Videos

European sword based martial arts and Asian sword based martial arts are based on the same body movements. No matter what weapon you use, higher level (meaning the most efficient, or the stuff that works by keeping you and others the most alive while using them), is the same basic use of body mechanics, deception, timing, and momentum.

Martial art implies the ability to defend your life and others, not just put the sword in the right place or get someone on the ground, but without hesitation and without interference being able to take the life of someone in place of your own.

There is a balance when learning martial arts between applying concepts in real time, and slowly training specific concepts inside a technique - of which there are many.

Of the videos on YouTube, you can see Clements has a lot of real time technique performances, but not a lot of fine tuned motor skill technique that would allow for optimum efficiency without any interference (back and forth of momentum that causes more variables).

Variables are what you want to get rid of, such as any excess rising or falling of the body, pushing and pulling back and forth, and any starts or stops in motion during the technique which create holes or gaps in which people could capitalize on.

Of the videos on You Tube, Kuroda Tetsuzan shows a lot of the concepts inside a motion such as fine tuned motion without starts and stops. This is the motion where you are trying to reduce variables that can accumulate in a technique in real time as it unfolds.

The formality in Japanese martial arts comes from the knowledge of these variables and is intended to reduce them. The formalities come from a warrior culture where everything you do is scrutinized and can be taken advantage of. That is why things are so ritualized, they were very likely to do the same thing in Europe, and the culture just hasn't survived.

There are also many different styles that emphasize difference aspects of the martial arts. Kuroda Sensei focuses on stealth and deception, while Clements tries to work on physical (I believe) efficiency that comes from carbon-copying movement from a book without a lot of fine tuned body mechanics.

There is also the difference in uke, or empfänger. The empfänger in the Clements video seems to give up once he's been un-armed, but continues to stand there and wait to be taken to the ground hard. While Kuroda Sensei has an uke that just gets out of the way when in danger, most likely a teaching that will transfer into real life combat more than just standing there and taking it. That is just another difference in culture and formality and how they've developed in both.

Everyone has gaps to fill in their sword work, and there is no martial art better than another, only more devoted practitioners who want to gain skill.