A.S.E.M.A
Auckland School of European Martial Arts
A school dedicated to the study, practice and re-establishment of cultural, historical and functional Martial Arts from Across Europe and through out the ages.
Greetings
Welcome to the Auckland School of European Martial Arts.
We are a branch of the larger New Zealand School of European Martial Arts (N.Z.S.E.M.A) we are a small school which specializes in the study and practice of historical and cultural martial traditions and self defense systems from across Europe and throughout the ages.
For some students this is a way of reclaiming a link to their ancestral culture and heritage for others it's a way of connecting with a period or culture that inspires them or just an opportunity to learn something a little different from the arts popularized in television and movies.
Our focus is H.E.M.A (Historical European Martial Arts) which is a mix of study and experimental archeology in an attempt to reconstruct historically accurate and martially functional interpretations of everything from sword play, historical fencing and knightly martial arts through to the walking stick self defence systems of the 19th century and pugilism of the pre-gloved era.
Locations
Main term classes (Jan-Mar) (May-July) (Sep-Nov)
Dunkirk road activity centre in Panmure
Secondary term classes (Jan-Mar) (May-July) (Sep-Nov)
Manuka Primary School courtyard Glenfield
Out of Rotations Months (Apr, Aug, Dec)
Mt Wellington - Panmure - Glenfield
Saturday Sessions, Private Training, Test Cutting and Coaching
Mt Wellington
Public displays available occasionally across Auckland
What do I need?
We provide all basic equipment required for training Drill work and limited equipment for dynamic drills for our new learners.
As attendees progress and develop they need to invest in their own equipment especially as they develop toward assaulting, free play and/or sparring.
For more detail on this check the classes section.
For weapon arts we also provide live (sharp) weapons for test cutting - see types of training.
Want to know more about what sets us apart from other sword play groups?
FREE TRIAL
First two classes at no Charge
Arts we Train
Weapon Arts
Medieval Arts
Our main focus in the weapon arts is the medieval knightly arts of the Liechtenauer tradition.
We work from a unorthodox interpretation both focused on interpreting and reconstructing the art as a functional martial art rather than the form of sports fencing popular in many modern H.E.M.A groups.
We also start new learners off focused as much on what the master says not to do as what he says to do, based on the fact that the instructions were written for competent swordsmen and not modern practitioners.
Our main focus is Longsword but we have expanded our scope back to include grappling every weekend which is foundational to all knightly/medieval martial arts and include messer and dagger during out of rotation months.
We hope in time to continue this expansion to include other parts of the Liechtenauer tradition.
Our main classes are located at Dunkirk Road Activity Centre in Panmure, with secondary classes available in Glenfield at Manuka Primary, click below for details..
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Later Period Arts:
For those interested in sword play or weapon arts beyond the medieval and knightly arts we hope to soon have age of piracy classes running which will focus on the sword arts of the 17th century, namely smallsword, basket hilted sword, cutlass and expanding to cover rapier, boarding pike, bayonet etc during out of cycle months
Our DDLR classes also rotate to armed self defence during out of rotation months such as self defence with walking-stick, umbrella and the knife fighting systems of the period such as Navaja and Stiletto.
Self Defence
The main system we focus on that has a specifically self defence bent is the DDLR form Savate, over the years we have enjoyed studying and training the Defense Dans La Rue method of Savate, as it combines a number of particularly interesting systems into one.
The DDLR Method was 19th-20th century form of mixed martial arts designed as a self defence art which combines French kick boxing, English Bare knuckle boxing, Swiss wrestling, folk wrestling, Japanese Jujitsu and more.
These sessions are presently running as private sessions from a residential training areas, we hope in the future to increase the number of attendees enought to move them back into a hired space.
Martial Sports
The main martial sport we have focused on is the historical form of bare knuckle boxing or pugilism which is taught within our DDLR syllabus.
The style of pugilism we focus on is a combination of Broughton's rules and English prize fighting, this means limited grappling and training towards bare knuckle sparring/assaulting.
We work from a number of different historical sources when recreating the boxing element of the DDLR method but chief among them is certainly what we have surviving from Daniel Mendoza and his student.
During out of rotation months our weekend grappling sessions will also sometime move to focus on different forms of sportive grappling such as folk wrestling styles like Irish collar and elbow, Scottish Backhold, catch as catch etc, focusing on the historical texts as we do not have anyone versed enough to work from the modern interpretations.
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