Miyamoto Musashi Vs. Hans Talhoffer

This match up will be between one of the greatest duelists in the east and one of the greatest swordmasters in the  West. It is an battle between

     Miyamoto Musashi and Hans Talhoffer









This will be a duel of two swordsmen who have masterd multiple weapons and teached their methodes to their students. Of all these weapons, long range weapons were not included and will not be used in this fight.

Miyamoto Musashi
Miyamoto was born around 1584 in the Harima provence, Japan. He died around 1645 in the Higo provence, Japan of stumach Cancer.
Musashi is known under more names, these being as Shinmen Takezo, Myamoto Bennosuke and Niten Doraku. He also gained a few titles in his years, the most noteble being an Ronin (an Samurai without master) and kensei (warrior with legendary skill)
This samurai was an artist and writer but above all, an swordmaster. He teached himself in the arts of swordfighting and created his own style of fighting. He fought several duels in his life, with his first duel, his age being 13 and played his part in the war between the East and the West of Japan, where two families fought and took all the Samurai with them. Miyamoto fought for the west and even though he battled hard and showed wat an verocious fighter he was, the west lost. He fled to the mountains to train and years later, at the age of 22, he returned to duel again.
Miyamoto was an master duelist who relied as much on his wits, quick thinking and psychological warfare as on the skill with his sword. This made him an dangerous but also an unliked opponent that would do everything to win the battle.
Miyamoto said that, to win an duel, you had to get into the mind if the opponent. If you succeed in that, you have won an battle before it starts. He would taunt his opponent in several ways. he would yell insults at his opponent, calling names. He would turn op late for an battle, that would go as far as showing up two hours after the battle would suppose to start. Once, he also showed up too early for an battle. The most famous of  his style, was the clothing he wore. He would always go into battle unarmoured and sometimes even wearing rags, to show he did not care much to dress up properly. He has won almost all his battles, losing only once against an master who used an Jo stick in battle.
This is an incredible feat not easily surpassed.
After he stopped dueling Musashi started writing an book on strategy called Hyoho Sanju Go. This would form the basis for his later Go Rin No Sho, the way of swordfighting he created and perfected. He finally wrote the book of five rings, which is an important book on the way of the Samurai. All of his books are studied to this day.

The weapons of Musashi were very simple. His duels are known to this day and we know what kind of weapons he used in battle. This makes finding the weapons easy. I will also state now that altough both men created swordstyles, I will not dive much into this because i could write an book for each warrior  and an book on comparisons. Instead, I will only note attacks or bits of a style if i deem it important.

For short range, Musashi used the Katana and Wakizashi. In fact, he created an very special style using both weapons, which was an very direct approach. The katana is an Japanese curved sword with one egde that was mainly used for cutting but also could thrust. it could be used in both hands, but also one, as Musashi mostly did. This way the attacks are less good to control but with an swordmaster, it would not matter much their would still be an great controll. The katana is around 23 inces, sharp and quick. it should be noted that the egde is a bit brittle.
The wakizashi is an shorter side-sword that was always carried with the katana, forming an combination that was called daisho. It was an symbol to show that the wearer was an Samurai. Even though this sword was used as backup sword or close combat weapon, Musashi was known to use both weapons at the same time. He also was known to have thrown his wakizashi in several instances. In one famous duel, Musashi had his sword trapped by the kusarigama of an opponent and he threw his wakizashi, hitting the face and killing the opponent in een instance. Not only was throwing this weapon usefull to kill, it also was an distraction that could be used to go in for the kill.

As for midrange, Musashi had his custum made six foot wooden sword. As the title says, its an six foot weapon made of wood. There are some important duels written down, one of which was his first, on which he used an large wooden sword to gain the advantage of the opponent. Not only gave this sword distance, and quick movements. It did not look like an dangerous weapon, which could throw the opponent offguard if he was not carefull. For as far as I can see and guess, he used an combination of sword and staff techniques to use this weapon.

For the special weapon part, Musashi used an pair of wooden bokken. Usually bokken were training  weapons but Musashi started to use them in battle since all his opponents died. This had an reversed effect, his opponents now broke bones got concussions and kept on dying or got paralyzed for life.
The bokken had the shape of an katana and you guys can find an picture of Musashi holding then on the top of this blog.
Musashi could use his two weapon fighting style for the bokken also, delivering quick but hard blows.

