10/26/2024
Opining Away - No one that I know or have seen, including myself as the first, is properly performing the older martial arts. This is because of the way that I have been stepping. Such a simple thing yet it is the literal foundation of the body. Why do I think this is the case? It's Louis XIV's fault. Louis changed the shape of the shoe after seeing a heel on the shoes of the Arabic representatives from Abass the Great. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-heeled_shoe). Louis was in the process of reinvigorating the French economy and I believe realized that by starting a new fashion trend he would re-invigorate French industry. He tossed out the ruff as a symbol of wealth (you cannot do manual labor in a ruff) and replaced it with the heel. He also tossed out the older puffy pants, introducing an entirely new wardrobe to the French nobility. Heck, he changed the way people danced by 'inventing' ballet.
Before Louis everyone walked differently than they do now. Today's heeled shoes force the body slightly forward which necessarily changes the body's balance. This causes a slight lean forward and requires all movement to be centered on the ball of the foot. This is NOT what I see in all of my fencing and fighting books. Take a look at Fiore or Thibault or Angelo. ALL show the feet flat on the ground and not with the heel up.
I have a few of Angelo's prints on my 'sword room' wall as well as a plate from Thibault and ALL show the feet in full contact with the floor. When looking at those plates where a lunge forward has been performed the toe of the back foot is pointing backwards but the entire foot is still 'grounded.' How can this be? The answer is that when wearing flats people did not pivot on the toe, they pivoted on the heel or at the center of the foot As I see it this is apparently how all of the fighting masters before Louis performed their moves - at the center of the foot or on the heel and not on the ball of the foot.
For me, this is quite an interesting discovery. This is my 50th year of training in the Japanese sword arts and only now do the prints as seen in the old scrolls make sense. Often you see drawings of the 'Tengu' fighting wherein their front foot is pointing slightly to their inside and their back foot pointing towards the rear. If I move with a push off my heel and not the ball of the foot I find myself in this position.
My advice to all is to lose your 'tennis' shoes and start wearing flats which are now often referred to as 'barefoot shoes.' You will be very surprised at how your actions will start looking akin to that seen in ALL of the fighting books, from I.33 to Angelo.
High-heeled shoes, also known as high heels, are a type of shoe with an upward-angled sole. The heel in such shoes is raised above the ball of the foot. High heels cause the legs to appear longer, make the wearer appear taller, and accentuate the calf muscle.[1]
