To all the katana nut huggers please remember that in real battle samurai relied on bows, spears, and pole arms for the majority of their fighting. The katana was like the sidearm that you used when your main weapon was lost or broken.
In Europe's earlier medieval days, the sword was seen as a status symbol. In Japan, the sword was seen as a religious or spiritual one. Of course not always the case, many bandits picked up swords and many Samurai weren't as spiritual as you'd think... But yeah, the sword was more of a symbol than anything. It could be used in battle but you're not likely to use something you revere so much just to hack down scores of peasants. In a duel where you're being judged, sure, but not on a battlefield. Its also worth pointing out that Japan and Europe both used firearms quite early on, though Japan seemed to have quite a widespread use of it. I'm not so sure about whether the leading Samurai used them, but I imagine they did due to their availability.
Long swords of Europe are much more useful weapons. We can wax poetically about sacred katana but it's a design that isn't as useful as a long sword that can pierce, cut and even bash the enemy with the cross guard or pommel. And also everywhere you go in the world in medieval times swords are status symbols, regardless of culture. It's costly to use that much metal to make a sword. We take it for granted in a modern world. In reality most armies armed their men with pole arms, spears and axes as they cost significantly less and are able to be produced quicker.
Bro you’re pretty wrong. You’re confusing the Ashigaru spearmen who had a sidearm which looked similar to the katana, but was just a short Japanese straight sword. Samurai fought on horseback in the battlefield, they would use the katana on foot if they didn’t have a horse.
First 2 were correct and good job with the nuances and exceptions! 3. Edge on edge parrying, depends on the technique and the weapons in question. John Clements isn't the be all and end all on this topic (people outside of ARMA think he's a dick). In short there are many advantages to edge on edge and minor damage to your sword is utterly inconsequential compared with receiving a powerful cut. 4.Could nitpick but fairly accurate overall. 5. Maybe overstating the fragility of the katana. Whilst tamahagane sucks the folding process, shortness and geometry makes the katana sturdy enough depending on the smith. The edge is certainly more brittle with differential hardening but this brings us back to point 3 as long as it lasts the battle who cares? 6. Rapiers can cut? Depends on the rapier. There is a lot of variation depending on time period, area and personal preference. Some are reasonable cutters some are terrible. 7. Solid point.
Jim Giant Also the fact that he says that he says edge on edge parrying wasn't done or that the small sword was a entirely cut oriented sword. I can excuse the second one as a slip of the tongue, but the first one is just completely stupid, you only need to look at various styles of historical swordsmanship to know that's bullshit.
I think you only need to look at the orientation of the cross guard to see the edge was used to block/parry. Did someone make a response to this video? Seems to be getting a lot of attention in the last 24 hours.
Jim Giant That's a good point, they didn't seem to do much research on the topic despite doing more research than other list videos. I don't think I've seen a response so far, there quite a lot of "history" based list videos which seem to go under the raydar despite having a lot of views, probably due to the fact that there are so many of them and they're so full of rubbish that it would take ages debunking them.
The Lonely Warrior Pictures I'm not metatron, but I think I could give you an idea of the topic.....truth is, it depends, flat parries thend to be made as an opener to a counterstrike, edge parries in the other hand are stronger(thanks to having all the mass of the blade concentrated in a small point)so they tend to be used to break an opponent attack to follow with one of your own.....an example of this is fiores guard "porta di ferro" from wich which you can deliver powerfull edge parries that can be followed with a trust or a cut.
You confused the smallsword for the backsword. The smallsword was a thrust-centered short dueling weapon. The backsword was a straight-edged single-edge cut-and-thrust weapon.
Katanas are good cutting swords, but they are far too overrated and fantasized. However katanas served their purpose when it was needed in Japanese history.
Of course they did. All swords did for their respective regions. They wouldn't have been used otherwise. The katana is a perfectly fine sword. It's just not any better than any other kind. It's good to finally meet another katana moderate in the comments section.
saba bezhashvili yes...kinda. japanese were and still are amongst the most ingenious people. What their blades lacked in material strength they gained through design and complex caring rituals for the sword.
+saba bezhashvili That's so stupid, unlike most civilizations the Japanese for 95% of their recorded history only went up against themselves which is a bad metric to see how well they fare against different cultures don't you think?
DarkDiverEllery European Smith Coulda worked it into better metal. But that's because they better smelting technology and that's how we got Spring Steel.
Roque Garcia which is the ninja katana dosn't exist and the historical katana does. By katana I mean uchigatana, orachi, and many other Japanese swords or "katanas".
Roque Garcia There's no such thing as a ninja sword, that's a myth perpetuated by movies. Samurai was a political class (warriors), ninja was NOT a political class it was a kind of job (literally a spy). They weren't mutuality exclusive, so samurais were ninjas when his lord requested to do so.
edge on edge is actually completely valid. blocking with the flat surrenders the defense and offense bonuses of a guard. and the wrist is better able to deal with force from direction of the edge. overall when in a fight most people saw edge damage acceptable when they're life was in danger. though flat parrying with the flat also has its boons. skallagrim and shadiversity have made videos on parrying attributes. but overall this is a awesome video kudos
edge on edge parrying was always avoided if able, and it was trained to flat parry. The proper form isnt to parry with the flat directly with the same edge alignment as the strike, but at a slight angle so that the guard actually does help.
@@benhayunga7886 there are different parries for different plays, but although it may be at an angle at times, the parry is always meeting your opponent's blade with your edge, if not your cross guard. Even when deflecting or batting their blade out if the way, the edge is used. For a more direct, static parry with the strong of the blade, the edge is most certainly used. But that part of the blade isn't going to be cutting your opponent anyway, and so they often times had no edge at all at the base of the strong (forté).
@@CoffeeSnep while I agree there are various parries for different plays, you will not always meet your opponents blade with your edge. In general, the edge is always facing the opponent, and most parries are strikes that knock the enemies attack off target, not with the edge but the flat, generally speaking, so long as your form is good. Anything with edge on edge contact is usually considered a block not a parry, and blocks almost always do have edge contact. There is a parry where you strike the back of the opponets blade with the back of yours to throw off its alignment and end behind the strike, and in european swords that parry would make edge contact, but im finding a hard time thinking of other parries that arent blocks that are trained to have edge contact.
But they totally were the primary method of parrying in all but the later Italian treatises, The German sources, having much more emphasis on fighting in close and in the bind, teach no flat parries at all. English and French sources tend to mix it up based on what you're answering, and the reasoning for this is simple. The Italians thrusted a lot more in their fencing, whereas the Germans grappled and wrestled a lot, and most of their advanced techniques were cuts. The English and French, well, they learned from the German and Italian masters, so their sources tend to be a fair mix of the two.
Swords are also pretty bad at getting through gambeson and chainmail. Also swords were often a side arm, like a pistol, and soldiers would prefer weapons such as spears and two handed axes
Vincent Dufault Actually a battle axe would normally weigh about 1.5x the weight of an average sword, and since you use it in two hands then it requires only about 75% of the strength require to use a sword
You forgot a myth!!! The blade is the 2nd deadliest thing on the sword, the 1st is the pommel in which you would take your pommel and throw it at your enemy "ending him rightly"
Alas, those who have played Dark Souls are greatly outnumbered by those who have not. Therefore, for educational purposes, we must now make it our quest to distribute a copy to everyone!