Normally I would have the long range weapons but for this match, I will be using alternative weapons. For Musashi, the alternative weapon is his Jutte. The father of Miyamoto, named Munisai, had an school in Jutte fighting and it is without question that Miyamoto picked jute fighting up.
The jute was not only an weapon, but also an badge that showed that the wearer was on official buisness. he was used by inspectors and Samurai alike.
 The jute goes from 12 to 24 inces and has an dagger and prong. The dagger was for thrusting purposes only and the prong was used to hook into clothing or joints in the body. This weapon could also help with punches and blocks, or to be used as an small stick to strike at muscles or to manipulate joints.

For as far as I can find, Musashi wore no armour in most, if not all his duels. This made him rather quick and also showed that he was not afraid of his opponent. This might turn into an disadvantage but Musashi has proven to be able to take out armoured opponents. I did came across some evidence that he was buried in armour, as was custom, but i could find no further reverences towards armour whatsoever. In some battles it was stated that he did not wear armour. In any way, he will not wear armour in this match.

X-factor
The x-factor of Miyamoto Musashi will consist of two things. His unarmed fighting style and psychological warfare. For unarmed fighting, he can use kicks, punches and grapplings, basicly the martial art styles. This will not give direct kills but will be very usefull to help with the killings. The disarming also will be handy.
For the second part of the X-factor, the mindset will play in. Musashi was famous for throwing the opponent offguard, making him angry or distracting him by another way to enshure that the opponent is not concentrated for the battle and makes an mistake. One mistake is enough for Miyamoto to win the battle.

For those of you who would like to have more information on Miyamoto Musashi, I have a couple of Links I would love to share.
The first is off someone who wrote an page about Miyamoto. He has info, pictures and videos about this great Samurai.
http://www.danieldimarzio.com/miyamotomusashi.htm

The following one is an youtube video. Its an episode from the serie Warriors, Hosted by Terry Schappert. Its the first part of an episode on samurai. During the whole episode, Musashi gets attention from the host.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwRczDxDfuM&feature=related

And an Video of an famous duel of this Samurai Warrior

Hans Talhoffer
Not as famous as his opponent but just as deadly is Hans Talhoffer. This German born warrior was born around 1420 and died 70 years later in 1490.
Little is known about his life, but he is known to have been the master of arms of an Swabian knight called Leutold von Konigsegg and that he teached students the art of swordfighting in Zurich (switersland). He also recieved the title of Fechtmeister, which means fightmaster. Up untill now, six manuscripts have been discovered that have been written by him. It is unknown how many he has written and it is highly possible that his manuscripts can be found still.
In his six manuscripts, he has hundreds of fighting manuals that cover unarmed fighting, daggerfighting, longsword fighting, short sword fighting, fighting with shields, pole-arms, maces, fighting from horseback and many more.
Hans was also an inventor, having written down instructions on several inventions that actually work like an medieval tank and an medieval diving suit. Lastly i wanted to express that, altough it has never been put down that Hans Talhoffer fought an duel, it is likely that he did. Evidence is that all books are written in the form of duels and it is likely that he fought them themself. keep in mind that european duels were not written down and that it not means that they were not fought.

Due to the huge amount of weapons portraid in the manuscripts, it was rather easy to pick four weapons that Hans Talhoffer has used in and has written fighting manuels off.

For short range, Hans Talhoffer will use the zweihander, or the two-handed sword. The zweihander in the time of Talhoffer was an steel blade with crossguard and pommel. The lenght of the weapon was around 5 feet during the time of Talhoffer. The blade was straight, had two sharp egdes, great for both cutting and thrusting. The blade did not have te swordcatcher in it, that you can see in the most above sword and the third sword from above. It had an crossguard to protect the hands and to attack an opponent with in close combat. The pommel was used as an counterweight, to keep the balance of the sword in the middle and make it swift. It also functioned to bash someone in the head with it. There are two techniques that were used with this sword and that Talhoffer invented. First, there is the half swording. With that, you hold the hilt with one hand and the blade with the other. Due to this, you can be more precise in the thrust and pinpoint weak spots in the armour of the opponent. You can also thrust with more power and block attacks from very close.
The second part is the hammer technique, where you hold the sword by the blade and use the crossguard as an hook or blunt force and the pommel also as blunt force.

