June in Heiya Island carried a great many interesting events, and while Archy and his knights had heard some rumblings about a wedding and arguments over coins that really wasn't what brought the group of uplifted Percheron Horse Animalians to the presently active "Asian" colony. There had been talk of other locations but between limited physical room in Japan's home islands and then Covid hitting the world in the previous year, and continuing to linger into the present year, expanding Animalia's colonies in Asia remained limited, which left Heiya Island as the lone colony in Asia at the moment and brought much of the competitions for the IAC that related martial arts and this was one of the things that Archy and his compatriots were curious in. The one they actually had the most curiosity in was a series of Kendo matches.
The matches followed the typical style of Kendo with all participants using the standard equipment for the sport, with only some alterations to the helmet to fit the longer Animalian heads that would require the protection that would be needed. The combatants then followed Kendo's rules as they maneuvered and struck or blocked with the straight bamboo swords that were designed to replace the katana in the sport. The crack of bamboo against bamboo sounded hard and potentially painful if it missed an area that wasn't protected, but Archy was well aware that it would be better than having these sports matches using actual swords used in combat. Japanese swords were different from the medieval broadswords that Archy remembered seeing the "knights" in the medieval tournaments that the renaissance fairs that he and his fellow knights had been used in. Those had all been for show and the demonstrations was used more against dummies or fruit to show Medieval combat in Europe in a way that wouldn't be gory.
When Archy and the rest of his "knights" were uplifted, they had gotten to the point where old age would begin to catch up with them. They were still strong enough, but it wouldn't be easy and the company decided that uplifting Archy would be a reward and renewal for them, which Archy was thankful for. He and his other knights soon took on the idea of continuing to work in sharing the knowledge of medieval warfare and caring for the new horses that replaced them for the Human riders. Archy and the other Knights of his group would then also have the strength to demonstrate with great control how Medieval knights would use weapons like the broadsword on how the weapon would be targeted against opposing Knights and have the strength to control the weapon so that no one was harmed. It made for a more interactive demonstration would make the medieval fairs even more educational, though Covid had put a stop to them the previous year and the fairs had had to supplement their money in breeding the horses they owned.
That then gave Archy and his "knights" extra time to work with other projects and providing help for those in Lyre/Animalia that might have needed it. This included exercise testing for Horizon, delivering food and other things that were needed and earned some thanks and money from Lyre and Animalia as the two towns sought to care for their residents. It also gave him the opportunity to meet a Percheron Mare Animalian earlier in the year going about some training for track and field competitions. Her form wasn't perfect, but she had spirit, Archy could see that, and hoped that when many of these other issues around the globe eased he would get the chance to meet her and introduce himself properly. The bigger thing had been the uplifting of four Kiso-Uma horses that had served in a role similar to Archy and his "Knights" had with the Medieval fair that they'd been attached to, only showing off the skills and abilities of Japan's samurai in their Medieval period rather than Europe's knight's in their Medieval period. The differences and similarities were all something that intrigued Archy, and thus why he and his knights had come to Heiya Island.
The four Kiso-Uma Horse Animalians had settled onto Heiya Island and were working closely with the various martial arts schools that had been built up when the colony was established. From what Archy had seen reported, it would allow them to then teach many of the same tricks and skills they had learned from their past Human owners before their uplifting. Skills at Kendo were apparently included as Archy and his Knights watched the matches. They went back and forth, and the competitors were all from Heiya Island, but they made for interesting viewing and Archy enjoyed getting some presentation of the rules as the matches went on. By the time they got to the final match, they actually had the lead stallion from the Kiso-Uma Horse Animalians pitted against the black furred Wolf Animalian that worked with Ami at the head of the council that governed Heiya Island. The match ultimately ended with the stallion maintaining good enough form that he was able to force the Wolf Animalian to loose his grip on his bamboo sword. There were some cheers and claps for the victor, though both ultimately bowed to each other.
From there a lot of the crowd began to disperse for other events or attractions on Heiya Island, while Archy and his knights hung around hoping to speak with Kiso-Uma Animalians. They noticed and actually waited.
"Hello and welcome," the lead stallion from the Kiso-Uma Animalians said to Archy and his knights when they approached. It was slow and carried a heavy Japanese accent, but it did show that these newly uplifted Horse Animalians had been learning English since their uplifting. "I hope you and your Western Samurai were pleased with the events of the day."
"The term used in the West would be "knight," but yes, we were quite pleased," Archy answered and paused to introduce his knights by name and then finished, "and you can call me Archy."
"The most amazing thing is how similar and different these things are at the same time," one of the knights commented, "all playing to skills with a sword and so on. Different in design and move sets... but the general idea would be the same."
"Perhaps because the Feudal system in both Europe and Japan had similar purposes," the lead stallion commented, "as the Samurai served as military leaders and enforcers for regional political leaders and land owners, called Daimyo. And at times of peace they were more administrators."
"In some ways European knights were the same, the military leaders for lords... the term could vary from country to country, dukes, barons, and other titled nobility would have knights to lead their campaigns, collect taxes, defend the kingdom, and so on," Archy nodded, "and could be complicated in that some knights might serve a low ranking nobleman while others might serve a higher ranking one and others the king."
"Though in Feudal Europe, the king of a country didn't necessarily own or control the most land directly," another of the knights commented, "which could often mean those knights were often protecting small pieces of territory the king had to hunt in. Large scale campaigns often depended on cooperation across the board and could even become confusing when looking across countries. England's William I, for example through conquest became King of England and had full independent rule there, but at the same time was a feudal lord underneath the French king which technically held influence over the region of Normandy that William sailed from. Eventually contributing to some of the wars between France and England later on over who would be king of France."
"And likely putting down rebellions as well," one of the other Kiso-Uma stallions commented, "or supporting them, depending where the local lord was with regard to those various issues."
Archy and his knights nodded.
"So, you've learned from the men that have done a lot to recreate the activities and training of Japan's samurai in its medieval period just as we learned from the men who have done the same for showing the skills of European knights in Europe's medieval period."
The four Kiso-Uma stallions nodded, though still looking up to Archy and his knights. There was in practice a great deal of similarity behind how samurai and knights acted, but there were still obvious differences and the size differences between them showed. The Kiso-Uma, while breed to carry the samurai to battle, were not used in heavy cavalry charges in the way that medieval warhorses were used in Europe and thus its smaller size when compared to the Percheron Horse Animalians that Archy and his "knights" were. It still allowed for interesting meetings between them.