I just happened upon Elite Facts in the past few days and I absolutely love it. From research to final edit, excellence is the goal, very much achieved. I recommend this channel to anyone who likes fact/historically based content, without unneeded seg-ways and/or clickbait pics.
You guys did not adress the biggest myth. It's a myth the blade of the sword was used in fighting afther the 13th century. In the 13th century the blade became decorative because of the technique known as "ending him rightly " which was executed by unscrewing and throwing the pommel at one's enemy. It was highly effective, so much so that the blades became more like giant bread knives and medieval battles gave way to the line battles of later century's. What is a musketball if not a small pommel launched from a tube with the use of black powder?
Fredministrator He exaggerated how weak the katana is, many blades are made with high carbon steel that are very sturdy and effective. Edge parrying was very common, the cross guard lines up with the edge for that reason. Chain mail can be broken with a thrust.
"the katana is super good cuz saskue can cut through mountains" fanboy fop fuck sighted. high carbon steels are more maleable. Go find me a stainless steel sword thats not a wall hanger. you wont. they will shatter as opposed to give. "weak" doesn't exsist there is maleable and there is hard. brass is maleable, glass is hard. stfu if you dont fuking know. the katana is what it is
Bob Billards ... You're clearly an idiot that thinks anyone defending the katana is a weeb or something. Learn about steel then come back dumbfuck. And personally I prefer the longsword.
This video was surprisingly not horrible... Thanks for not regurgitating crap. Would have been cool to include the misconception of Euro swords being these 10lb baseball bats, most people I talk to are surprised to hear how light and nimble they actually are. My only comment really is that when you were talking about swords being forged, the sword you showed was made by Albion, and was not forged but made via stock removal, not that it matters. Also the Katana being made of Pig iron, your general point still stands, but the pig iron thing is a technicality, as far as I understand it is only used in parts of the blade, and is not pig iron by the end of the forging.
Edge on edge parrying is pretty common in european swordfighting actually, at least with two handed swords. In this style of fighting, the sword has to serve offense and defense at the same time, and therefore some of the most crucial fighting moves (the ones meant to allow you to regain the initiative) are defense and attack in the same motion, which usually involves an edge on edge parry. However I do think that japanese swordfighters sought to use the blunt back of their blade for parrying while striking with the edge.
Myth 8: If you want to end someone rightly, you do not kill him with your sword, but you unscrew your Pommel and throw it at your opponent, finishing him rightly.
Dude, this is the first time I have seen a "Top X number things/mistakes about weapons/armor/knights" that I think stands up to scrutiny. Good on you, the internet needs more of you guys doing this.
Soryykah Wilson True, but if I think he's referering to the static Hollywood edge block that you see all the time, you know the one. It's better than being dead but it's useless in terms of winning the fight and it does damage the edge. And a fucked up sword was equivalent to a totalled Lamborghini
And just like the lamborghini, swords could be repaired. Lives couldn't be brought back once lost. In a fight, you fuck the rules and win. Any way you can.
I am fairly sure that if they are aware that a static blade on blade block saves their life they would do it. Of course I doubt anyone waved their fingers around and say " You absolutely mustn't block a blade with yours edge on edge". Also, a sword was very expensive and with good enough armour and techniques to reduce the chance a significant blow I'm sure you can survive a hit.
The video doesn't word several things very well but the intention is to not have a static block with the edge of a blade. When you can block, you can always use the flat. The video did mention that this can't always be done, but it is not preferred to parry or block with an edge. Which implies that they try not to unless forced to. Rewatch that at 3:30 Now there are techniques that utilize the edge, but they do cause damage, though controlled techniques limits the damage compared to media's two swords hacking at each other nonstop. As long it last the battle. Though you would want it to last longer if you can and avoid damages because swords are expensive and you won't want to go and buy another one.
+Neurofied Yamato If you need to make a static block then you have already ended up in a situation where you are in no place to think about protecting your blade. To absorb the blow from the side is also worse for the swords integrity than blocking it on the edge. Sure you may get a mark on the blade in a worst case scenario, but far from anything game breaking. Even a pretty dull blade can do serious damage to an opponent.
Valerian Steel is a mythical material in Games of Thrones. Pointing out that the forging method for a Valerian Steel is impractical is like pointing out the forging methods for Wolverine's Adamantium claws or Captain America's Vibranium shield are impractical. There's no way of knowing the correct way to forge a material that doesn't even exist.
Yeah, especially damning considering that he had also said that crafting COPPER swords (I think it was copper) was done in that way to great results, so there's already precedent for it to work on something that isn't iron.
I want to point out that he wasn't talking about the weapons in Game of Thrones. He was using that as an example of what he had previously stated; cinematic media has perpetuated the belief that swords are primarily made through casting. Another example of this is a scene in The Lord of the Rings; The Fellowship of the Ring in which we see the orcs of Isengard casting swords for the new Uruk Forces. In any story that is not meant to be set in 100% fact, it is understood that you should suspend your sense of disbelief. The video wasn't making a statement about the weapon which you commented on, but how the process in which it was made is a commonly believed myth about real world bladesmiths. Also, quickly, steel is steel regardless of its name. Nippon (an older form of Nihon, the Japanese name for Japan) steel isn't a different metal, it's still carbonized iron. I don't watch/read Game of Thrones so I don't know if it's a completely different metal, or just steel from a specific region in the story. TheSaltyBeard bronze not copper. Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin, meaning the two are melted together to form a stronger material. At the height of the bronze age around 12% tin was used in the mixture, along with 1% to 5% lead. Casting methods could be used for this type of metal as it's physical attributes are different from that of steel; namely, you must cold hammer bronze. This meant that the metal is far less malleable when beating on it in a safe state, so massive quantities of time were saved by casting it into basic shape, and fine tuning the shape after by hand. While high quality bronze weaponry is comparable to, if not superior to, their iron counterparts, tin is a rare resource especially at the time it was in widespread use as a weapon increasing costs to make. That's all fine for the rich, but not for the majority of an army who are likely to be peasants. Iron was cheaper, highly abundant throughout the world and able to be heat forged, meaning it could be beat into shape more quickly than bronze. The main damning evidence against weapons made by casting using ancient or even midieval technology is that it is likely a material with a low melting point. These types of metals tend to be softer or have specific flaws that lend to a limited use in weaponry. Also, bronze has a very distinct color to it, slightly brown often, and as I stated above, just because steel has a name before it doesn't mean it isn't steel. That means casting wouldn't work well when crafting a sword out of it. But again, if it is meant to be a different type of metal that real world steel I wouldn't actually know for certain.
Edge on edge parrying happened. Get over it. Is it ideal? No. Do you care about ideal if you are in a life and death situation? No. You care about living.
it actually matters to some extend, edges tend to bite into each other and stick together, which could course problems in many ways, and more importantly hiting the flat side of the swort allows for better control over the other sword (has to do with body mechanics). anyway, it highly depents on the situation and its not always avoidable, but in general its a lot better and saver to hit the flat, plus its realy not hard to hit, its the bigest surface of the weapon...
Nobody except for maybe master swordsmen get to decide how they perform in a fight, absolutely nobody. Even managing to deflect a sword swing with ANY part of your sword is a feat in of itself, fighting was difficult back than and for most people it came down to making sure the pointy things didn't hit you.
i feel like there was more training than that. like everyone going into battle is just walking about trying not to stab themselves. i mean come on. 2nd of all everyone decent used shields.