For midrange, the Pollaxe will be used. This weapon has a wooden shaft, and steel head with an hook, an hammer, an spike on top and an spike as buttend. The pollaxe is around 5 feet in total and an multifunctional tool of destruction. It should be noted that there are different types of pollaxes and i used the most simple one. The attacking style is using quarterstaff techniques, utilising all dangerous points for attacking but also usefull for blocking and disarming.

For special weapons, Hans will het the short sword and buckler combination. The short sword is just an shorter version of the zweihander. Its around 37 inces and would be held with one hand but apart from that, acts much the same as the longsword. Due the the smaller size, its lighter and faster. The sideweapon is the buckler. The buckler is an small round shield that would go up to 18 inces. It should be noted that bucklers had many shapes in the works of Talhoffer and the ones that are pictured are the ones im going to use.
The buckler was used to protect the swordhand, deflect blows, hide the swordhand, blind the opponent, punch the opponent, push the sword of the opponent against the body or help with grapple moves. Together, they formed an deadly combination.

As alternative weapon, Hans will use the rondel dagger. An steel blade from around 20 inces that was used as an utilitytool and as weapon. The name rondel means round and its called that because of the round handguard and pommel. The handguard covers the hand enough to give great protection. It had an sharp point and both edges were also sharpened, perfect for thrusting and cutting. It was used in both an overhand and underhandgrip, sometimes in an reversed grip. This dagger was made to puncture chainmail armour.

As defence, Talhoffer will wear plate armour. Plate armour that was used in battle was not as heavy as it looks. It would weight around 45 pounds.
As you can see in the picture, the armour covers head, neck, shoulders, chest, arms, hands, legs and feet. It had riveted chainmail on weak points, armpits, elbows and an chainmail skirt. Underneat it all is an thick gambeson made of linen and filled with wool to absorb attacks. Also note the discs that protect the shoulders. While wearing it, you are still highly agile. You can jump, run, roll etc. since the weight of te armour is spread all over the body. Talhoffer will have an higher fatigue rate then his opponent.

X-factor
Again, the x-factor will be in two parts. The first part is hand to hand combat, which is mostly punches, grapplings and disarms. The second part is the innoventive mind, Talhoffer was an inventor and he could look for that mind to gain advantages over his opponent. For example, getting un understanding on his opponent.

For Hans Talhoffer, i have three links also if someone wants to get to know more about the warrior. The first one is an site with a lot of fighting manuels of Hans Talhoffer.
http://www.aemma.org/onlineResources/talhoffer1459/contents_body.htm

The second link is an documantary about one of the fightbooks of Talhoffer, researchers and respected members of the medieval martial art community dive into one of the manuscripts to look at all kind of things in it. i highly recommend it.
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/medieval-fight-book-5366/Overview#tab-Videos/09512_00

The last one is an youtube vid, the first part of an episode of Weapons that made Britain. Hosted by Mike Loads. This episode is about the sword and contains a lot of techniques written by Talhoffer.

The edges

Katana&Wakizashi Vs. Zweihander
-Weapon on weapon, it is really hard to decide who would get the egde. It is two weapons against one but the zweihander is longer then then the katana and wakizashi. Both weapons have special techniques to make them unique. The katana&wakizashi has the quick draw and the wakizashi throw. The zweihander has the halfsword and hammer techniques. The zweihander gets extra points for having two sharp egdes, but the katana can cut a bit better. I should also not forget to mention that the katana and wakizashi can be used in deadly combination in which one blocks and the other attacks. Lastly i should say that te zweihander has the harder punch but the the katana is an quicker weapon.

-Sword on armour, its kinda one-sides. The katana an wakizashi will have a lot of trouble getting past the plate armour. Musashi should try to thrust at the joints to get real damage done. The zweihander will have less problems hitting the unarmoured samurai.

