Jim Tschen Emmons
Training
Jim began fencing foil in 1987 and has had the good fortune to work with several well-respected maestri since that time: Maestro Edwin “Buzz” Hurst (at UC Santa Barbara, CA), Maestro Al Couturier (at UC Santa Barbara and Salle d’Armes Couturier, Culver City, CA), and Maitre Delmar Calvert (at Salle Trois Armes, Portland, OR). Of these masters he spent the most time with M. Couturier and his assistants. Al was a student of Maestro Joseph Vince, a graduate of the Hungarian fencing program, who emigrated to the U.S. in the 1920s.
A firm believer that one remains a student no matter how long one has studied, how much one has achieved, or how many certifications one might hold, Jim continues to study and train with other coaches as often as possible. He is a member of the USFCA (United States Fencing Coaches Association) and takes classes as often as possible. He is a moniteur d’escrime in sabre. In addition to running SdTS Jim teaches youth and adult fencing classes at Chehalem Parks & Recreation.
Competitive Experience
Prior to fencing, Jim spent several years in Tae Kwon Do as taught by Grand Master Jhoon Rhee and his coaches, especially Jeff Smith at the Annandale Do Jang. This system is a mix of Chung Do Kwan, ITF TKD, and elements Rhee added. Thought Rhee’s approach was self-defense oriented, Jim competed for several years in the DC and Mid-Atlantic region; that experience was good training for the vagaries of competitive fencing. Jim competed in sabre as member of UC Santa Barbara’s Fencing Team from 1991-3 and 1994-6, as well as in USFA tourneys in the SoCal division. He left competitive fencing to focus on classical & historical fencing in 1996.
Teaching
Jim began teaching when assigned by his maestri, first Maestro Couturier and his assistant coaches, then later by Maitre Calvert, to help newer fencers with drill. Jim’s approach to teaching individual fencers is a mix of what his masters taught him with adjustments made for age, conditioning, and personality (not everyone learns the same way).
Group instruction, in many ways, mirrors the individual lesson, but places higher demands on student and teacher alike. There is no substitute for individual lessons–it is still the best method through which to learn to fence–but group classes allow for drill with partners of different sizes, speeds, and skill-levels, all of which are valuable in our growth as fencers.
Community Building
One of Jim’s goals is to build a viable historical sabre community in the Portland area specifically and the PNW in general. This is happening by fits and starts. The first sabre seminar Jim put together, in 2015, covered Henry Angelo’s infantry sword manual (1845), the system under study at Academia Duellatoria (now defunct), where Jim occasionally fenced and helped prepare students for the AHF tourney. In this first seminar he collaborated with Velah Gilbert, then a student there, and a serious student of sabre.
In 2016 he and his friend, Will Richmond (NWFC), were invited to introduce sabre (Italian/Italo-Hungarian) to Grit City HEMA in Tacoma. The success of that class led to further seminars, first at Indes WMA, where Jim worked with Brent Lambell to turn Indes’ KdF fighters into sabre fans, then twice at Herzstich Dueling Guild in Tacoma (the last time with Christopher Bigelow from Northwest Fencing Academy).
From 2016 to 2018 Jim headed the sabre program at Northwest Armizare. In 2019 Jim taught additional sabre seminars at High Desert Armizare, in Bend, and returned to Indes (now Indes Ferox Gladio) to provide a refresher course. In between these seminars Jim taught sabre or helped out with demonstrations everywhere from the Oregon Renaissance Faire to the Sherwood Robin Hood Festival. He has presented at Swordsquatch (2017), the Thundermark Armored Deed (2018), and the University Club of Portland, this last in concert with other area historical fencers. While still on social media, Jim assisted Velah Gilbert and Jay Maas in managing the largest page devoted to sabre on Facebook, the “Military/Classical Sabre” page, with over 8,000 members from all over the world.
In 2020 & 2021 Jim delivered several online lectures/discussions. One, an examination of problems in interpreting illustrations in Bolognese sources, Jim delivered online at Northwest Armizare. Looking at a later period, this time at Sala della Spada, Jim shared research he was working on that concerned an odd interpretation of the lunge in historical fencing circles. In related work, Jim has had the honor to chat with the renowned scholar of Persian martial arts, Dr. Manouchechr Khorasani at Razmafzar TV (Youbtue), first about historical fencing generally, and then in association with Ken Jay about French smallsword, and with Mike Cherba, Radaellian sabre. From time to time Jim has happily provided a target for Mike Cherba, Northwest Armizare, a key researcher in the marital arts of the Republic of Georgia, and acted as Mike’s pell when he and Dr. Khorasani discussed the intricacies of Georgian sword and buckler and when Mike presented at Swordsquatch.
More recently (Spring/Summer 2021), he advised the broadsword pod of Northwest Armizare (the school, because of Covid, met in small groups by topic). Jim also began classes again at CPRD, though in limited sizes to remain pandemic friendly. In October 2021 Jim flew to Prague, Czechia, as a visiting instructor at SabreSlash 2021, a two day event consisting of workshops, a sabre tourney, a cutting seminar, and truly excellent comaraderie and pilsner.
Research, Interviews, & Media
Sala delle Tre Spade 