Hello,
I've posted quite a few times here on the sword Arts and there seems to be very little interest in the Art,I was wondering if it is a passing Art,lack of interest,because it is no longer a useful Art as far as being able to use it in everyday life.I know you can't and it wouldn't be practical to carry a sword around but the philosophy is still very useful.Any comments?

Yo,
Of course the sword arts are dying. Today the "politically correct" person is afraid of any sorts of weapon to the point of trying to wipe them out from the face of the earth. Just look at the anti-gun movement. It all started with some chick (not a sexist comment) who had something against guns. Probably a relative who died by gunfire.

The same is true for swords. People are afraid of lethal weapons and the arts that teach people to use those weapons. And if someone is afraid, they will do whatever it takes to get rid of that fear. In this case, abolishing all sword forms.

Hope you enjoyed my words of wisdom. Peace!

I have to disagree on some level. I think there is a big upsurge in people interested and training in the sword arts, especially JSA. Now that there are more bulletin boards like "The Sword Forum", and "E-Budo" and this one, more people have access to information such as teachers and study groups than they ever could. It is easier to find groups to train with even though sword ownership has been restricted in some areas. Even in smaller town there are MA schools and lots of them teach weapons. Not to say there are lots that dont know what they are doing but I am sure the same is true in most martial arts. If you check previous posts on these forums you will see many people wanting to train alone with books or videos (dont get me on my soapbox about this). That is how starved people are for information and instructions.

GEne