- In the skilldevision, both warriors are highly skilled with the weapons they use. They have trained their whole lives with these weapons and know how to use them. I Give Musashi an prop here because he mastered dual wielding, something that is incredible hard to master.

- In the end, I have thought about a lot of aspects of the weapons and come up with my decision on who to give the egde. Talhoffer has the better protection against attacks but I think that the quickness and dualwielding of the katana and wakizashi will get the egde here.
Edge Miyamoto Musashi

Wooden sword Vs. Pollaxe
- The two weapons are completely different. The pollaxe is much more dangerous then the wooden sword, having four lethal parts. But it is an smaller and slower weapon then the wooden sword.  it is an 5 foot weapon against an six foot weapon. Also the wooden sword will not ne able to penetrate armour, it has bludgeoning power and can break bones if Hans is hit hard enough. This weapon can also be used to knock the opponent over or keep him at distance. The pollaxe is more multfunctional, being able to hook, thrust and hammer the opponent.

- In the armour department, the no armour of Musashi will actually be good to avoid getting hit. i also think the blunt force of the wooden sword will be very usefull. But the gambeson of Talhoffer will be very usefull to counter the blunt force.

- For the skilldepartment, it is pretty even. Both weapons use stafftechniqes to fight with and both practisioners have an great experience in training.

- in the end, it all goes down to the quickness and lenght of the wooden sword, against the hammer, thrust and hook purposes of the pollaxe. Both have their pro's and cons and each and every person would choose one or the other. After thinking about the weapons for a while and all the possibilities, i came to an conclusion. I hate to do this but I am unable to choose one over another. I go with an draw.
Edge: Even

Bokken Vs. Sword&Buckler
- In both cases its about dual wielding. The bokken are almost as long as an real katana and can be used to attack and defend but the sword and buckler are also an good combination of offence and defence. The sword is capable of actual killing, while the bokken only can be used for blunt force.
Both bokken have a good lenght but the buckler can be used very upclose and personal.

- In the defence section, it will be an different story. I believe the the bokken will not be able to do as much damage to the opponent as the wooden sword, due to the fact that each of them will hit with the power that only one arm posses. I believe that the attacks will be quick attacks and the power will be stopped mostly by the gambeson. The buckler is also an great defence in the fight. The fact that Miyamoto wears no armour does not help much for him.

- With the skill, I can be rather simple. Both warriors are equally skilled in the use of the weapons. Having trained with it a lot.

- In the end, both weapon combinations are very dangerous and should not be underestimated. I think that the sword&buckler get the egde due to three reasons. One, the sword will have an easy time cutting or thrusting in the body of the opponent, two, the buckler can block an attack and then continue to attack right away and three, the armour of Hans will protect him enough.
Edge: Hans Talhoffer

Jutte Vs. Rondel dagger
- both are small sidearms that always got carried with the user. The jutte has the lenght of 12 to 24 inces while the rondeldagger is 20 inces. In comparison, both are equal in lenght altough the jutte might be a bit bigger. The jutte also has an prong that can be used to hook the opponent away, especially with the armour. The Jutte can also only stab. The rondeldagger can cut and thrust and gives hand protection.

- Weapon on armour, the rondel will go trough the skin like butter but the jutte will have little problems getting trough the small holes in the plate armour. Whats more, the prong can be used to exploit those holes and throw te opponent to the ground.

- With skill, again. Both warriors were extremely skilled with these weapons. Miyamoto could use it as an stick weapon while Hans could use a lot of grapple techniques. The fun part is that i could reverse it.

- In the end, i think it will depend on very small things. Both weapons are so different and have very different points to them, that it is really hard to decide which is better. But i will look at details now and then I think that te fact that the rondel can thrust and cut and does not have armour it should care about. That small reason is why i give it the egde.
Edge: Hans Talhoffer

The Battle

It was an beautiful day, with an blue sky. Some birds flew over the grassy field that soon would be an host to the battle. That was, if that samurai even showed up. A few weeks ago, Hans Talhoffer got an invitation for an battle against an samurai who claimed to be the best of Japan. Now, Hans was on the location and time that was discussed but the Samurai was still missing.
The afternoon was almost over but there was still no sign of an Samurai. Irritated, the master kicked the grass and was on the egde of walking away when suddenly an man walked towards him. The relief of the knight quickly turned as he saw that his opponent was wearing no armour.

