| CONFERENCE REPORT
ASHOKAN SWORD SEMINAR 2005
Dr. Murray Eiland
The Second Ashokan Sword Seminar catered to all facets
of the study of European swords. Starting on the evening
of Friday the 16th and lasting until Sunday the 18th,
September, it was based in a field campus of the SUNY
(State University of New York) system. The seminar covered,
as it’s billing suggests “from ore to sword
in hand: history, smithing and martial arts techniques.”
For such a short seminar a significant amount of material
was covered in a short span of time, and the choice
of presenters was excellent. It was, however, intensive.
On the main day of Saturday there were lectures and
demonstrations running from 9 am to 10 pm and beyond.
The New England Bladesmiths Guild has been holding seminars
on knives at the site for about 25 years, but this was
only the third seminar devoted to swords. The last sword
seminar was five years ago, and it is envisaged to continue
the tradition at this interval.
The first lecture of the seminar was an introduction
by Dan Maragni, who is well qualified to start
the seminar, as his experiments with blades has led
him to be a technical consultant for the cutlery industry.
He was the driving force behind the other seminars,
and he pinpointed the reason he started the series.
Although long interested in swords, it was only after
his travel in Japan that he began to think about European
swords in particular. The Japanese were complaining
that they have too few apprentices to continue their
craft. This of course naturally led to the question
of how healthy the Western tradition remains? Who still
makes European swords and what do they think? A seminar
is a logical place to post and answer these questions.
The format of the event is much more open than a conference.
There were traditional style lectures, and some presentations
involving demonstrations if not audience participation.
The geographic scope was also wide. Obviously for American
smiths interested in European weapons there is not much
opportunity to examine ancient Old World examples. It
is no surprise that examples of blades from all cultures
were studied during the seminar, as forging techniques
are roughly similar over space though clearly not time.
Many techniques that have faded into obscurity in the
West are - or were until recent times - practiced in
other parts of the world. Many ethnographic blades were
displayed during the seminar that offered insights into
the problems faced during the Medieval period.
A main focus of the seminar was to introduce how swords
are and were used by the smiths who make them now. Martial
artists were also present to tell which weapons and
techniques were really effective. This had the predictable
effect of stimulating much discussion among practitioners
of different fighting styles. Reproduction swords were
tested and debated. While “academics with thin
arms” can speculate how a weapon was used, it
takes someone with experience in actually using a particular
weapon do be definitive. There is too much fantasy in
the field as it stands, and it is only through serious
research that this can be countered. |