Edge parrying actually did, and does happen. There are no treaties that encourage anything else, for no other reason than to keep your attention on your opponent, not the pristine edge of your blade.
Leinad Ssor Alot of techniques involve deflecting with the flat because an edge parry is rough and often has the opponents sword bite into yours and drag your movement with it rather than harmlessly sliding off. It did happen though and quite often as it's not ideal but it's easy and better than dieing.
It's flat parry where you knock your opponent's blade out of the way rather than actually block with it. Star wars gave everyone the totally wrong impression. Technically, you shouldn't even block with a sword in combat unless you have no other choice.
hey! just because i cant grow much on my face doesn't mean i get all butthurt on sword myths being totally wrong! also i knew all of that already before watching this video.
This is pretty accurate from what I've heard from others online on this topic. The only thing that may not be wholly correct is the edge on edge parrying. This video at least doesn't say that it is never used or that you should parry with the flat, but they do say it is a bad decision. Lindybeige did a video on this a while back. He mentioned that the sharp edges create a bind, allowing for better feel and control of your opponent's blade. It's also much more likely, just based on the idea that you'd likely be focused on edge alignment for a cut so reorienting the blade for a parry would be a bit tedious. Then there's the simple fact that dulling your blade is highly preferable to losing a limb, or indeed, your life.
Look, I get that the steel used to make Katanas were poor, but come on. Anyone with common sense knows why people use bokken (wooden swords) to train and not a actual sword. It does not have to do with their lack of durability, like you implied. Its also worth pointing out that in modern times, Katanas are not made of any different steel than any other quality blade, so it's historical weakness of poor steel is a moot point. In the end its only a single edged curved sword, but can we stop downplaying and bashing it because 12 year olds got fed false information and praise it like it were went from heaven?
There are katana that are still made out of purified tamahagane. Because nowadays satetsu is not shoveled in with the dirt but extracted with magnets, so the starting out stuff is much purer. And then satetsu is not the worst material but it isn't really that good either. But hey you can get a metric ton for 200 bucks.
Slavik Chukhlebov That is true, but since it has a harder edge, it also has better edge retention. Yes, it's more brittle, but it holds its edge longer against light and medium targets.
Zeta Reticuli It is true that katanas are overrated, but saying that longswords are superior in every way is ignorant. The katana's hard edge allows it to hold a very sharp edge for a longer time than a longsword, but chips easier. And the whole blade is thicker, which means it has more mass (compared to a European sword with the same length), which means it produces more force in a swing, giving it a great cutting power. (Although there are swords with even greater cutting power, like the falchion.) A katana can easily sever someone's limb or decapitate someone without taking damage, unless you really want to prove how bad of a sword it is by purposefully hitting metal armor with full force to damage it. A longsword however is superior in thrusting. You say modern spring steel katanas are nowhere near as durable as longswords, but they are pretty much equal in that regard. That is true that a longsword can break a katana, but only the hardened part. The rest of the blade bends, which is less dangerous than snapping in two. And the longsword will always get a chip if you do that. But edge-to-edge contacts were mostly avoided by both the knights and the samurai. Japanese swordsmiths were great. Even with an inferior smelting technology, they managed to forge a good quality sword out of poor quality steel. If Japanese swords were as horrible as you said, they would have just imported longswords from Europe. No. The longsword is not superior to the katana in overall, and the katana is not better either. Unless you compare every katana model to every longsword model, because the longsword category has many kind of swords with different attributes and functions, while all katana has (more or less) the same attributes and functions. I understand that you dislike the katana because of how it is exaggerated by movies, anime, other TV shows, and video games. If you put an armored knight with a longsword against an armored samurai with a katana, and they are equally skilled, and let's say they both have about 20 years of battlefield experience, the knight would have a better chance because his armor has fever weak spots. But if they don't wear any armor, then it's a very fair match that can go either way. The European full plate armor was indeed superior to the Japanese plate armor, because it has fever and smaller weak spots. (And it's not as heavy as people think it is.)
I think this really comes down to fighting technique, and the tactics being utilized by opposing forces. A samurai vs. medieval swordsmen would be an interesting sight. Both wear armor effective against blades, and both have alternative methods of attack than their swords. The most intriguing thing to watch would be how they well they acclimate to fighting such a different opponent. A samurai likely did not often see sword-and-board opposition, and I doubt most knights from the middle-ages ever saw or heard of a katana, let alone fought against one.
Katanas are better than longswords thts just fact poor metal or not..its the better tool when cutting look at history western swords kept changing because they were flawed it a wonder tht longswords cut anything
Yeah. I own one. The only thing sharp on it is the point. I think he said the literal opposite of what he meant. Maybe there is some sort of edged small court sword that I've never seen. It was a weird statement. >.
if I'm correct I believe the Greeks used slash based short swords but I don't believe any European short "Knight Swords" as people love calling them were all for stabbing either through mail or between plates and this allowed for useful edge to edge blocking when at a loss for shield, and as far as the katana catching edge to edge isn't helpful for preventing a significant cut as it risks both a broken blade and fatal wound.
if I'm correct I believe the Greeks used slash based short swords but I don't believe any European short "Knight Swords" as people love calling them were all for stabbing either through mail or between plates and this allowed for useful edge to edge blocking when at a loss for shield, and as far as the katana catching edge to edge isn't helpful for preventing a significant cut as it risks both a broken blade and fatal wound.
You are talking about the Gladius which actually was also used for thrusting. And there is actually the term Knightly sword (also called arming sword) and it is a side-sword and a sort of "emergency" weapon and used against armored (probably more to parry, block and then ring them to the ground for a coup de grace) and unarmoured enemies, but most likely also for self protection. Also, I suppose you have to make a distinction between parrying and blocking. A static block with ANY weapon can be less than ideal either because the enemy weapon bites into your weapon which mayhaps either damages the blade or hilt (in case of a polearm) or may slide of and into your hand if you ask me.
Well jesus,im a sword "expert" (I've just dedicated 10 years of my life to swords so I just call myself an expert,no biggie) and I can say that everything said in this video is true to an extent or entirely true,there are some things I have problems with but it's mostly pronunciation and the terms used rather than the actual fact,and putting katana fanboys in place with facts about how shitty katana really were,always amuses me,and the amount of autism mixed with cancer and a little bit of jack Daniels on the rocks that is in this comment section,the katana fanboys are triggered as usual when anyone even says something remotely true about the katana,in actually laughing as I scroll through this cancer
wait... people actually believe that you quench (No idea how to spell that word) swords in blood? Realy? About Edge on Edge parrying... yea well its not that impractical actually. Parrying with the edge makes the swords "bite" into each other, while parrying with the side causes the blades to slip around or bounce alot easier. So if you want to stop a blow, you parry with the edge (or guard), but if you want to redirect the blow, the side works better. But honestly, if you are in a fight to the death facing an opponent of relative equal skill, you dont go for form perfection, you simply do what you need to stay alive and make sure that the other person fails at this very same point. About swords against metal armor. Thank you for this. Yes sharp weapons do little against metal armor. But i have to question your logic about a blunt blade being more effective against plate than a sharp sword. Reality aint a game. A weapon dont do more damage against plate just because you put "blunt" as its "damage type". Like this. Take two identical blades. One is sharp, one is blunt. Swing both swords against a helmet, and they will deliver exacly the same amount of kinetic energy. The tools are the same, the conditions are the same. The effect will be the same. About the pommel... Errr no? The Normans did not develop the pommel to deal with plate armor. Thats stupid. The fact that a pommel CAN be used as an improvised club dont mean that was its specific reason for existance.
