“Those Were The Days my Friends:  We’d Fight and Always Win”

Flashback it’s the early 1990s a lone researcher, an intrepid scholar set out to find out more about Occidental Fighting Methods. Why? The reasoning was quite simple, the development of Combat Science had been a hallmark of Western (Occidental) history and quite simply was the reason behind the empires and spread of European languages throughout the World. No one was rolling over and welcoming Occidentals to their native lands and saying abuse us, enslave us, rape our beautiful women. No. Hell no.  It was the loser’s lot. And becoming the loser starting from the days of the Greeks, Romans and later the Spanish, French, etc. is a historical fact that not even the self aggrandizing internet pundits can argue against (well they can, but then we can remind them it’s time for their medication and group therapy).

So why weren’t the rational,soul seeking, truth  searching martial artists coming across the authenticity of Occidental arts?  Well, the giant Oriental Martial Arts’ propaganda machine had worked its way into popular culture and common mindset. Everyone was looking East. Many of these aficionados  were spouting some, at best, half truth Samurai or Ninja propaganda. Hell, you can still find those that spew Musashi’s words from the Book of 5 Rings as if he were the ultimate swordsman whose words would bring instant skill to the listener. The reality is that there were many swordsmen in Europe who had  fought more duels than 5 Rings’ boy. And, horror of horrors, their weapons were superior to his katana and bamboo armor, too. But, be careful who you  tell this to. The truth isn’t for everyone.

Well, Clugston Combat Systems (my company persona when talking about myself) started its scientific journey, odyssey, path centered on the Gladiators and the Roman Empire and branched out from there. Nonetheless, the cold hard facts are that nowhere and no one has had the 700 years’ achievement of developed one on one combat (many times fatal) and conquest (via military science) like the Romans. Saddly, for combat fans, it has come and gone and it won’t be replicated on this planet again–at least I’ll bet that way on it. Okay, okay, that’s a fact, however, if the Occidentals had such a powerful, verifiable combat science then where did it go? And why does it take one intrepid scholar (namely myself) to tell you about it?

Well it went into a Dark Ages: Western technological advancement went to guns, bombs, missiles, tanks, jets, etc while the Oriental Propaganda via its mysticism captured groupees no matter how abstracted it became from real street fighting or war. Still those who could think past mysticism to elementary level empirical cause and effect were out there. And with the advent of the internet these lone thinkers have been able to connect with others of the same mindset. Moreover, humans being herd/pack animals it did the inevitable–it spawned groups. The Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) has become one such underground “cool” group, at this point. This has become a good thing for those of us who’ve been chanting “West, West” for decades now. In fact, here at the Tiger Clan we have our own experts in HEMA (look at our experts’ page).

And if you want to be up to date you simply must know about HEMA.   If you do have interest to expand your knowledge base, the following documentary is  obligatory.  First, however, a bit of a recommendation, set aside 90 minutes to watch it in its entirety–don’t Generation Y watch it (that is don’t watch in a 5 minute unfocused segment followed by a selfie with your cellphone and then facebooking for an hour in an iterative process). And we will see you at Tiger Clan: Weapon Fighters