Everything was going as planned. The knight had turned up on time and that European man was waiting, Miyamoto had waited. Half an hour ago, he had reached the battlefield but only now did he show himself. The samurai wanted to observe the knight, something that had proven very succesful. The man was like an turtle, hiding inside an hard shell. But turtleshells could be cracked and so could this opponent. With that said, he drops his two bokken.
Now, Miyamoto Musashi was walking towards his opponent with an smile, his wooden sword in hand.

This was an insult! First the idiot had the guts to show up at his own battle way too late and now he finally showed up, he had no armour on at all.
Hans Talhoffer had enough of it. 'How dare you show up late and without armour.' he yelled. Then he realised that his opponent spoke no German and picked up his pollaxe that was on the ground. He then turned around and slowly walked away, keeping his attention at his opponent.

Musashi flew forwards with his weapon, aiming an attack on the head of the opponent. Talhoffer saw the attack and pushed his pollaxe in front of it. The six feet wooden sword hit the weapon and then the shoulder of the knight. Talhoffer quickly tried to stab his opponent, but Miyamoto ducked away. Musashi tried another attack that hit the arm of the German man and then had to step aside to avoid the hook. Hans swung his poleweapon and the swift samurai stepped backwards. Another blow of the hammer got blocked by the wooden sword and the sword and because of the inpact, the top broke off the sword. Neither man showed their suprise and kept attacking and defending. The sweat filled the air and small animals fled for the sounds of the two fighting men. Miyamoto blocked an attack with his wooden sword and dropped it as he grabbed the polearm of his opponent. he quickly gave an kick to the crotch and and flipped the weapon out of the hand of the opponent. As he threw the pollaxe away, an punch with an steel gauntlett flew at him and struck the samurai in the face.
The Japanese stepped backwards due to the hit and drew both the katana and wakizashi.  The fechtmeister was holding the twohanded sword and both men walked in reaching distance. The attacks started again and the clangs filled the air. The two warriors fought verociously and neither one managed to get an advantage over the other. Musashi was faster in attack and dodging but Talhoffer had the armour and the power. Several times, Musashi blocked an attack with his smaller sword and counterattacked with his bigger one but he was unable to get trough the thick steel armour.
Miyamoto suddenly threw his wakizashi at his opponent, who ducked away from the sword. The sword missed but the samurai used that moment to come in with an thrusting attack on the throat. The sword bounced against the armour covering the throat and left an dent. Miyamoto, wanting to exploit this very short range that they were in by trying to slash the neckarmour. Hans Talhoffer was already in halfsword now and blocked the incoming attack. he then thrusted his sword towards his Eastern opponent. Musashi backed away, leaving only his arms forward to hit the opponent on the head. A loud clang was heard and seconds later, Hans had both his hands on the grip again and thrusted forward, wounding the samurai in the side.

