To describe what goes through one's head when one duels... is to cheapen the experience. In the space of a single round, lasting little more than thirty seconds, you're forced to improvise your way through several thousand thoughts. Turn here, shift your weight, block, block again, strike...

By the time you've adequately described the battle, it's become a dull litany of tiny details and petty movements. It's impossible to describe the experience to someone who's never felt it, the battle is a world unto itself, when the fight begins everything else disappears.

Imagine, (if you can,) the single most visceral, intense, balls to the wall deathmatch you've ever played. The most memorable online multyplayer experience you've ever had. It pails in comparison to this. I should know, I used to deathmatch, I was even pretty good at it. But I just don't do it anymore, I've been spoiled rotten by the experience of dueling. When you've felt the sting of a bamboo sword against your ribs because you blocked a tenth-of-a-second too late, the experience of hitting keys and watching jerky polygons blow up in clouds of digital stage blood just doesn't do anything for you. It's too simple, too animalistic, it lacks the nobility.

Try it some time, buy a pair of bamboo swords, find a friend who you trust, (and who's just as bad at fighting,) go somewhere private, and duel...

The battle. What I, personally, believe to be the pinnacle of human grace and prowess. I'm not talking about fighting, or brawling. I mean a duel between two people, proficient in the art of combat. A ballet of steel and wood, which can be as subtle or as violent as the combatants wish to make it. Before you pass judgment, I do not mean anyone harm. No one actually duels anymore.

Imagine for a moment, if you will, the skill and concentration required to have to predict the movements of your opponent, while at the same time planning your own move. Chess right? Now what if, every time you played chess, you had to react to the previous move at the very moment it was made. And what if, during your move, your heart was pumping, adrenaline was gushing, and sweat was stinging your eyes. Ok, now do all that standing with your knees bent 45 degrees. Doesn't sound quite as easy now, eh?

What I have just described was the more brutal and less elegant side of sword play. There is much more to the battle than immediately meets the eye. It is a sight to behold, when an old master can almost leisurely beat the pants off of a younger,faster, stronger opponent without breaking a sweat.