it was close faced. But with the style of armor, it looks to be about 14th century from my perspective, so the helmet is likely a bascinet. But that’s only my observation from watching this.
A battle between 2 full armored knights is like to tuna cans trying to open eachother
Should have done a Top Gear style intro for the armoured knight xD
"Some say, he once fought a moose by ending it rightly, and he has been credited with being the only martial artist to ever be so impressive at blocking, that his opponent ran away. All we know is, that he is called the Knight!"
Some say he swam across the English channel in full armor, and that he burned down the London Bridge while drunk. All we know is that he's called the Knight!
Surprise! Armour works!
Seriously big props finding the courage and determination to fight a fully armored knight with a pair of knuckle busters
6:30 FINAL BOSS
The art of the European sword has been refined over millennia of warfare.
"An elegant weapon, from a more refined age."
Älskar sånna här videos. Enda sättet att verkligen förstå hur det var att fightas under medeltiden.
AWESOME!!!! Every traditional martial artist dream scenario, watching medieval fighting styles duke it out 🔥🔥👍🇺🇸🇵🇭
Right on!
8:25 SwaggerSouls face reveal
Now do it with the same century of weaponry
As a HEMA and Karate practitioner, I - to little surprise - really enjoyed this video. I'm a bit sad though, as a german, that we didn't see the long sword used. 🙂 I can recommend my teacher Adrian van Bronswijk from Fechtschule Asteria - or maybe you can have a collaboration with Matt Easton from Schola Gladiatoria - for something like that. Would also like to see you try HEMA.
Wonderful!
This was really cool. The Kama worked much better than I thought they would, and the Tonfa and Nunchaku were like a flail and parrying dagger! As per facing the armoured opponent - that's what Jujutsu is for. Take him down and then use a dagger in the joints of the armour.
Yes indeed!! Thank you
To be fair: They worked because his opponent refused to use all his tools. No guards, no overhead work, no constant threat with the point.
@leichtmeister Correct. I don't see the point of this video.
I've watched these knight tournament fights. These guys are nuts.
I was very impressed with how well he dealt with the sidesword using kamas, and the bo skills are terrifying. It's very interesting for me who does HEMA but doesn't know much about kobudo
Yeah you would think a few quick thrusts from the side sword would be enough to win against the kama
bro throwing away the axe deadass just turned it from a boss fight for jesse to a bossfight for the knight 💀
It's like a bossfight where the boss can also parry and also has pattern recognition
Dude simply fought Lawbringer from For Honor in the end lmao.
Nice to see some HEMA on your channel ;-)
Cool video!!!!
Thanks a lot my friend! Thanks for supporting my work
My favorite weapons:
- Western - greatsword (other than the Scottish claymore; too heavy/clumsy)
- Eastern - naginata (arguably the overall best hand-to-hand weapon ever designed)
What about a Billhook? It has reach plus it has a hook to grab shield/leg. It can stab and hack, which makes it versatile.
Claymore is a relatively small variant of the greatsword.
@GawainGabhann There is a long list of polearm-style weapons that I have a huge respect for. The naginata is just my #1 on that list. Billhook might be #2 or #3 tho.
@adcyuumi i mean naginata is just one of TONS of various glaives available in the world,
but naginata are aften VERY nicely made historically so yknow they do have a nice flare
@elgostine The naginata had a reputation for being a killer, but other glaives never achieved that reputation. The most deadly samurai to ever live (who was a woman btw; I've always found that detail interesting) used a naginata and cut down quite a lot of other samurai in her time.
The main reason for the naginata's rep is its blade angle, which is absent on western glaives. Even improvised cuts from odd angles will self-correct into a good cut, so "good form" is less mechanical and more fluid - forgiving in the cut, but on a weapon that will go thru most armor and kill immediately when it does. Western glaives strike a bit awkwardly, like an axe.
I lost my life savings on that last bout
Absolutely NOT staged video.
The guy with the poleax was even afraid to swing it a little harder.
And the man with the sword forgot how to hit with it.
It's sad to see that so many people watched it.
You should've done a bo vs halberd match; they both had reach advantages that would've been neat to see against each other.
That or bo vs quarterstaff.
It was nice seeing something like this with experts on both sides.
A real medieval knight has been trained from childhood on. And a real medieval knight would ignore your punch. Or punching back. With armoured fists. It's like crashing a Golf into a battletank.
Real medieval knights also had other weapons on their person in the case that they lost their main tool. He would've absolutely taken out a dagger or whatever his secondary was had that last fight been a pinch more realistic.
I absolutely love seeing how insanely fast some of the Knight's strikes were with a weapon as large and unbalanced as a poleaxe!
I love training and fighting with a sword and shield, but my absolute favorite is the poleaxe, and seeing fights between poleaxes and eastern weapons and techniques is always super fun. All in all, great video!
5:34 The way the armoured person turned, said "run" and immediately snapped back to face forward was so funny xD
6:20
- Any last pice of advice for me?
- Run!
Epic!
