The Way of Pen and Sword
Thank you for visiting my blog! My name is Joel (aka soul of shields) and I walk the twofold way of pen and sword. The way of pen and sword involve two activities- that of writng and swordsmanship. For a large portion of my life these two journeys were divoced from each other. When I wasn't practicing with my swords, I was working on a new fantasy short story. Switching between the two ways split my heart and fractured my soul and my progress halted in both endeavors.
Before making this blog the words of legendary swordsman and writer Miyamoto Musashi came to mind- "The way of the warrior is the twofold way of pen and sword,". In the moment I realized that in order to become whole in my soul I need to make these two paths into one, and harmonize them.
This blog is a manifestation of my journey. It is an archive of articles written by me on both of these topics. I do not claim the title of master on either persuit but I am well on the path to that realization.
My swordsmanship is made of three different pillars. The first is the study of the physical martial art. I base my style on the historical Kundst des Fechtens. It is a style created by the famous German sword master Johannes Liechtenauer- author of the Zettel. The Zettel is a collection of poems written by Liechtenauer which described his philosophy and technique around both the one handed and two handed swords which reigned in the 15th century.
Master Liechentauer's poems are esoteric in nature as a design choice. Liechentauer made his living travelling across Europe training squires in the way of the sword. The poems were something of a teacher's aide to him, and were only meant to be understood by himself alone. Beyond the difficulty in decoding the poem's meanings in the time period, we have the extra burden of living in the modern age. It is a time where the medieval world is chronicled but forgotten. We no longer express ourselves in the same way nor do we speak their dialect. Modern translations come from translating the medieval german dialect into modern german and then into modern English before my eyes ever look upon the master's words. This leaves a necessary window of interpretation which falls on the hands of KdF practicioners. We must also keep in mind our personal knowledge and experience of combat from studying other martial arts (in my case, kickboxing + wrestling ).
The KdF historical texts I gloss over primarily are commentaries of Master Liechtenauer's Zettel written by fighters connected to his teachings. This gathering of swordsmen are known in retrospect as the Liechtenauer Fellowship. I've studied a handful of these manuscripts over the years of my swordsmanship. My understanding of KdF comes from the writings of Sigmund Ringeck, Peter Danzig, Peter Faulkner, Jorg Wilhalm, and Andre Paurenfeyndt.
From the teaching of the old masters I now explore my own style of swordplay by means of writing, study, exercise, content creation, and live sword fencing with other swordsmen across the world. I am happy to work with what is best for me (as all great martial arts masters recommend), although I still see myself as a KdF styled fighter simply because I love Liechentauer's art.
Studying the German way of the sword helps connect with my German ancestry in ways that feel intimate to me. I know very little of my ancestry but I keep the idea of perhaps I had ancestors who were great fighters and knights of the medieval era and that they walk beside me on this journey.
On this blog I will be postibg articles all about my martial arts and writing journey. If you are interested in my other works of expression I enourage you to follow me on tiktok @soul_of_shields and youtube (@the_fighters_guild).