Way to debunk myths repeated by katana worshippers by using myths repeated by katana bashers. Saying that katanas were made of pig iron or any other inferior material is as much of a bs as saying that katanas were lighter and sharper than most European swords. Pig iron (which is just steel with really high amount of carbon) was indeed used in the process of making them, but it stopped being pig iron after the folding. Folding is just a process of removing majority of the impurities. Its side effect is that it also lowers the amount of carbon in steel which is why they decided to use pig iron in the first place. Their blades weren't as brittle as you make them out to be either. The edge had a pretty high amount of carbon which did make it harder and break easier, but because of softer core they were more likely to just chip rather than snap. They were prone to bending because of their stiffness though. All in all katanas were not inherently better or worse than their European counterparts, it's just different. There are some design choices that are really holding them back though.
@@turkay67turkay Try piercing a knight in full plate armour with your longsword. I'll take a halberd for that job with maybe a mace as sidearm and a dagger should it devolve to grappling.
Ehm that's why you use the crossguard of a longsword? We're talking about Longswords only, if you want I can pull the most versetile weapon in the arsenal. A Pollaxe.
Nice video, and heating and cooled is called heat treatment. Also the best swords always start out as a block it is hammered out and folded, allot of people believe the Japanese started this but they have found Cimmerians swords were folded six to eight times now I know that isn't that much but for people that were considered to be barbarians this is profound. I personally will always like the Bastard sword a broad sword you can use with one hand or with two, the Katana is a okay sword and the Tapered is not one of the swords I like. Your right about the Fuller also it can be a weakness in a sword if the black smith makes it off center. Great video I enjoyed watching it.
9/10 Some great information here. I have only two quibbles: 1) The small sword was entirely thrust oriented, not cut oriented. 2) Edge-on-edge parrying is still a hotly debated topic. Some experts think edge-on-edge parrying was mostly avoided, other think it was common, and in some ways even preferable.
Well to be perfectly honest a lot of techniques only make sense if you have edge on edge contact. And it really comes out when you practice with sharps.
katanas became legendary not because they are badass swords, but because they were still being made in the 1800! looooong after Europe had moved to firearms. Remember that Japan jumped straight from medieval to the industrial revolution almost overnight. Europe had already lost a lot of its sword making knowledge by then.
Oh for fucks sake. Nobody lost the technology of making swords in Europe. They were still used in the 19th century. Japanese soldiers including Samurai were making full use of firearms the moments those became available for hundreds of years before that time. You think the Samurai were so ignorant as to refuse the use of a modern weapon becausee of traditions?
A few of them did refuse because of tradition. A few, not all, not even most, but a few. As to the rest of what you said you are right. Sword use in warfare continued though in a diminished capacity right up till the end of horse mounted cavalry.
yu nofun Not to mention that swords are still used to this very day in all manners of entertainment and educational purposes. Its not like they entirely disappeared, they simply became obsolete. As for military use, it was a very effective backup weapon as it doesn't require ammo and the rare use of it meant your blade wouldn't be as damaged from constant fighting either... you lose your gun, you still have a sword as a backup, no different to how most modern soldiers have a pistol and knife (though the latter is also utility).
American Army uses hatchets if i remember correctly. which is more usefull then either if your out of ammo. it can break barriers. punch through kevlar, build barriers, and of course kill people. it does sacrifice reach, and it does take more endurance to use but think about it, if you're reduced to melee in a firefight it probably won't matter.
Joseph Blevins I know, I get that a lot. Fun fact the Katana is my favorite sword. I know it is a shitty weapon in comparison to other swords but I have practiced it since I was young and have gotten used to it. The best part about me is that I know the Katana is not a good sword, but still like it.
1:27 "The hilt, pommel and guard will be added." And that's where I stop watching the video. EDIT: I watched further and oh my fucking word this video wrong about so many things. Edge on edge parries are fine, some people avoid them but there's nothing fundamentally wrong with them. Plenty of manuals and treatise give examples of edge on edge parries, particularly later ones. While sword fighters would never have a conversation while their swords are locked (except perhaps in a friendly duel), I've heard of the act of locking swords being called a conversation in itself, because each combatant gets so much information from it, so if Hollywood had to put dialogue somewhere in a battle it's a surprisingly fitting place. All things considered Katanas are the best sword, given the material they had to work with. Give a European smith of the same era a lump of Japanese steel and see if he can do better. Katanas actually are one case where an edge on edge parry would be avoided at all costs since the spine of the sword was deliberately made out of softer steel so it could take hits without shattering, while the edge of the blade was made out of much harder steel which was prone to shattering. Look at a cross section of a katana and you'll be amazed at the ways they combined soft and hard steel into a single sword to get the best properties out of both, a method called Soshu Kite being one of the most intricate which had the best results. You say that the small sword is a cut oriented weapon which is totally untrue, the small sword is an entirely thrust oriented weapon. Learn more before you try to inform others, especially when you take such a condescending tone through much of the video.
Europeans could do better with the same steel, it wasn't just the steel (though that definitely was a factor) they had both superior smithing methods and superior weapon design, everything else you said checks out though
you know why the katana is not the best sword? it is way too heavy for it's length, a logsword weights the same and it's longer, the katana doesn't have a pommel so you can't end them rightly, it doesn't have a guard so it's easy to hurt your hands. the katana needs a whole different training, it's not better than european swords, but it's not the worst, it's just different
A note on edge on edge parry: I’ve done some training with the dao, a Chinese sword. We are taught to block with the edge because the sword is strongest in that direction. A block with the flat of the blade has the risks of the blow either breaking your sword (this is even more likely when blocking with the flat than the edge), or of your sword bending, such that the attack you’re trying to block powers through and still strikes you. Faced with the choice of spending an hour sharpening my sword after a fight or risking breaking the sword entirely, I would much rather take the former. Blocking with the edge is much more effective for stopping an attack. A block with the flat of the blade can be useful for redirecting an attack but not if you need to stop the opponent’s blade outright.
theyre not crap , like, honestly the steel quality before the folding process was very low, but they were very good at subverting the weaknesses of the metal, like how the edges are hard but the rest of the blade comparatively was soft, making the blade fairly durrable, they were also almost excessively sharm, being able to cut through multiple unarmored carcasses. really all swords are pretty useless against armored opponents , thats why theyre a side arm , somethint you carry so you don't have nothing at all to deffend yourself with. katana are in the upper level of okay, maybe even the lower point of good
They aren't. The katana is one of the best swords you there. It's probably the best cutting sword and it has above avg piercing ability. While japanese metal tends to suck we don't exactly have to worry about that now.
