Einherjar HEMA Club

Common FAQ

What is Einherjar?
Einherjar is Hong Kong’s Historical European Martial Arts club that explores and develops HEMA both competitively and academically to create a HEMA hub in Asia and contribute to the wider global community.

What is the essence of Einherjar?
Our research, training and open-minded methodology has given our members the knowledge and skill that combined to make both medal winners and academics. We created this club to gather our family of both sportsmen, academics and just purely curious of HEMA. Today we aim to pass on this methodology, knowledge and skill to others so that they can experience what we did and bring it to yet another level.

We came from all walks of life and practiced across disciplines. This is the reason for our success. Our ability to practice and train against others who have different and rigorously developed interpretations have allowed us to better develop our own disciplines and we are committed to investing in this experience for our club members.

What are our goals?
As a base for HEMA community in Hong Kong, we are intending to promote HEMA in the local region. We work to unite martial arts in a way that respects both the context and members of each art.

What is HEMA?
Historical European martial arts (HEMA) refers to martial arts of European origin.
HEMA particularly focuses on arts that were formerly practiced,
but having since died out or evolved into very different forms.

What are the features of HEMA?
Einherjar’s founders rallied to HEMA because we believe in both the scholarly pursuit of the study and the interpretation of the historical techniques set down by the masters. We also believe in the application of these as a martial art. In other words, this is a rare martial art that accepts people who are both martially minded and those academically minded so they can work together to recreate and rigorously test the resurrection of historical european martial arts.

What are the goals of HEMA?
To explore, interpret, recreate and test the techniques and skill set down by historical european martial artists so that eventually we will understand these arts and be able to fully resurrect them.

I cannot afford the admission or the gear, how can I start learning HEMA?
We encourage you to visit the various resources we have. Reading and understanding the manuscripts is a core part of HEMA and was our own starting point when we were in that position.
In time, you can join our essential course which includes the mask, gloves and sword (free to borrow).

How is it different from Kendo/Olympic fencing?
HEMA is a different martial art at its core. Whist Kendo and Olympic Fencing are living martial arts that have not been lost to time, HEMA attempts to recreate and resurrect many lost European martial arts. Our method of combining our research with the practical application through sparring differentiates HEMA from Kendo and Olympic fencing.

Nature of activity:
HEMA by nature is a martial art that pursues technical excellence. The difference is in the focus and goals. A similar analogy is for example, where Kenjitsu focuses on perfecting form and cutting, Kendo focuses on scoring points.
Having said that, HEMA does recognize the practicality of sparring and competition. This is why we include a scored sparring aspect to help us test the viability of techniques under stress. As such, HEMA also includes the excitement of combat that can be provided by activities like Kendo and olympic fencing.

Equipment:
HEMA’s fencing equipment is made with reference to historical equipment used in the time period. The weight and balance of the sword realistically reflects their real counterparts and therefore makes the entire experience as realistic as possible without risking significant injury.
This is coupled by our protective equipment. Since we are allowed to hit most places of the body with the exception of the back of the head, spine or groin, our specialised HEMA equipment protection level is higher across the entire body and cannot be replaced by other sports equipment.

Rules:
HEMA does not have a codified set of scoring rules, but instead varies in scoring systems from tournament to tournament to test different aspects of our martial art. A common difference that shows our martial focus when compared to other activities is the accounting of the “after blow”.
Instead of “who hits first, wins” most HEMA rulesets penalize those who hit first yet receive a blow immediately after. This emphasizes and encourages fencers to put their own safety above that of scoring the point and thus a more realistic martial culture that respects the true nature of a sword fight.

Extra info

How can I get more information of Einherjar HEMA club?
You can join our Facebook, IG, Youtube, X to get more information.

Unit 10, 12/F, Block B, Wah Tat Industrial Centre,

Kwai Chung