The Four Openings drill is the bread and butter drill for the entire Meyer art of combat. This endlessly customizable drill teaches us much of what we need for combat in the Meyer system, footwork, weapon projection and reach, triangular footwork, Pulling and blade control to name a few.
This drill has three main Variables
Guard
Cutting Edge
Cutting Method
Guard is our starting point, we can do any of the 4 openings from any guard, some more efficiently than others but from all nonetheless. Guard can also be distributed in the drill in 2 main ways.
1) Start in a guard and make all the cuts and return to the guard
2) Start in a guard and return to that guard (or any other for that matter) before beginning the next strike
Cutting Edge is the edge we cut through the drill with, the edge types are Long Edge, Short Edge and Flat. These can be used singularly or mixed together in the drill as needed.
Cutting Method is how we cut, our choices are
Full Cut (Cutting all the way through the target)
Half Cut (Cut to the center of the target and stop)
Opposition Cut (Cut a half cut to a target and then pull the weapon around to strike a full cut through the targt from the oppositte angle to the original target) [You can also reverse the Opposition cut and cut a Full Cut followed by a Half Cut to the original target] Doppelhau (cut thru the target twice before moving on to the next cut)
Four Openings Drill Videos (all videos only show the first of the Four Openings to avoid confusion, all 4 of the Openings are shown at the bottom of this page in the diagrams and in the Four Openings Randomizer below.
Another important thing to remember about this drill is that Meyer does not give us this drill in this exact manner but often preceds his drill with a series of cuts designed to draw the opponents attention somewhere else, often this is a series of cuts done to the same target often without even the intention of hitting the opponent, but done with body comportment and position designed to decieve the oppoenent about your true intentions.
"Everyone thinks differently from everyone else, so he behaves differently
in combat" -Joachim Meyer, Kunst des Fechten, 1570
"For as we are not all of a single nature, so we also cannot have a single style in combat, yet all must nonetheless arise and be derived from a single basis." -Joachim Meyer, Kunst des Fechten, 1570
"Who despises me and my praiseworthy craft,
I'll hit on the head that it resounds in his heart."
--Augustin Staidt, Federfechter
"The Truth in Combat is different for each individual.... Truth lies outside of All Fixed Patterns." -Bruce Lee