Actually you where wrong with the Parrying with the edge part. Edge on edge parrying was in fact a thing, and it's why a crossguard was put onto swords, if the Crossguard is aligned with the blade's edge it would be completely useless at stopping the other sword from sliding down the blade and hacking off you're fingers, there is more logic to support my statement but I'm sick and lack the motivation to type this comment further.
sorry this is late, but i thing he was talking about the technique used by samauri to deflect the attack with the opposing edge, as it was not bladed. i imagine that this is what he mixed up
Yeah, I do fencing (I'm pretty nice at it even if I do say so myself) and whenever I see those bullshit scenes I'm just like "He easily could have won that fight if he remesed or parry-reposted, but no he went for the super epic looking blade struggle."
Me: Yo, pass the *saber* Friend: You better not *beat attack to gain right of way* Me: www.google.com/search?q=beat+attack+fencing&rlz=1CALEAI_enUS744&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwihuteR2eDTAhWIeSYKHZRiDO4Q_AUICigB&biw=1366&bih=678&safe=active&ssui=on#imgrc=nnjEMfkG6WZLKM:
Jeff TheSpec Depends if you use the english mispronounciation or proper pronounciation. Kuh Tan Nuh is the usual english pronounce. The japanese, which sounds like Kuh Tuh Nuh or the hiragana かたな is the proper pronounciation. At least english didnt bastadize it as much as iconic examples like Karate (Kuh Luh Teh) or Karaoke. (Kuh Luh Oh Keh)
>be me >watching sword video >get to part on dude talking about edge on edge parrying not being accurate >looks at sword >sword has crossguard that tapers with the edge >useless since we parry with flats of our blade right?? Parrying was done with the edge of a sword primarily because the flat only had a quillion in very rare cases (Like with Grosse Messers sometimes). Crossguards exist so somebody can't just yoink a sword down while in a bind and cut your knuckles off.
One thing I would like to note in terms of edge on edge parrying. Edge on edge parrying was a thing. If you look at a sword blade as three sections you have the weak of the sword which is where you want to strike with. This is roughly the last third of the blade. Then you have the middle of the sword, which is literally the middle third of the sword most of the time. Finally you have the strong of the sword which was the first third of the sword. This is the part you want to parry with because the sword is a lever and thus you have more control over your opponent's weapon if you parry with this part. Unless your distance sucks when you attack and end up way too close, you should never hit someone with the strong of your sword, so the edge there isn't as important as the edge of the weak.
They carried different kinds of polearms, yes they had naginata, which were basically japansese glaives, but they also used yari which were spears. And of course, they had many more.
I'm way late to this reply but feel like I can still add something helpful. A katana made out of higher quality metal would act the same as any other weapon when made out of higher quality metals; be better in virtually every way. It would be less fragile, hold its edge better, have superior rigidity (unless flexibility is the idea, like rapiers, but most swords are designed to only bend so far, so they remain powerful cutters), all without increasing weight to any discernable degree. The design of the katana is good. At cutting. It has, like any other sword in existence, ups and downs. Curved swords all are generally inferior stabbing weapons to straight weapons for several mechanical reasons, but are superior cutting weapons because they have certain other mechanical *advanges* Even made out of the best possible materials, katanas are just swords specialized for slicing and dicing. There are better cutters out there, but all swords sacrifice effectiveness in some areas to focus on others, so there is no such thing as an "ultimate" sword design, otherwise it would be the only one anyone used after its discovery.
Edge on edge parries are definitely historically accurate techniques. Parrying with the edge and parrying with the flat are both viable ways to defend a blow. Defending a blow with the edge can be advantageous because your wrist aligns with the blade in a more structurally sound way, giving you more leverage. Though you may chip your edge, you arent likely to care if you successfully defend yourself and deliver a counter attack. Also, the smallsword is a dedicated thrusting sword, not a dedicated cutting sword as you mention. Many had triangular cross sections to produce a much stiffer thrust, this comes at the cost of the ability to deliver effective cuts, hence it was rare for smallsword blades to be sharpened much beyond the point. It was much more like a giant needle than a sword.
"Fencers" try to avoid parrying with the edge but actual, historical swordsmen would do it without a second thought. The edge of a sword is not more valuable than one's life, says Matt Easton on countless occasions. Nonetheless, I honor you for helping to stop the spread of misconceptions. Great vid!
A new material has been recently discovered, Graphene. Graphene is only 1 atom thick. Imagine how powerful a Graphene sword would be. The graphene won't break on contact because it is 200 times stronger than steel.
thegreeenbeast Not true. Valyrian steel is magic you can't manipulate it like steel. You use fire and spellwork to melt it back down and cast it. It can not be molded like steel and in fact in Game of Thrones regular steel is manipulated like real steel.
Outside of the magical stuff and fictional substances, titanium suffers a similar problem. If you attempt to try anything fancy while shaping titanium (such as bending and twisting it) it tends crack and break. Also, it doesn't normally exist in large masses and the substance itself is incredibly durable. When using it, the best option is to grind it down into dust and then pour the later molten metal into a cast.
I prefer a cross guard over the disc, tbh. Offers better protection, and additional techniques that simply can not be done with a disc guard. Also, double bladed swords can cut both ways, and thrusting is more effective with a different kind of tip. Overall, I find the typical European design offers a lot more options for both defense and offense.
Man says Katana's look cool, in return he gets people judging the katana on how well It'd do... I don't how good a sword actually is has anything to with how cool it looks
This was actually better than most videos of its type. however; 5 contained a myth in a myth; parrying* with the edge is by far the most common way to deal with an incoming strike because using any other part of the sword is biomechanically weak (congrats on not stating the flat outright), or just unlikely to work in most situations. there are a number of techniques for that but they're relatively rare. And using the guard is ludicrous, though it does come into play after blade contact in many situations. 4 was generally right, but it's worth noting that only rapiers and modern sports-fencing foils have pommels as counterweights. the main function of a pommel is to keep your sweaty and/or bloodied hand on the sword, though obviously it can also be used to hit people. most historical pommels are hollow. I could also talk about how the katana probably wouldn't usually be as fragile as stated, but eh. *in historical fencing (look up HEMA - Historical European Martial Arts) it's not as simple as parry/attack. many techniques are both a defence and an attack, and a number of them don't even use the sword to defend (though they're typically the riskier ones).
I'm going to tell you a little secret. One of the most realistic sword battles in movies was in Star Wars : A New Hope. The duel between Obiwan Kenobi and Darth Vader was a well paced and cautious exhibition in Kendo. That why its my favorite sword fight in movie history.
As someone who trains in Bolognese Swordsmanship, i can tell you that we parry with the edge more than anything else, and it's that way for all other swordsmanship styles as well. The cross guard is nice, but you are still parrying with the edge and allowing it to slide to the cross guard. The guard is very important for parrying, but more for stopping the blade further once it gets to that point, as well as controlling the opponent's blade after a parry, as protecting the hands, adding weight to the hilt, and can be used as a tool when striking or a lever when grappling. Despite this, many of our parries don't even make contact with the guard at all. When parrying with the strong of the blade (As most parries do) you parry and control the opponent's blade with yours. If it slides down to the crossguard, it remains the same. With some others, we beat the opponent's blade out of the way, using the middle or weak of the blade. This doesn't make any contact with the crossguard at all. If you have a shield or other defensive weapon, yes it is of course what you mainly use to parry. But there are many cases where you don't have one. And yes, there can be some edge damage, but it's usually minimal and easy to repair later. When your life is at stake, you begin to care less about how shiny your sword is. Other than that, this was a good video that can clear up a lot of misconceptions.
