Hi there from Australia
I too am sorry; I am responsible for turning all these old journals into something sensible and trying to pass on as much as I can into a compact format. Also as with any text its hard to convey my Aussie sense of humor and charm!!!
Much is lost and much is transmitted from the ground up; a great reconstruction has occurred and many, many schools have duelists who will switch over and use RG. Does it cross the barrier from technique into style? Fun to explore and adapt and test.
I think the answer is yes to both sides of the position, yes knowledge has been lost; not necessarily hidden, and also yes it was not as prevalent to begin with, though I think every school had them like for instance TPLA has Master Nonymous
I believe from having stood in the studios and worked across many different schools that every school had its RG practitioners. It was essential that FG be learnt and mastered; even with what we have here much has had to be reconstructed and interpreted. If you look widely you will see most guards illustrated at some point with a reverse grip. One work will show the Tail, another the roof, another the ox, just pieces but from having worked with people who live and breathe these western arts they left no stone unturned and had a very practical, disciplined mindset.
They were warriors that dedicated their lives to the sword and war; the video I gave last post with the lady knight had a European school displaying their arts and one person did the whole standard RG display. Compare this to the Techniques I posted in the beginners guide; less flash just strong movements that teach timing and distance and the mechanics of the guards and cuts.
Good points Uilos; like I said though the truth of it is a bit of both; lost knowledge and also it is not as used by everyone even in a school; even where the master is familiar with it. (Thailand uses a vicious RG style that is rarely seen at all by outsiders....)
In chess someone new who push the pieces around is called affectionately a 'woodpusher' ; years ago we came up with a similar term a 'steelpusher', as much as possible I strive to focus on everything having a purpose. Deception is the art of war but for me the intent must always be to cut.
Of course your professor is right Uilos and also the opposite is right, dogma accumulates in all schools of thought like chess or swordplay. To give an analogy from history: Capoeira.
Since the 16th century, Portugal extensively adopted slavery to provide labor for their colonies, transporting slaves mainly from West and Central Africa. Brazil, with its vast territory, was the major destination of African slaves, receiving 38.5% of all slaves sent by ships across the Atlantic Ocean.
Capoeira has a long and controversial history, since historical documentation in Brazil was scarce in the colonial era, but evidence and oral tradition leave little doubt about its Brazilian roots.
Capoeira is believed to be connected with tribal fighting called Engolo, from the Benguela Highlands region of Angola. In many tribes in Africa, there's the tradition of people that fight each other in order to acquire a bride or a desired women, in which a fight body to body, without weapons, is held inside a circle. It is very probable that many other tribes and cultures (totally lost or enslaved) once held the same traditions.
In the 16th century, Portugal had claimed one of the largest territories of the colonial empires, but it lacked people to colonize it, especially workers. In the Brazilian colony the Portuguese, like many European colonists, chose to use slavery to supply this shortage of workers. Spanish and English colonists tried to enslave Brazilian natives at first, but this quickly proved too difficult for many reasons, including the familiarity natives had with the land, which allowed them to escape and survive outside the settlements. The solution was importing slaves from Africa.
In its first century, the main economic activity in the colony was the production and processing of sugarcane. Portuguese colonists used to create large sugarcane farms called engenhos, which were dependent on the labor of enslaved workers. Slaves, living in inhumane and humiliating conditions, were forced to work hard and often suffered physical punishment for any small misbehavior. Even though slaves outnumbered the Portuguese colonists, the lack of weapons, the colonial law, the disagreement between slaves coming from different African cultures and the lack of knowledge about the new land and its surroundings usually discouraged the idea of a rebellion.
In this environment, capoeira was born not as a fighting style, but as a hope of survival. It was a hope of survival because they would say they were dancing when a colonist came along but really they were practicing fighting and preparing to fight back. A tool with which an escaped slave, completely unequipped, could survive in the hostile, unknown land and face the hunt of the capitães-do-mato, the armed and mounted colonial agents who were charged with finding and capturing escapees. So although they were outnumbering them without weapons they were hopeless but once they had learnt how to fight they could break free.
Necessity is the mother of invention and the reason I bring this up is I think that its footwork could bear greatly on the guards and ideas explored by the serenity form. I think Oramac you will be really interested in some of my thoughts and ideas to play around with
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Try using Oramac's guards with these steps; very fun and different! Your form and guards is hopefully one of many people writing up their techniques and ideas and from this platform lots competence and theory.
There is much that I have experimented with that I have used time and again; like for instance the Rhythms of the Dance; I first learnt these from a beautiful ballet teacher named Mary who as it happened was a maestro with the Spanish art of La Verdadera Destreza. This is a deadly, and I mean deadly art. Destreza is a Spanish system of fencing. The word "destreza" literally means "skill." However, the full name is perhaps best translated as "the true art."
While Destreza is primarily a system of swordsmanship, it is intended to be a universal method of fighting applicable to all weapons. This includes sword and dagger; sword and cloak; sword and buckler; sword and round shield; the two-handed sword; the flail; and pole-arms such as the pike and halberd.
Its precepts are based on reason, geometry, and incorporate various other aspects of a well-rounded Renaissance humanist education, with a special focus on the writings of classical authors such as Aristotle, Euclid, and Plato. Authors on Destreza also paid great attention to what modern martial artists would call bio-mechanics. (For speed and efficiency I have turned to wiki but that is only the mere shadow of both Destreza and all arts)
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I use these principles in all my rapier, long sword, and dagger including FG and most importantly RG. If you work the circle it will change your whole feeling for the space. RG needs the advantages of precise movement and angle. In my walk-through of the Form I think it will be at least entertaining!
Great job Oramac
Kind Regards
Bluesky
(Just a few ideas; could be wrong; I hope this stimulates your own great thoughts. New ideas are like light bulbs; you never know when one will need replacing!)
PS - I admire all of your hard work TPLA
