NYHFA Officers


Michael Edelson
NYHFA Director
Michael has been studying swordsmanship in various forms since 1990. Prior to German longsword, his primary area of interest was Japanese swordsmanship. Among the styles he studied were Toyama Ryu batto jutsu, Yagyu Shinkage Ryu, Engi Iaido and others. He also has an extensive background in unarmed Eastern martial arts and worked for several years as a Tae Kwon Do and Hapkido instructor. Michael was hooked on Historical European Swordsmanship from the moment he picked up a longsword in July of 2005 and has never looked back.

Contact: nyhfa.director@gmail.com



Brian Hook
NYHFA Instructor
Brian is responsible for NYHFA's ringen (wrestling), dagger and messer curriculums and teaches beginner longsword to new memebrs. He is a living historian focused on late 15th century Germany and is the founder and director of the Kompanie des Schwarzen Windes.




NYHFA Members

The following members are arranged in order of rank and seniority.




Jonathan Yee
Novice
Jonathan Yee is an artist and a university student, with a background in fencing and assorted unarmed martial arts.




Christopher Torres
Novice
Chris is an active member of FOF(Friends of Faire), a group that participates in Renaissance reenactment at several faires in the tristate area. Chris has a martial arts backround in Vadha Kempo, but had no formal sword training before coming to NYHFA.




Patrick O'Neil
Novice
Pat is currently serving in the Army National Guard.




Tristán Zukowski
Novice
Tristán has a great interest in medieval textile art—particularly embroidery—and medieval combat. He is self-taught in the former, and is glad to have found teachers for the latter. He is also a part-time student, working towards a degree in art history. He spent a year in Prague teaching English, and has visited a few dozen museums, castles, and armories in the Czech Republic, Germany and Switzerland.




Jason Auerbach
NYHFA Member
Jason is a New York City Police Officer and has been training in various sword arts with Michael Edelson since 1993.




Ray Florio
NYHFA Member
Ray has had a lifelong interest in medieval history, and has been a collector of weapons and armor for over a decade. Though he had no formal sword training prior to the NYHFA, he has spent several years studying archery. When not indulging his more anachronistic hobbies, Ray works as a management consultant, specializing in pricing strategy; a subject on which he has written several articles and has recently co-authored a textbook.




Katrina Miranda
NYHFA Member
Like most of us, Kat has had a lifelong love of swords. She has a background in jujitsu and wrestling, and is a talented musician and singer.




Stephen Scott
NYHFA Member
Stephen fecned foil and saber as United States Fencing Association member for many years and has always been interested in swords and swordsmanship. NYHFA is his first foray into the martial aspect of the sword arts.