Hi James,

Being big and strong does count for something, just not as much as folks often assume.

The discussion here seems related to the whole knight/samurai debate so popular on the internet. One bit of 'conventional wisdom' on one side of that debate is that big Europeans would simply walk all over a bunch of tiny Japanese.

Yet France's Marshal Boucicaut was a little guy, yet he was a very capable warrior and tournier. Conversely, one major reason we had an Asian martial craze here in the US is because much smaller Japanese Judoka could throw around big American servicemen in occupied post-WWII Japan. The reaction of these members of our culture, where firearms had largely made unarmed combat a curio, was "huh, that stuff must really work."

Size is an asset, but training is something of an equalizer. But regarding modern, chemically-assisted bodybuilding and its lack of an analogue in the Middle Ages, we're in agreement. Much of modern bodybuilding is for show, not prowess.

Best,

Christian

The ARMA site has a very good article on this subject: The Role of Fitness in Historical Fencing

http://www.thearma.org/essays/fit/RennFit.htm


Ran Plesasnt
ARMA DFW

Sammy, about the original thread's question:

There were three samurai figures on my National Arms Museum, fully suited with beautiful ceremonial armours that came as generous gifts from Japan, among other objects, all dating from between 1600 and 1800.
The first time I saw them, I was surprised to see their size. I remember I made a guess that the standing warrior figure was about 1,60 meters tall.

Being curious about the subject such as yourself, I searched the web for the same answer... and the results were just as Shayan G said on his post: The average height seemed to have been even under 1,60 meters for men! (5'2'').
Presumably (And this is only my supposition) the warrior classes may have had some extra centimeters more than the average folk, but I have no knowledge of this at all.

And as for the other discussion on this thread... if I had to choose between being taller than my enemy... and having more skill than my enemy... I'd obviously choose the second.

But if I could... I'd rather have both! :)

I'm 6'2" and 260(ish) lb (we use the metric system here, guys...). I'm quite strong, I flipped a Toyota Echo that hit my cat once, but what I'm really proud of is my quickness.

I juiced when I was in the army, and it was only when I stopped that I hit the highest fitness rating. I couldn't do it chugging around with all the extra pretty muscle. It drained me so much quicker. The girls didn't even like the bigger muscles (and that was really why I was doing it...). And as I was representing my Battalion in the Boxing ring, coach told me I had to slim down to get better hand speed. Before I juiced I could whip out maybe 5 punches in a second (rolling straight crosses). After 6 months of the testosterone jabs, that went down to two. It took me a whole year to get it back up to 5 with any semblance of power. I tried to get quicker than that, but found the power just wasn't there as much.

So now I NEVER do heavy weights, only high reps of lighter ones. And the secret weapons are Diet, Yoga, Acrobatics and as many reps of correct technique as I can before puffing out. And that's all before I pick up "ol' woody" for forms...

I've found that sex before a match drains your aggressiveness.

Elling, which one is you in the photo? The tall one or the little one?

Sirs-Modern studies show that the average Samurai was tall enough to reach the ground :lol: