Hulu Hākakē (Feather dance)

A slightly more traditional sports than Hanša, Hulu Hākakē is currently practiced by about 12 million people across the continent.

History

After the last major war without the usage of guns 3500 years ago swordfighting was still taught in military schools for a long time. However, guns were on the rising and favoured over swords. Not willing to retire their weapons former soldiers instead came up with an idea how to preserve swordfighting in a more accessible way. Early forms were only taught at military high schools and universities with a very restricted moveset and without any music. But over time it became more and more widespread and schools popped up that were willing to teach non soldiers too. The moveset became broader and also music was added. After about 500 years it had become more Dancing than Fighting, retaining only traces of its former usage. Now it could also be performed solitarily and not just in pairs fighting against one another and competitions were held. It became more and more sports-like, founding informal clubs and letting children participate, ditching the uniform that used to be worn (now only worn at competitions), practicing in gymnasiums or even outside instead of just dedicated halls for it, letting people use their own invented choreographies for competitions instead of practising what their teacher wanted, etc.
It is far less popular than Hanša, probably due to its less competitive nature.

Execution

In its modern form it is split into 15 ranks. Newcomers always start at rank 1. There is no age restriction and the clubs are also not divided by gender. However, the lower ranks (1-5) are mostly filled with students so their training takes place in late afternoon to early evening, while the higher ranks often meet way later in the day and sometimes on weekends only. When it's close to competition time there are often training camps held that can span an entire week. Every two years members of a rank meet up and are evaluated by a neutral pair of high ranked members and teachers. They offer constructive criticism and decide wether or not someone is allowed to move up a rank. For children not being allowed to increase their rank is seen as a crushing defeat but in the mid and high ranks it is almost normal. Most members are in the ranks 8 - 12. There is no way to gain ranks faster, even the most talented people will need 28 years to reach rank 15. Competitions are every year but people who started in an even year can only participate in competitions held in even years and if you started in an uneven year you can only participate in uneven years. The two years between the competitions are split into two periods. First you learn new moves and techniques and invest time in perfecting them and roughly 6-9 months before the next competitions students come up with their own choreography, making decisions wether they want to work alone or with someone else or even in a group, if they want to "fight" each other or destroy targets made of plywood and practice this. Children must be at least 10 years old and over 1.20m in height to be allowed to start training.
While ages ago only certain pieces of music were allowed (mostly military music and marching music) now basically any piece of music can be used for someone's choreography, unless it is offensive. The song also must be between 2 - 5 minutes long. While older practicioners still prefer somewhat more traditional music like folk songs or instrumentals, it is not unheard of that someone younger used pop music, metal or anime music.

Components and tools

The swords are medium long and curved, reminiscent of persian scimitars, mostly made of iron but some bronze swords can be found too. Some schools prefer to use shorter swords instead, especially for children. The children's swords are also dulled and can barely cut through cardboard. Only in very traditional schools you can find very sharp swords as most schools dull them down somewhat, even for adults, as fighting is not the focus of this sport. However, it is not unheard of that someone got badly hurt during an exhibition and had to be rushed to a hospital.