Patrick Kelly wrote: |
Since a sword of this type is designed to be used primarily in conjunction with a shield, wouldn't the shield itself naturally inhibit the ability to always stop the sword in front of the body? Perhaps the use of the shield as a defense would negate this requirment altogether? |
I'd say it depends on the kind of shield...
With any big shield, I would hesitate committing into a such a strike that would leave my right side totally exposed, my sword pointing back, with no menace to the opponent and a lower protection from my shield since I'd probably move it away a little bit in order not to smash my own sword hand in it. With a buckler as in I.33, you could be able to still have protection by moving it over your sword arm, I guess. I never practiced with a buckler, though... When practicing with my round shield I try to finish my strikes with the body at a 45 degrees angle to the target, not fully in profile, in order to be able to use my shield. I still have to try cutting with a sword & shield...
With two-handed weapons things change, because you have a higher leverage to recover from your strike. I can't comment on longswords since I don't own any realistic ones, but I know that the recommandation in japanese swordfighting is to stop your strike as soon as possible. For example, when executing a downward strike on the head, one would try to stop the weapon at the level of the throat or sternum, no lower.
In general I found that such things are easier when using proper footwork. You'll have trouble to stop your weapon, especially on lateral strike, if you are not using your whole body. A tiny misplacement of your foot can affect your whole stance... As my teacher tells me from time to time : "I'm going to just nail your foot down if you don't stop moving it inwards" :)