| Jan 17, 2018


When you think ‘martial arts,’ chances are your thoughts tend towards the Orient. When weapons are concerned, in particular, swords, the long, curved, slashing blade of the samurai — the katana — usually comes to mind, doesn’t it?

However, there is a long-standing tradition of European martial arts as well and Enterprise’s Robert MacLeod is dedicated to preserving and promoting that tradition.

MacLeod, an anthropologist by trade who teaches at St. Lawrence College in Kingston, is also head instructor at Ironwood Sword School. He runs several classes and is currently beginning an eight-week session at the Bellrock Hall in German Longsword for youths ages 10 and up on Saturday mornings with the motto “Strength, Flexibility, Growth.”

For those unfamiliar with the German martial art, it is a combat system taught during the 1300s by Johannes Liechtenauer.

“There were two schools of longsword, the other being Italian,” MacLeod said. “Actually there was also an English tradition but that wasn’t written down.

“And a big part of what we do is teaching the techniques that come from Liechtenauer and a number of his students. We try to stay close to the historical manuscripts.”

In addition to longsword techniques, MacLeod also includes dagger and wrestling in the Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) tradition.

“Knives were actually my first love, I started collecting them when I was younger, and then in university I joined the fencing club and started doing sabre,” he said. “But soon after I joined, it went electric and good, clean cuts became flicks in order to score.”

As a young boy, he had taken judo classes and so returned to the Eastern martial arts traditions to study tae-kwon do for several years.

“But then, my son bought a collectable sword and my wife said ‘if he’s going to have it, he should know how to use it,’” MacLeod said. “So, in 2008, we found a group of guys in the park playing with swords and we discovered HEMA.”

That led him to join a local study group working in the German longsword tradition and he was hooked.

“A lot of people really don’t know the longsword,” he said. “It’s a lot lighter than you might think — less than three pounds and just under three feet (blade).

“And it’s a cutting weapon a lot more like a katana than it is like a club, which it often portrayed as in movies.”

MacLeod said he has no problem teaching beginners and has all the equipment needed for novice level students. All the beginners have to have is loose, comfortable clothes (no shorts), flat-soled, non-marking shoes and a pair of thin leather gloves.

The Bellrock classes begin this Saturday (there was actually a class last Saturday but he’s prepared to start again because of the weather issues last week). It’s $100 for an eight-week term, which should take most students through the novice rank to the scholar rank.

While the Bellrock classes are specifically for youths, MacLeod said he’s happy to start a class for adults anywhere in the area if there are four willing students.

Contact MacLeod at 613-358-9642 or www.irnwood.ca for more information.

“Swords are cool,” he said.

 

 

 

 

 

Robert MacLeod runs Benjamin and Anna Tucker through a series of thrusts and parries at the Bellrock Hall, as part of his ongoing series of German longsword classes. Photo/Craig Bakay

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