Was he really the greatest swordsman of all time?

>haven't we already established this type of swordplay as the best in the world?

No

>isn't that why they do it in the olympics?

Its not

please explain

It's usually said that in sports, the only thing faster than the tip of a fencer's blade is a bullet.

No one argues otherwise but spears were primarily a battlefield weapon.

At musashi's time dueling with a spear was perfectly acceptable though a little unusual. Musashi actually went to the Hozoin monastery looking for a match with their famous spearmen but the monastery had recently banned martial training so he didn't get his match

An epee is not a short sword, and the super light weapons and point scoring rules make it more like a game a tag than a sword fight.

yea but those olympic fencers would still be really quick with a real sword

>played by Morgen Freemen

combat fencing is different from olympic fencing, right?

Athleticism and good body mechanics are a big advantage, but they only take you so far. If your used to rules like a narrow in bounds zone and right of way scoring your not going to deal well with unconventional tactics and your likely to get into a mutual kill situation.

If you look at actual military fencing systems for sword and bayonet developed at the same time you might notice some similarity in stance, mostly due to that being what everyone is used to, but you notice the training itself is vastly different, in terms of what they are preparing for and what their goals are. The training weapons tend to be much closer in weight and balance to a real sword, or just a real sword. Drill makes up much of the training. you trained to deal with a variety of weapons, bayonet, sword, on horseback and not.

A sword system as apposed to modern fencing has to take into account things like stabbing in a place that will stop the threat, or withdrawing before a counter blow can be launched. It has to deal with a mental stress which is quite different than an epee. real swords are scary, because they are sharp, you can easily hurt yourself unless you handle it is the appropriate way. This has a huge effect on distancing for instance, If you lose your not just losing a point, your going to need alot of stitches at the least. There is a mental component and a head game that it doesn't address

So while there is stuff that transfers, especially if y our dealing with a dueling epee or a short sword, there are some big differences

I only mention it cause OP implied a japanese guy was the greatest swordsman but I heard they got fucked up by portuguese fencers

There are conflicting sources on this. You probably are used to reading from people who have some agenda.

this pretty much
In any case a rapier is a very different weapon from either a short sword or a epee.

I love his book(s). So many bullshit meaningless platitudes crammed in there.

Actually based a a real person

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawakami_Gensai

Most of his stuff was probably meant for his students had special meaning to them. It was not originally intended for a general audience

this guy was

After having repeated this myself like a broken record it might stuck or given ideas to people... that's noice yet not to diminish Musashi in any way but there's a reason why most of what are typical "facts" about him come from Eiji Yoshikawa's books...

>spears usually win these matches.
t. larper

Sure, what he is saying is a bit of an exaggeration, but against a sword a spear definitely has an advantage

nah, but its a fuckin great manga.

Ichigo from Bleach was the greatest swordsman of all time