In the latest Dan Carlin podcast on Persians, he mentions in passing that historians try to reimagine sword fighting as those skills are lost in time in most of the world except in some places like Japan. Considering that swords are so common in popular entertainment, I never realized that what is shown is probably not how it actually happened.
When did sword fighting disappear in different regions? I guess that the Samurai kept the art of sword fighting alive till the Meiji restoration, which may explain why it was passed down to our times. However, why did it disappear in other places?
It didn't die out in the West, it just evolved. From longsword to rapier to smallsword to saber/epee. That's a highly simplified version of events, but it serves to show the evolution in sword technique, as different requirements came and went in warfare. A lot of sword fighting in older movies, if I recall Matt Easton correctly, is based on saber fencing, and even today you can see the influence of sabers on fighting in movies and TV programs.