Out here in the West, we get our TV later than you Eastern folks. Watching the "can you catch an arrow in your hand" segment reminded me of something that happened when I was a younger man. For a while in my early adulthood, I was a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism. At that time, one of the things they were expirimenting with was lighter-armor combat.

I went to the first Shinai war held in the Phoenix area. My friend Andy and I were the only ones wearing actual bogu, kendo armor. On the field with us were archers. Now, the following caveats apply -- SCA field archers fire very weak bows. I think the maximum draw weight at the time was thirty pounds. Plus, they were firing arrows with boffer heads, so they couldn't possibly have flown exceedingly fast. However...

A hold was called on the field, and all the swordsmen took a knee to indicate that we were holding (and to catch our breath). I noticed an archer taking aim at me, which was technically against the rules. But as soon as fighting resumed, he fired, and I deflected the arrow with my shinai, then went over and "killed" the archer. It was a lucky, one-in-a-thousand block... but it happened. I bet a lot of historical accounts were just as lucky, but if you've got an archer sighting in on you, what have you got to lose from trying?

And no -- I no longer play with the SCA.