swordfighting

Swordfighting refers to the practice and study of combat with swords. It encompasses historical European martial arts (HEMA), Asian blade traditions, modern sport fencing, and staged or choreographed combat. Practitioners study stance, guard positions, footwork, and the interplay of offense and defense across different weapons and contexts.

Historically, swordfighting developed alongside armor, battlefield tactics, and weapon design. European traditions include longsword, backsword, and sabre, with treatises detailing guards, cuts, thrusts, and parries. Asian sword arts cover weapons such as the katana, jian, and dao, each with its own training methods and forms. Modern fencing standardizes three weapons—foil, Épée, and sabre—into a sport with defined rules, scoring, and protective equipment.

Techniques across traditions emphasize balance between attack and defense, precision in timing, and control to prevent injury. Training typically involves drills, partner drills, sparring, and, for stage combat, choreographed sequences designed for realism and safety rather than battlefield replication.

In contemporary practice, swordfighting is pursued as sport, historical study, or performance. HEMA communities often reconstruct historical fighting methods from manuals, while sport fences compete in national and international events, including the Olympics. Safety is a priority across all forms, with protective gear, weapon maintenance, and rule-based practice reducing risk.