Edge to edge parry is actually historical, specifically in hema. Some manuscripts even go as far as to say that edge to edge is the primary way to parry. The flat of the blade is not made to withstand the force as swords became thinner and designed for thrusting more than slicing.
Correction: Katana do not break easily - however, they indeed do *bend* easily, making them similarly useless in a battle or duel. From an immediate defense standpoint, breaking would actually be preferable, since you then have a pointy end that you can aim straight at your opponent. Bending is preferable if you survive the battle. just bend the sword back into shape and resharpen the blade, no need to make a new one when resources are scarce anyway. That difference in approach can also be seen in the difference in design between european and japanese swords. European swords (while very diverse across time and location) generally have a hard core and softer edges, while nihontō usually have a softer core but as hard an edge as possible with the available materials.
I thought this video was going to be another person that had no idea what they where talking about, trying to talk about ancient weapons and failing. I am happy to be wrong. Good video. 10/10
Very well made video. Most top 10 videos that involve swords or fencing spew out nonsense they've read from a random website. I'm glad to see there's top 10 videos out there that do proper research and with people making the videos who care about being truthful.
I'm not sure I have ever seen a movie make swords with molds..the only reason any group of people ever did this was to make a LOT of swords very quickly. It was a quantity over quality thing. This was the only way to outfit an army quickly. This method was definitely used, it was just not preferred.
To all the katana nut huggers please remember that in real battle samurai relied on bows, spears, and pole arms for the majority of their fighting. The katana was like the sidearm that you used when your main weapon was lost or broken.
In Europe's earlier medieval days, the sword was seen as a status symbol.
In Japan, the sword was seen as a religious or spiritual one.
Of course not always the case, many bandits picked up swords and many Samurai weren't as spiritual as you'd think...
But yeah, the sword was more of a symbol than anything. It could be used in battle but you're not likely to use something you revere so much just to hack down scores of peasants. In a duel where you're being judged, sure, but not on a battlefield.
Its also worth pointing out that Japan and Europe both used firearms quite early on, though Japan seemed to have quite a widespread use of it. I'm not so sure about whether the leading Samurai used them, but I imagine they did due to their availability.
Long swords of Europe are much more useful weapons. We can wax poetically about sacred katana but it's a design that isn't as useful as a long sword that can pierce, cut and even bash the enemy with the cross guard or pommel. And also everywhere you go in the world in medieval times swords are status symbols, regardless of culture. It's costly to use that much metal to make a sword. We take it for granted in a modern world. In reality most armies armed their men with pole arms, spears and axes as they cost significantly less and are able to be produced quicker.
Nice facts
Bro you’re pretty wrong. You’re confusing the Ashigaru spearmen who had a sidearm which looked similar to the katana, but was just a short Japanese straight sword. Samurai fought on horseback in the battlefield, they would use the katana on foot if they didn’t have a horse.
@Tranhoang Long There isn't much truth in that statement of yours
5:56 if you wish to end your opponent rightly, unscrew your pommel and launch it at them!
LOL, Skall fan detected
Oh god, we're spreading.
huh didnt know his fans spread out this quickly..
Pommels, Murderstrokes, pointing out that Katanas aren't perfect , damn. This video was practically made to draw in Skall's fans.
JakeSnake07 now thats that true
First 2 were correct and good job with the nuances and exceptions!
3. Edge on edge parrying, depends on the technique and the weapons in question. John Clements isn't the be all and end all on this topic (people outside of ARMA think he's a dick). In short there are many advantages to edge on edge and minor damage to your sword is utterly inconsequential compared with receiving a powerful cut.
4.Could nitpick but fairly accurate overall.
5. Maybe overstating the fragility of the katana. Whilst tamahagane sucks the folding process, shortness and geometry makes the katana sturdy enough depending on the smith. The edge is certainly more brittle with differential hardening but this brings us back to point 3 as long as it lasts the battle who cares?
6. Rapiers can cut? Depends on the rapier. There is a lot of variation depending on time period, area and personal preference. Some are reasonable cutters some are terrible.
7. Solid point.
nailed it
Jim Giant Also the fact that he says that he says edge on edge parrying wasn't done or that the small sword was a entirely cut oriented sword. I can excuse the second one as a slip of the tongue, but the first one is just completely stupid, you only need to look at various styles of historical swordsmanship to know that's bullshit.
Thanks bro.
I think you only need to look at the orientation of the cross guard to see the edge was used to block/parry. Did someone make a response to this video? Seems to be getting a lot of attention in the last 24 hours.
Jim Giant That's a good point, they didn't seem to do much research on the topic despite doing more research than other list videos. I don't think I've seen a response so far, there quite a lot of "history" based list videos which seem to go under the raydar despite having a lot of views, probably due to the fact that there are so many of them and they're so full of rubbish that it would take ages debunking them.
Nice video, well done :)
Metatron hello
Hi metatron love your videos
It's The Metatron!
Do you consider the edge on edge parrying to be a myth ?
The Lonely Warrior Pictures I'm not metatron, but I think I could give you an idea of the topic.....truth is, it depends, flat parries thend to be made as an opener to a counterstrike, edge parries in the other hand are stronger(thanks to having all the mass of the blade concentrated in a small point)so they tend to be used to break an opponent attack to follow with one of your own.....an example of this is fiores guard "porta di ferro" from wich which you can deliver powerfull edge parries that can be followed with a trust or a cut.
You confused the smallsword for the backsword. The smallsword was a thrust-centered short dueling weapon. The backsword was a straight-edged single-edge cut-and-thrust weapon.
Katanas are good cutting swords, but they are far too overrated and fantasized. However katanas served their purpose when it was needed in Japanese history.
Of course they did. All swords did for their respective regions. They wouldn't have been used otherwise. The katana is a perfectly fine sword. It's just not any better than any other kind. It's good to finally meet another katana moderate in the comments section.
Well. My take on katana's superiority is this: katanas where inferior, which in turn made their masters superior (if that makes any sense to you)
saba bezhashvili yes...kinda. japanese were and still are amongst the most ingenious people. What their blades lacked in material strength they gained through design and complex caring rituals for the sword.
I know I'm a bit late to the party, but what would happen if you made a katana out of a more fit material? Would it be too heavy?
+saba bezhashvili That's so stupid, unlike most civilizations the Japanese for 95% of their recorded history only went up against themselves which is a bad metric to see how well they fare against different cultures don't you think?
I will forever refer to katanas as pig-blades
DarkDiverEllery same
DarkDiverEllery European Smith Coulda worked it into better metal. But that's because they better smelting technology and that's how we got Spring Steel.
DarkDiverEllery there's a difference between samurai sword and ninja katana too
Roque Garcia which is the ninja katana dosn't exist and the historical katana does. By katana I mean uchigatana, orachi, and many other Japanese swords or "katanas".
Roque Garcia
There's no such thing as a ninja sword, that's a myth perpetuated by movies. Samurai was a political class (warriors), ninja was NOT a political class it was a kind of job (literally a spy). They weren't mutuality exclusive, so samurais were ninjas when his lord requested to do so.
edge on edge is actually completely valid. blocking with the flat surrenders the defense and offense bonuses of a guard. and the wrist is better able to deal with force from direction of the edge. overall when in a fight most people saw edge damage acceptable when they're life was in danger. though flat parrying with the flat also has its boons. skallagrim and shadiversity have made videos on parrying attributes. but overall this is a awesome video kudos
edge on edge parrying was always avoided if able, and it was trained to flat parry. The proper form isnt to parry with the flat directly with the same edge alignment as the strike, but at a slight angle so that the guard actually does help.