Actually, in circles of historians distant weapon well-known for it's advantages. If you can chose a weapon - grab spear. You can hold the ground against enemy's cavalry, when you stay in formation, you can keep enemy far from you and attack him before he'll even get able to harm you. As for close quarters... Success of medieval battle depends generally of how successfully cavalry destroyed formation of enemy and how successfully this enemy keeps his formation. And spear fits for this role just brilliantly. For close quarter fight infantryman and archers were using cheap and practical falchions and Messers.
generally yes, longer is better, but if your enemy uses missile attacks frequently, pairing a big shield (like viking round shield or roman scutum) with shorter weapon befitting of the armour your opponent is using is the better call.
It is very nice to see. Have been watching some Hema videos lately, cool stuff. I do feel I have to note the theory versus practical here. When you wear such armor and get kicked, it would not hurt as much as being kicked without armor and the kicker is kicking metal. In reality I think the advantage of the armor is much greater than portrayed in this experiment.
Fun fact, Hema is also actually a shopping chain for household items in The Netherlands :)
I believe that HEMA would improve immensely if it included wrestling or judo as a basis for learning weapons, kind of like karate does with empty hand and kobudo, not necessarily because you will use it much when weapons are involved but because it really teaches you what it's like to fight a resisting opponent really close up
It is really a good idea! ...so good, infact, that we already train wrestling, as it is a fundamental component in HEMA, for longsword, pollaxe, rondel dagger and armoured fighting!
Fiore teaches a complete system like that.
@DockMephisto It's really really good if your school does that
They do if you read Fiore's manuscript the first chapter states how wrestling should be the basis for the rest of the arts and ringen or war wrestling was a really big part of European martial culture.
@turtlebutme7103 yup, I believe that was generally one of the go to ways of fighting an armoured opponent on foot besides, polearms, and blunt weapons. Wrestle them to the ground, and then use a dagger to kill or force a surrender.
What I find most interesting is that I could basically predict the outcome of each bout:
kama vs sidesword: hm, could go either way, depends on which one understand best how to exploit the weakness of the other (better reach/bettter weapon control)
rapier vs tonfa/nunchuck: rapier wins (although long play (dagger closer to the body) would have been more efficient imho)
sword and buckler vs bo: oh the swordman is screwed
armor vs fists: uh... unless they count any hits on the armour as valid I don't see how he could do anything... (and they did)
As they said, it is not the style but the skill that is important... and choosing a weapon that efficiently counters the other's!
Amazing!!
Its an awesome weapon choice! Brass Knuckle on fully armored Knight with Halberd. I think you truly know your martial arts. I am sure experienced Samurai saw a knight with a Halberd and first weapon they immediately though was 'let me get my brass knuckle out'
A Spanish Torcier (Light armoured infantry) armed with just a Sabre can kill a Samurai with ease, and you're comparing a Full Armoured Knight to a guy in Kimono
What do you even mean with Samurai in this context? The early naginata spearman, or the traditional yari pikeman, or the late era Swordsmen?
Because the Yari pikemen presumably equipped with a smaller type of sword as a sidearm supported by gunners, bowmen and cavalry would be the one they theoretically could have come across, and that seems too much of a mirror match to the Spanish formations of the time to be a matter that could be handled with ease.
i mean, samurai were primarily ranged combatants, so im guessing you mean if the samurai just had a sword. also im curious to know what you're basing that on
Tercio*
@MW_Asura In English its Torcier
My traditional Japanese weapon of choice against an armored medieval knight: Tanegashima. Armor-piercing, easy to use, and longer-ranged. Plus, it's a GUN.
Yeah, I don't think I could take an armored knight in anything resembling a fair fight...
By the time you can get a tanegashima, knights amor was bulletproffed.
@douglasknupp4574 Armored MEDIEVAL knight. Before they bulletproofed it.
I know it's cheating... But against an armored knight with a poleaxe? With only Japanese traditional weapons and no ability with the yumi? I'll take time travel over a fair and realistic fight, thank you.
@douglasknupp4574 let's not forget that firearms technology evolved faster in Europe than in Japan.
use a kanabo and club him to hospital
@lordMartiya Even with a yumi, you'd have to be on horseback and have a few of your mates with you and they'd have to be equally skilled or even more so to actually stand a chance against a fully armoured European knigth.
Very ENTERTAINING !! Thanks 👍
love the videos bro! got into kyokushin because of you
Wonderful! Enjoy
Kyokushin will make you tough.
Something more about the final conclusion. A point and an edge are also very nice. I think outside of sparing you would not want to be hit by a sword on the wrist, while you might shake a blunt hit from Nunchakus (or even a staff) off. I think that is poorly represented in sparing with weapons (and not just here, it is a general problem). Touch == Point(s)*, which of course is not true, especially if armor gets thrown in the mix. I mean that is like thinking it does not matter where you get punched (or how hard).
*Some rules give different amount of points for different target areas (e.g. head vs torso vs limbs).
Thanks for sharing! 👍
If I were to take a knight I'd go for shield fighting.