Full Moon Style

The Full Moon Style (名月流, Meigetsu-Ryū) is a sword style utilized by members of the Minamoto clan, a famous samurai family from the Land of Iron, and those they train in rare cases. As the Minamoto have become extinct with the death of Taira Minamoto, his apprentice, Yozoraōka, is the only current user of it. As its basics are common in swordsplay, though, elements of it are used by any swordsman, and the style can technically be replicated by everyone, given that they posess a great enough mastery.

The Full Moon Style is a form of sword combat more defensive when used against other samurai or blade-wielding shinobi, and is among other things based upon perceiving the weapon swung at the user by an enemy and the positions of the ones fighting, something which can be very well combined with sensory skills. When doing so, it is necessary to make non-wasted motions of both the blade and the body of the practioner in order to position oneself to defend and attack properly; to this end, the style also heavily realies on footwork, often using retreats and even twists and turns to narrowly evade attacks, the elegant movements making it appear as if the user were dancing.

Instead of meeting opponents head on when defending, assaults are foiled by using the own blade to change the trajectory of such assaults, unbalancing the enemy and creating openings for swift counters. Offensively, jabs, superficial cuts and even thrusts are commonly employed as means to frustrate and exhaust enemies, before a decisive, more typical sword strike is used; this only holds true against those who cannot be defeated easily, though. A multitude of and lesser opponents are normally bested with just one precise, devastating cut.

In order to master the Full Moon Style, its practioner needs to be calm and composed unter all circumstances, and indeed it is more exhausting for the mind than for the body, as the many feints and efiicient movements of it serve to converse strength; overall, only the most disciplined of the samurai can learn it. Its footwork can easily be and is often combined with other styles, and a inherent flaw seen in its practice lies in the often used one-handed grip on the blade; while granting a wider area of movement, the user can not put much kinetic energy behind the attacks, making adversaries with brute strength the style's main weakness, although there exists a technique used to counter this. Together with this, it is also more difficult to handle a blade with a single hand due to its weigth.

Trivia

 * This sword style is based upon Makashi, the second form of lightsaber combat from Star Wars, and mainly differs in that the footwork does not follow a single line like in the original and that it is commonly used together with other styles.