@@benhayunga7886 there are different parries for different plays, but although it may be at an angle at times, the parry is always meeting your opponent's blade with your edge, if not your cross guard. Even when deflecting or batting their blade out if the way, the edge is used. For a more direct, static parry with the strong of the blade, the edge is most certainly used. But that part of the blade isn't going to be cutting your opponent anyway, and so they often times had no edge at all at the base of the strong (forté).
@@CoffeeSnep while I agree there are various parries for different plays, you will not always meet your opponents blade with your edge. In general, the edge is always facing the opponent, and most parries are strikes that knock the enemies attack off target, not with the edge but the flat, generally speaking, so long as your form is good. Anything with edge on edge contact is usually considered a block not a parry, and blocks almost always do have edge contact. There is a parry where you strike the back of the opponets blade with the back of yours to throw off its alignment and end behind the strike, and in european swords that parry would make edge contact, but im finding a hard time thinking of other parries that arent blocks that are trained to have edge contact.
I was expecting him to get most of this wrong, but to my knowledge, it's all fairly accurate.
He is also wrong about short swords being primary cutters, they are very much stab oriented.
Slavik Chukhlebov
He did say sometimes it happened accidentaly.
But they totally were the primary method of parrying in all but the later Italian treatises, The German sources, having much more emphasis on fighting in close and in the bind, teach no flat parries at all. English and French sources tend to mix it up based on what you're answering, and the reasoning for this is simple. The Italians thrusted a lot more in their fencing, whereas the Germans grappled and wrestled a lot, and most of their advanced techniques were cuts. The English and French, well, they learned from the German and Italian masters, so their sources tend to be a fair mix of the two.
That depends on the type of short sword. Some were cutters some were stabbers. German langes messers for example were 90% for cutting
Swords are also pretty bad at getting through gambeson and chainmail. Also swords were often a side arm, like a pistol, and soldiers would prefer weapons such as spears and two handed axes
You know your shit good sir
Schneeregen _ i dont think they would use a 2 handed axe... its heavy as fuck and you got no way to defend yourself...
Vincent Dufault Actually a battle axe would normally weigh about 1.5x the weight of an average sword, and since you use it in two hands then it requires only about 75% of the strength require to use a sword
Vincent Dufault Halberd
Exdo Rme Battle axes are lighter than wood-cutting axes... Not as heavy as you think.
You forgot a myth!!! The blade is the 2nd deadliest thing on the sword, the 1st is the pommel in which you would take your pommel and throw it at your enemy "ending him rightly"
I guess Skyrim was actually correct on the weapon making
not exactly. like Skalagrim put it, they suffer from tiny handle syndrome and paddle-titis syndrome.
Ancient Nords were very into canoeing, the design just stayed.
Rae Kinch ,white ass nord s don't know how to do their own shity swords lol orcs rule!!!
Correct-lookin smithing anims. Stylized barbaric grrrrr art style.
So i wasent the only one thinking that!
How is no. 3 a myth? Evey single person who has ever played Dark Souls 2 knows how annoyingly fragile the katanas are :(
To answer that question, I direct you here: tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/KatanasAreJustBetter
Myomer104 oh god weeb cringe
Myomer104 the fuck am i reading
Alas, those who have played Dark Souls are greatly outnumbered by those who have not. Therefore, for educational purposes, we must now make it our quest to distribute a copy to everyone!
Mhm, let's get everyone acquainted to the Covetous Demon! Let them feel his wrath!
I just happened upon Elite Facts in the past few days and I absolutely love it. From research to final edit, excellence is the goal, very much achieved. I recommend this channel to anyone who likes fact/historically based content, without unneeded seg-ways and/or clickbait pics.
WOW A VIDEO THAT ACTUALLY IS LIKE REAL HOLY SHITE!
Also was that Mordhau at 4:28? anybody interested in medieval stuff should totally check it out.
haha nice meme
Thanks bobbles. Pleasure seeing you here.
Great video Elite Facts. It was great that you added the "ending him rightly" picture XD
You guys did not adress the biggest myth. It's a myth the blade of the sword was used in fighting afther the 13th century. In the 13th century the blade became decorative because of the technique known as "ending him rightly " which was executed by unscrewing and throwing the pommel at one's enemy. It was highly effective, so much so that the blades became more like giant bread knives and medieval battles gave way to the line battles of later century's. What is a musketball if not a small pommel launched from a tube with the use of black powder?
Milixen Clearly you came here from Skallagrim lol
I get it.
That reference comes from a 15th century manuscript and there is little evidence that threaded tangs were even common then. Most tangs were peened.
It's a joke man. Chill.
god i love when i find skal referances
It is rare for a video of that kind to actually get something right. Well done
This video is no exception. He still got quite a few things wrong.
I wouldn't say everything is acurate but what do you think is wrong?
Fredministrator He exaggerated how weak the katana is, many blades are made with high carbon steel that are very sturdy and effective. Edge parrying was very common, the cross guard lines up with the edge for that reason. Chain mail can be broken with a thrust.
"the katana is super good cuz saskue can cut through mountains" fanboy fop fuck sighted. high carbon steels are more maleable. Go find me a stainless steel sword thats not a wall hanger. you wont. they will shatter as opposed to give. "weak" doesn't exsist there is maleable and there is hard. brass is maleable, glass is hard. stfu if you dont fuking know. the katana is what it is
Bob Billards ... You're clearly an idiot that thinks anyone defending the katana is a weeb or something. Learn about steel then come back dumbfuck.
And personally I prefer the longsword.
Thank you for making this excellent video, I've made these same points many times in conversations. It's always good to have some backup.
This video was surprisingly not horrible... Thanks for not regurgitating crap. Would have been cool to include the misconception of Euro swords being these 10lb baseball bats, most people I talk to are surprised to hear how light and nimble they actually are.
My only comment really is that when you were talking about swords being forged, the sword you showed was made by Albion, and was not forged but made via stock removal, not that it matters. Also the Katana being made of Pig iron, your general point still stands, but the pig iron thing is a technicality, as far as I understand it is only used in parts of the blade, and is not pig iron by the end of the forging.
The small sword is not cut centric. The small sword is entirely thrust centric.
I don't know. I heard that pointed iron bars were good cutters...
Jeff Mccague i gave the same explanation to the judge...but was still convicted of sexual assault
That's mostly gladius' (I don't know the plural) as they were mostly for thrusting, but still many small swords were thrusting weapons too.
+Dweebs smallswords are solely thrusting weapons, they are literally pointy unsharpened spikes. Gladii can cut and thrust.
Are you sure your not thinking of the gladius?
damn science ruining fantasy
LOL!
That why scientist are boring.
As always
Edge on edge parrying is pretty common in european swordfighting actually, at least with two handed swords. In this style of fighting, the sword has to serve offense and defense at the same time, and therefore some of the most crucial fighting moves (the ones meant to allow you to regain the initiative) are defense and attack in the same motion, which usually involves an edge on edge parry.
