#viedma

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Del Desierto Lake, with Mount Fitz Roy in the background. Patagonia, border region between Chile and Argentina.

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[matdoeshemaforfun]

Montante Rule #2 from Viedma:

“2 He will also direct him to return to take the montante and make the same movement of increase, and passes it above his head, turning his face, that always has to look at the point of the montante, and to give a simple tajo until the montante ends on the left shoulder, giving a step forward, and from there, to give a reves, giving another step with the left foot. He will give four or five steps like this throwing tajos and reveses. He returns in the same manner to undo them, until returning to where he left, and from there changes the montante, throwing thrusts to one side and the other. After he does it, direct him to do this same double, which will be tajo and tajo, reves and reves, each set of two tajos or reveses fitting in one step, until he returns to where he left and makes the thrusts.”

Retrieved from here at SpanishSword.org

This is a huge rule, with a large difficulty gap between Viedma’s first rule and his second rule.

With my interpretation, I break it down into 6 parts:

The opening, with the one-handed thrust as mentioned in his first rule.

Tajos and Reveses, four or five times foward, then the same number backward.

You now return to where you began, and deliver one thrust per step four of five times, then the same number backward. (in this video, I accidentally do six, close enough)

(a) You are again where you began, and deliver a Tajo, and you turn your body in order to give a Tajo behind you in one movement.  This is much like Viedma’s first rule, except the two Tajos are performed in one step. (b) Then, in one step, you perform two Reveses in one step, as you did the Tajos. (c) Do this four or five times, then do so backward.

5. You are again where you began.  You deliver a thrust with a step, then turn the montante and your body behind yourself to thrust behind.  Do this four or five times, then do so backward.

Fin.

After practicing this rule a ton over the months, I definitely feel that this rule is meant to:

Ingrain certain movements into muscle memory

Train how to cover oneself with Tajos, Reveses, and thrusts while moving in whichever direction you want

Teach how to cut and thrust in multiple directions without taking additional steps

Train stamina, jeez, this rule is tiring.

While thrusting in two directions, you can see that whenever I step, I make sure to thrust to the direction I step towards.  If we’re imagining that there are people on either side, it seems much safer than stepping backwards without having the sword moving backwards as well.

While cutting in front and behind, it feels like there’s (at least) two options.  I did both in the video.  The first, which I do initially, is deliver a Reves or Tajo while twisting to move forwards again, then deliver the second Reves or Tajo behind me.  The second, which I do while returning to where I started, is to deliver the Reves or Tajo while facing the same direction that I ended the previous Tajo or Reves.  This is how I initially did it while practicing this rule, but I’m not a fan of it, as I would be leaving one side undefended, while delivering a Tajo and Reves to the same side without pause.

Anywho, that’s my interpretation of that rule.

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Sky 😊🌈

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Inside Viedma Glacier