Some Short Initial Book Two Thoughts!

This entry doesn't really have a point, per se, but I wanted to get some rambling thoughts out there. I've been trying in fits and starts to write up a paper on Fabris' Book Two. It isn't like there's a shortage of material in there to work with, and the secondary sources which are just past period are likewise pretty helpful.

Rather than just trying to outline a paper and build out flowcharts for the various rules that Fabris presents (so... many... flowcharts...) I thought it'd be a bit more productive for me to just start throwing some initial thoughts on the material from a pretty high view, and try to use that as a basis for going forward. (With more blog entries in, hopefully, increasing detail.)

So, onward. Book Two!

The key concept that Fabris describes in Book Two is what he calls "proceeding with resolution." If I were to put it very simply, I'd describe it as "walking calmly towards your opponent without stopping, and murdering them while you pass them." It's usually a bit more frenetic than that, but the moments where you can just do this smoothly and almost slowly are wonderful.

Of course, it's a lot more complicated than that.

At it's heart, I think the best meaningful summary is that proceeding with resolution is an advanced exercise in management of both tempo and measure while requiring a high degree of internalization of the practical applications of Fabris' theory as demonstrated in the various plays he describes. Which is a bit more helpful than my pretty flip description of it above, but probably not by much. So let's break it down even more.

First, let's see what Fabris himself says about proceeding with resolution: "I do not want to take anything away from the techniques of which I have spoken thus far. They are all important and good to know. However, in this part of the book I will set them aside. What we are looking for here is a way to attack the opponent immediately after unsheathing the sword, without stopping and without regard to the opponent’s guards, postures, tempi, parries, attacks, advances or retreats. In short, the opponent should be utterly powerless to stop your attack under all circumstances. This mode of operation, with all its requirements, will make you safer by far than if you waited in your guard."

Sounds good, right? It is good. It's also hard but very rewarding. I'm going to hit post on this pretty short entry here, and over the next couple of days put together an initial introduction to how the concepts in book two work on a broad level, and then maybe map out the first rule of the sword alone, and keep the posting momentum going now that I've found it again!