Posts: 870 Location: Seattle area
Sun 09 Mar, 2008 11:43 am
Just to throw in another way of looking at things, yet again....... you personalities, which I'll try and leave out in this post, and you have art and science. You have the subjective, and physical reality. In both swordsmanship, and the making of swords.......... Our understanding of both is incomplete, and maybe that's one of the things that make things so interesting......
Sometimes in this, the art and the science clash. Not in reality of course, but in the way folks view them. Sometimes, they complement one another.....
As an example of how science can add to art, as a personal example I once sat in on a class on "tempo and measure of one of our better local sidesword and rapier instructors. My background is Tai Chi {Yang style}, which is "art" however, adding the part of rapier science, "tempo and measure" to my understanding helped me a great deal. At the time, I was involved in using my art, and modifying my use of it, to fence with various local
Italian rapier folks........
It works the same in swords. Learning of the nodes, the pivot points, etc, all have added to what you see in finished product as far as swords go, and the process goes on. But, at the same time, experience and feedback with various martial arts and artists also has added to the understanding, but this last is more "art" {meaning subjective} than science. Yet, its very much a part of the continued improvement you see in the sword market. Swordmakers, then, deal with both "Science", and "Art". Physical reality, and the subjective. It becomes a part of ones being after a while........
Its likely the subjective part of this, why various swordmakers see things differently. The varying amount that we live in "Physical Realilty" vs "Subjective" universe. Our own personal prism to the world if you will......
If you take, lets say four prominent swordmaker/designers {prominent in the world of the internet}, and give them a rough spec for things.... and take out the requirement of having to make a buck........ you'd wind up with four different views. Lets say, a Type XIV for I.33. Blade lengths might vary between 27 and 30.5 inches......... weights between 2lbs even and 2lbs 12oz......... and the differences of various characteristics each favored would be different, as would the compromises made to get to the favored characteristics........{for the heck of it, the four might be Tinker, Craig Johnson, Peter Johnsson, and A Trim}
You'd find that some sword handlers would have a good guess of who the makers were, even if not told........ because of the characteristics the swords had.......
If you now handed these swords to 8 different martial artists of various backgrounds, two experienced "backyard sword handlers", and maybe a couple other martial artists of similar but different backgrounds {katana, and Phillipine knife for instance}, you'd get different reactions on the likes and dislikes of each { subjective, purely}........
The end result? In my view, just that there would be quite a bit of variety in viewpoint....... add in passion and it could be quite a mix.........
Even throwing in Cad/Cam and CNC machining, there's still as much art in swordmaking as science...... just as there is in swordsmanship........ {this is before you add in passion}
caveat: there are several good swordmaker / designers that could be used in this example......... I just picked four out of the air......