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Is the Katana the greatest sword ever made? Or is it over rated?
Owl |
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Toledo & Damascus both put out comparable blades. India has a long history of steel work and they make some truly awsome swords. |
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I should add, that I don't think the Katana is overrated, they are truly magnificent blades, it is simply a matter of which style you favor. My training is in both Japanese & Korean sword arts (Kendo). I also fenced (saber & epee) but all that had to stop when my heart started being stupid. |
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Please don't talk about swords. otherwise we'll have that dribbling weapons fetishist Giskhan back on site with his 400 post threads. I believe the attractive thing about the katana was the folding and refolding of the steel so you had about 1600 laminations. Remember the scene in Indiana Jones where he blows the sword wielding Arab's head off. These swords were actually part of a great artificial samurai revival before WW2. And thought the officers loved waving them around and killing defenceless people with them they wore them mailny for decoration and to encourage the men. Uncanny coincidence, I was just reading this thread yesterday. Click onto "The Japanese military" inside the above http site, and they have the above Japanese sword thread there Enjoy. |
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Many keep telling me how much greater the Katana is than all of the european designs and steels. Owl |
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Pure propaganda, Owl, a particular katana may be better than a particular scimitar or vice versa but the sword makers of India were doing sterling work before the Japanese and so were the Celts who's three -bar twist blades are excellent predate them also. Damascus & Toledo steel need not take a back seat to any steel. The hype about katanas is pure hype and nothing else. BTW, don't discount the German's sword industry at Solingen either. |
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Lew,
I played a gig at an Industrial Museum in Solingen this past May. The Germans turned a lot of their old Industrial factories in the Ruhr Valley into museums (we also did a gig in Oberhausen, site of a former drop forge factory). At Solingen, I learned more about the history of the German scissor making industry than anyone should be subjected to. In one of the display cases in the museum I saw some old coins with swastikas imprinted on them. |
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I hear tha the hand and a half sword? is a more versatile weapon wih many more applications than other European or Asian swords? It is used like a sword,staff,axe etc. etc. etc. Owlatnight888 |
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The one always fascinated ne is the falchion, which i mentioned in another thread. Like an 8 foot Bowie knife, only the strongest need apply. Mercenary's weapon. I fully agree that the Katana business is hype. The old lefty bit, anything from the East is mysterious and marvellous. Everything European is dross. Ever read "Shogun" by James ("King Rat") Clavell? Goes a lot into the Zen (??) of archery, how the villain fires an arrow through a paper door then thinks a bit more and fires another arrow doiwn the same trajectory, and splits the first arrow with the second. Crap. |
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Owl, 'hand and a half ' refers to the size of the grip. A true broadsword, or claymore, was so big & heavy that it took a two handed grip to use it. A hand and a half sword was smaller and lighter and could be used with either one hand or both. An example of this would be the basket hilted broadsword most commonly used (in Holywood) as a claymore. The true claymore was much larger and heavier and was generally carried on the shoulder. |
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I saw one that was about four foot long and weighed around five or six pounds. It had been used in curious ways such as swinging the hand overhead to club ones opponent. I include a pic though the blade here is much shorter here with this weapon.
Owl |
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That looks more like a bastard sword than a true broadsword. A bastard came in two main types one (like this one) had a two handed hilt but a shorter blade and the other had a smaller grip with a bigger blade. |
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Interesting the depth and length of the fuller. Not an executioner's sword? Just a curious question, not backed up by any knowledge. Looks right for the length. Is the blade a modern one? is that chromed? |
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When the Allies were approaching Solingen, the Germans took most of the swords & daggers made there (Honor blades for the most part) laid them on the streets & ran tanks over them so they couldn't be captured. One guy kept a special sword (Goring's) out of the destruction and traded it to an American. |
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Cant say much about the blade only that it is much like the ones I was talking about. Owl |
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