Capoferro: Week One

As mentioned in my last (very short) post, I'm working on starting up better drilling habits and walking through Capoferro's The Art and Practice of Fencing. The notes I'm taking on it are from the perspective of a novice (me) and for my own benefit, so shouldn't be treated as anything more than that. If you're interested in in depth discussion of the text, I recommend checking out The Tavern Knight's Barracks, where Remy's doing a series of posts on the subject.

But on to my first week. I ended up reading through and taking notes on more than my very conservative initial plan, though the initial sections were sparse for concrete short term and long term takeaways. Much of these earlier sections I've already covered in some depth elsewhere, but it's nice to read it from the direct source. So I'm breezing through this a little quickly to get to the rest, but this won't be the last time I read through all of this.

For reference, the translation I'm reading through is Tom Leoni's "A Practical Translation for the Modern Swordsman."


Chapter I: Of Fencing In General

• I don't have notes from this section for things I need to work on, but I enjoy his breakdown of art vs. science and "reason, nature, art, and practice." Really, this section mostly makes me want to geek out about writing structure.
• Biggest notes: "It's unfortunate that you're short, deal with it.", "Practice!", and "Never forget that this is the art of defense." (All paraphrased, which I hope is obvious, but I'll call out quotes versus paraphrases throughout these posts anyway.)

Chapter II: The Definition of Fencing, and Its Explanation

• I have literally no notes or underlines in this section. It repeats a lot of Chapter I.

Chapter III: The Part of Fencing Consisting in the Knowledge of the Sword

• Stay out of measure unless/until you're attacking.
• My sword is nowhere near as long as he says it should be. By either measure he gives I'd need to add about half a foot. Interesting to know.

Chapter IV: Measure

• "Measure is the distance between the point of my sword and the torso of my opponent." I've never heard this described so exactly, and I'd like to remember it.
• He lists off the various measures and their tempos and actions. I'd like to get better about remembering the exact details of this list and being careful to set up my drills in specific measures.

Chapter V: Tempo

• "Tempo is nothing but the measurement of stillness and motion."
• "it is far better to proceed (as the saying goes) with a leaden foot"
• Patience and bursts of speed.
• "Work out and practice so that you aren't slow." (paraphrased)
• I've underlined the "bad habits" section, which I'm almost certainly developing and will try to cut back on.
• Measure and tempo are two of the most difficult core principles for me, and though I don't seem to have detailed notes on either of these sections, it's because I want to keep chewing on this information and returning to reread.

Chapter VI: The Body, Beginning with the Head

• Head should stay in line with the sword, and generally always be properly guarded. 
• "While standing in guard and seeking the measure, the head should lean toward the left shoulder, whereas while striking it should lean towards the right shoulder." Running through my stances, this is clearly something I've been taught, but I don't think I've ever seen or heard it expressed directly.
• "Other people do other things, but they're wrong." (paraphrased) Capoferro is one of the most concisely judgmental authors I've read and I love him for it.

Chapter VII: The Body

• Walking through this description of stance and guard matches what I've been doing, which is nice. Same notes to fix and watch as always.
• "The farther away attacks come from, the safer and better they are."
• Be a smaller target when possible.
• Other people continue to do illogical things that Capoferro doesn't approve of.

Chapter VIII: The Arms

• Sword should divide all lines in half. 
• Don't fully extend your arm, but don't keep it fully withdrawn. Good reasoning provided for this.
• Left side of the body acts as a counterweight while standing in guard.
• "Always point your sword at your opponent's right side openings." (paraphrased) I definitely don't pay enough attention to this.

Chapter IX: The Thighs, the Legs, the Feet, and the Stance

• Walking through the stance directions bit by bit matched up with what I'd already been told and practicing, but it's always good to check up on those things.
• You should be able to hang out comfortably in your base stance.
• "Some people move in ways other than a straight line, but they're terrible." (paraphrased) Huh! Noted. I'll worry a bit less about my offline movements for the time being.
• "Passing steps are not advisable." Well darn.

Chapter X: The Defense, the Guard

• "Only the terza, therefore, can be classified as a guard." I hear this is somewhat unique to Capoferro, so I'll keep that in mind.
• Guard in terza holds the sword equidistant to all sides/lines, to allow equal ability to respond in any direction.

Chapter XI: How to Seek the Measure

• "[The tempo of seeking measure] must be proportional to the last boundary of the wide measure -- which is where the tempo for seeking the measure expires, giving way to the tempo of another action: striking."
• Patience.
• Again, a section I want to reread and go over more slowly.
• Mention of blade above opponent's.
• Perform cavaciones while moving backwards. Gain while moving forwards.
• Being fancy remains inefficient and terrible.

Chapter XII: Of Strikes

• "While striking, I necessarily parry at the same time" reminds me of a note I have from a Devon Boorman class, which went something like "parrying is just finding." I like this mentality and would like to work on thinking of things that way.
• Thrusts are always better than cuts, unless I'm on horseback. Good to know.

Chapter XIII: The Dagger

•  "A dagger is a slightly worse sword, let's not waste words here." (paraphrased) Oh, Capoferro. You're the best. 

That's it for now. As for drills and exercises for the week, I restarted my morning stretches and footwork/lunge drills consistently, but didn't branch into other drills, and didn't manage to restart my exercise schedule.

Main notes from last week:
 - Find from the elbow, not the wrist.
 - Work on crossings.
 - Distance drills and better understanding of measure.
 - I'm pausing between my lean and my final lunge, but if I don't pause I find myself losing the lean.
 - Keep knees properly in line.

Plan for this week:
 - Running, squats, push-ups, etc. Exercise that I can do at home without equipment.
 - Continued stretches, and figuring out what series of stretches does what I want it to.
 - Continued drills and extend the time spent on them:
     - Footwork
     - Lunges
     - Disengages
     - Visualizing crossings
     - ???