Hans continued with an downward slash that got avoided but he pulled the sword back up and attacked with the other side. This got Musashi offguard and he was barely able to step away. The sword slashed his clothing, leaving an minor cut in the chest.
Talhoffer followed up with another attack that got blocked by the katana and Musashi kicked the sword out of the hand of its owner. Now the German fighter was disarmed, Miyamoto Musashi saw his chance and attacked. Talhoffer set an block to the arms of the samurai in with his left forearm. He then goes between the hands of the samurai and grabs the swordhilt. When he has it, he pushes the weapon to the left. This forces Musashi to let go of the weapon and as he releases it, he sees that his opponent is not steady on the ground. He then kicks the knight, letting him fall down.
Musashi walks away to get his two bokken and as he turned to attack, he notices that his adversary has an short sword and an small shield in hand.
As it slowly starts to rain, Musashi attacks his opponent, who is forced in an defensive position. The ronin keeps attacking in an swift fury of attacks and the swordmaster keeps blocking the attacks.
Talhoffer tries to attack once, but the sword got pushed away by an bokken and he is hit in the head by the other wooden weapon.
Another attack follows up and as the two swords reach for the German, Talhoffer blocks one of the attacks with his buckler, pushes it against the other and he wraps his arm around the arms of the samurai, using the buckler in this iron grip. Before Talhoffer could get an attack good and well in, Musashi releases the two weapons and manages to escape the grip of the opponent. he then steps to behind the opponent and pulls him to the ground. The steelclad man falls on the ground, dropping his sword. As he sits on his knees, he watches the samurai  pulls an dagger.
With his jutte in hand, Miyamoto Musashi was going to finish this opponent off for good. As he tried to jab the knight, Talhoffer deflected the attack with his buckler and stood up. The european warrior threw his buckler away and drew his own rondel dagger.
The two warriors eyed each other and tried to jab the opponent, without much succes. Both men attacked at the same time and the warriors got locked as the daggers hit each other. The warriors were now struggling to to get the advantage over the other but neither was able to get the egde over the other.
 It was raining heavily now, with thunder soaring the sky. The warriors let go of each other and Hans Talhoffer attacked. Musashi dodged the attack and used the prong on the jutte to hook behind an plate and bring his opponent down. Hans fell hard on the ground the samurai knelt before him. Musashi saw an weak spot under the elbow and clenged the jutte in the weakspot. Talhoffer grunted in pain as he felt the dagger puncture his chainmail and enter the flesh. As Talhoffer felt the pain of the dagger, he used his own rondel dagger and rammed it in the stumach of the samurai. Miyamoto quickly released the dagger, which fell on the ground. He then stood up and walked backwards a few steps. He pulled the dagger of the opponent out of his stumach and fell on the ground. He was in pain and knew that it would not take long for him to die. There was only one more thing he could do.
Miyamoto crawled to where his swords lay and grabbed the wakizashi. He turned around and saw that his opponent, the German had removed the helmet. The man pulled off his padded coif, full of rain and sweat and was now on hands and knees. The two men stared at each other for a few seconds. While keeping eyecontact with his opponent, Miyamoto Musashi used his wakizashi to commit hara kiri.
A few seconds later, the lifeless body of the legendary samurai lay dead in the wet grass, surrounded in a puddle of blood.
Hans Talhoffer watched him and dropped uncoincious on the ground. He had been hit too much times.

Winner: Hans Talhoffer

In my opinion, Hans Talhoffer would win this fight.
The reasons why he would win are the armour, that is just too good to counter properly, the lack of armour of his opponent, which means that every hit is an potential kill and his zweihander sword that can deal hars punishments.
Therefore i believe that the zweihander sword and the pollaxe would have been the most deadly weapons of him in this fight. The weapon that would be the most dissapointing would be the rondel dagger because that is only effective in a range where Musashi could counter very well. Also the unarmed combat would have been an usefull tool in getting the kills.

Even though Musashi would lose, he would give an good fight. It would not have been as close as some other fights but i think that the samurai would gain an good killcount.
The tactic of Musashi would be to tire the opponent out and than search for an opening. That tiring out would be to keep on dodging and throwing the opponent on the ground. Also the keep on attacking technique would be very effective to confuse the opponent or paralyze him.
The best weapon of Musashi would in my opinion be his six foot wooden sword because he can keep distance and attack. This weapon would be more effective then the katana because the katana would not been able to get through armour but the wooden sword has enough blunt force to deliver the important trauma. The jutte would also be an important tool in the arsenal of Musashi since this weapon can get past chainmail or into the helmet. Also the prong would be an good advantage. As with talhoffer, the martial art would be an good help in getting the kills and the frustrating the opponent would also play in his hand. Altough, i fear that it was not good enough in the end.
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I hope you guys liked this match, i tried to make it as epic as possible and I know that these warriors are an sensative subject. i tried to describe both warriors as good and honest as possible. If i made an mistake with the info on any of the warriors or the weapons, please let me know.

The next writing will be an all new Deadliest fantasy warrior episode where Hannibal Smith will face off against Dirty Harry.
The next match with real warriors will be an duel between one of Rome's most famous leaders: Gaius Julius Caesar and the feared sultan of Egypt: Baibars.

Stay tuned.