Anybody heard of Stav?

[Order]

Stav (a Nordic Martial Art)
http://www.einherjarve.org.uk/s_overview.htm

[SevenStar]

I have - it's a norse style. It teaches hand to hand, and also weapons like the axe and staff. there is a spiritual aspect also - the use of runes and things - probably no different than the old kalistas and silat practitioners. I've also heard of internal training in stav.

There's a lot of stuff out there - I like to research and find out what I can. For example, there's a korean grappling style (not hapkido, it's called Ssireum) where the players put belts on their waist and use them to attempt to manipulate their opponents' hips and balance to take them down

[Boffo]

Stav is a fake martial art.

It is a Japanese style with Norse runes stapled onto it. The founder spent quite a bit of time in Japan studying martial arts there, then comes back to his homeland and reveals a family style that survived 44 generations that bears no resemblance to any documented European style. The philosophy and methodology smacks of new ageism too.

This "Viking style" looks a lot like kenjutsu. That a Viking style that so closely resembles Kenjutsu survived since the 8th or 9th centuries in total obscurity is amazing. Stav is never mentioned in any of the Viking sagas, Viking historical accounts, or records of Viking culture. Also it is interesting that Stav doesn't train in the primary weapons of the Vikings and Norse, those being the spear and the round shield.

[SevenStar]

If that's true, then that sucks. Then again, it may not be a bad thing, it would depend on who's training in it. If you can learn to successfully defend yourself with it, does the history of it really matter?

[SevenStar]

"The weapon of a Jarl is a staff or spear (the bow is also a Jarl weapon, but an unstrung bow may be regarded as a staff/spear). Both staff & spear offer the ability to keep an attacker at a distance but offer little in the form of protection."

I found that on one site, and this on another:

"For beginners the Spear is a good choice since the length makes it easy for the instructor to see if the correct lines are being used. The other weapons of course teach the same principles but at closer range. "

Sounds like they teach spear.

I still dunno if it's authentic or not (really don't care ) but from looking at the stances, it's not Japanese. I was looking at their theory on lines and the body, and it reminds me of shuai chiao. Then, I ran across this on a site:

"When working with unarmed combat skills a mat will be needed since many of the techniques are take downs of one kind or another and injuries should be avoided."

just looking at the above and the whole stav outlook on martial arts, to me it seems more chinese than japanese.

"Stav does not use blocks as in traditional eastern martial arts, there is less stress and impact on the body. "

One thing that did raise a flag with me though, is that one of the sites stated that not all of the stances could be used in a martial sense.

[chen zhen]

There is an old nordic form of wrestling, where the two opponents grab each others belts and try to throw the other person off-balance. not well-known, but there is a couple of schools around in Denmark, I think.
But the "stav" thing is definately a fake.

[Black Jack]

I don't know about Stav one way or another, even though I have heard the same rumors here, rumors which do have merit, but I will hold off intell I actually talk with a Stav player about there historical aspects.

On the aspect of euro-western wrestling systems, well there is a wealth of systems there, some much more throwing based, some much more submission based, some a combination of both, rough and tumble.

In western europe there is Irish Collar & Elbow, Scottish Backhold, Catch as Catch Can, Cumberland, Devonshire, Lancashire, Westmorland, Loosehold, Cornish, to name a few, some used to be much more brutal, like Devonshire which used to involve a practice called "cuttlegging", low line kicking with copper lined boots used by the coal miners to settle disputes.

Iceland has Gilma, Sweden has Rigcats and Belgtag, Aremina has Kokh, Switzerland has Schwingen, Finland has Ritpaini, Russia has tons but the most famous is sport sambo, Portugal has Galfava, Spain has Lucha Canaria, basically every country has its own native systems of both sport and combative practice.

The native American culture had a lot of village indian wrestling systems, scissor takedowns and handthrows seem to be common, they are still practiced to this day, old wrestling in America was a mixture of all of the above depending on the culture which settled in the specific area.

Catch, Gotch style Hooking, Rough and Tumble (back when boxing and grappling were the same) and a frontier/backwoods wrestling system simply called "gouging" the goal to maim and blind the other man, the master grapplers where called "gougers".

Talk about real NHB.

[chen zhen]

Gilma, is what it is called (the wrestling I mentioned before)
I saw it in BJ's post

[apoweyn]

black jack,

you da man. that's all i have to say.


stuart b.

[Black Jack]

awwww......shucks stu.

[apoweyn]

hey mate, i've been reading about this stuff for years. and yet every time you post, i learn about something entirely new.

cheers.


stuart b.