However I do think that japanese swordfighters sought to use the blunt back of their blade for parrying while striking with the edge.
Myth 8:
If you want to end someone rightly, you do not kill him with your sword, but you unscrew your Pommel and throw it at your opponent, finishing him rightly.
Dude, this is the first time I have seen a "Top X number things/mistakes about weapons/armor/knights" that I think stands up to scrutiny. Good on you, the internet needs more of you guys doing this.
1.7k Katana boiz disliked.
Sword masters were soooo worried about the edge of their sword when their opponent was trying to KILL THEM. FUCK THE EDGE.
Soryykah Wilson True, but if I think he's referering to the static Hollywood edge block that you see all the time, you know the one. It's better than being dead but it's useless in terms of winning the fight and it does damage the edge. And a fucked up sword was equivalent to a totalled Lamborghini
And just like the lamborghini, swords could be repaired. Lives couldn't be brought back once lost. In a fight, you fuck the rules and win. Any way you can.
I am fairly sure that if they are aware that a static blade on blade block saves their life they would do it. Of course I doubt anyone waved their fingers around and say " You absolutely mustn't block a blade with yours edge on edge". Also, a sword was very expensive and with good enough armour and techniques to reduce the chance a significant blow I'm sure you can survive a hit.
The video doesn't word several things very well but the intention is to not have a static block with the edge of a blade. When you can block, you can always use the flat. The video did mention that this can't always be done, but it is not preferred to parry or block with an edge. Which implies that they try not to unless forced to. Rewatch that at 3:30
Now there are techniques that utilize the edge, but they do cause damage, though controlled techniques limits the damage compared to media's two swords hacking at each other nonstop. As long it last the battle. Though you would want it to last longer if you can and avoid damages because swords are expensive and you won't want to go and buy another one.
+Neurofied Yamato
If you need to make a static block then you have already ended up in a situation where you are in no place to think about protecting your blade.
To absorb the blow from the side is also worse for the swords integrity than blocking it on the edge. Sure you may get a mark on the blade in a worst case scenario, but far from anything game breaking. Even a pretty dull blade can do serious damage to an opponent.
The small sword is NOT an entirely cut oriented weapon. Quite the opposite, the small sword was (almost) entirely thrust oriented.
This was very interesting and informative, I enjoyed the brutal honesty and dispelling of illusion. You have earned my 'subscribe' :)
Narrator-swords can't cut through armour
Me-6-foot long claymore
Valerian Steel is a mythical material in Games of Thrones. Pointing out that the forging method for a Valerian Steel is impractical is like pointing out the forging methods for Wolverine's Adamantium claws or Captain America's Vibranium shield are impractical. There's no way of knowing the correct way to forge a material that doesn't even exist.
Yeah, especially damning considering that he had also said that crafting COPPER swords (I think it was copper) was done in that way to great results, so there's already precedent for it to work on something that isn't iron.
I want to point out that he wasn't talking about the weapons in Game of Thrones. He was using that as an example of what he had previously stated; cinematic media has perpetuated the belief that swords are primarily made through casting. Another example of this is a scene in The Lord of the Rings; The Fellowship of the Ring in which we see the orcs of Isengard casting swords for the new Uruk Forces. In any story that is not meant to be set in 100% fact, it is understood that you should suspend your sense of disbelief. The video wasn't making a statement about the weapon which you commented on, but how the process in which it was made is a commonly believed myth about real world bladesmiths. Also, quickly, steel is steel regardless of its name. Nippon (an older form of Nihon, the Japanese name for Japan) steel isn't a different metal, it's still carbonized iron. I don't watch/read Game of Thrones so I don't know if it's a completely different metal, or just steel from a specific region in the story.
TheSaltyBeard bronze not copper. Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin, meaning the two are melted together to form a stronger material. At the height of the bronze age around 12% tin was used in the mixture, along with 1% to 5% lead. Casting methods could be used for this type of metal as it's physical attributes are different from that of steel; namely, you must cold hammer bronze. This meant that the metal is far less malleable when beating on it in a safe state, so massive quantities of time were saved by casting it into basic shape, and fine tuning the shape after by hand. While high quality bronze weaponry is comparable to, if not superior to, their iron counterparts, tin is a rare resource especially at the time it was in widespread use as a weapon increasing costs to make. That's all fine for the rich, but not for the majority of an army who are likely to be peasants. Iron was cheaper, highly abundant throughout the world and able to be heat forged, meaning it could be beat into shape more quickly than bronze. The main damning evidence against weapons made by casting using ancient or even midieval technology is that it is likely a material with a low melting point. These types of metals tend to be softer or have specific flaws that lend to a limited use in weaponry. Also, bronze has a very distinct color to it, slightly brown often, and as I stated above, just because steel has a name before it doesn't mean it isn't steel. That means casting wouldn't work well when crafting a sword out of it. But again, if it is meant to be a different type of metal that real world steel I wouldn't actually know for certain.
TimeFreak and
TimeFreak jay there is the fantasy excuse
It's still steel, my friend
Edge on edge parrying is a completely valid strategy. Yes it can damage blades, but it's effective
Edge on edge parrying happened. Get over it. Is it ideal? No. Do you care about ideal if you are in a life and death situation? No. You care about living.
Wouldn't you do what is ideal to live though?
it actually matters to some extend, edges tend to bite into each other and stick together, which could course problems in many ways, and more importantly hiting the flat side of the swort allows for better control over the other sword (has to do with body mechanics). anyway, it highly depents on the situation and its not always avoidable, but in general its a lot better and saver to hit the flat, plus its realy not hard to hit, its the bigest surface of the weapon...
Nobody except for maybe master swordsmen get to decide how they perform in a fight, absolutely nobody. Even managing to deflect a sword swing with ANY part of your sword is a feat in of itself, fighting was difficult back than and for most people it came down to making sure the pointy things didn't hit you.
i feel like there was more training than that. like everyone going into battle is just walking about trying not to stab themselves. i mean come on. 2nd of all everyone decent used shields.
juan gonzalez you clearly didn't get the point. He started that it did happen but it was not ideal or common. Learn to listen kid.
For a randomly found video on swords, this one is surprisingly accurate and well researched. Bravo.
Very impressed with this! Glad you actually did your research on swords instead of taking the MatPat route
Edge parrying actually did, and does happen. There are no treaties that encourage anything else, for no other reason than to keep your attention on your opponent, not the pristine edge of your blade.
Leinad Ssor Alot of techniques involve deflecting with the flat because an edge parry is rough and often has the opponents sword bite into yours and drag your movement with it rather than harmlessly sliding off. It did happen though and quite often as it's not ideal but it's easy and better than dieing.
Alphabetical Disorder I'd love to see them, I haven't done a flat parry even once in my time doing HEMA.
All of Skallagrims sparring videos, you just have to look for them
It's flat parry where you knock your opponent's blade out of the way rather than actually block with it.
Star wars gave everyone the totally wrong impression.
Technically, you shouldn't even block with a sword in combat unless you have no other choice.
+Alphabetical Disorder skallagrim isn't a great fencer, but he does parry with his edge a lot, as do (nearly) everyone else in HEMA.
Thank you so much for helping fight misinformation. Hopefully we'll start to see more realistic depictions of swords in the media.
I'm sure this video pissed off a lot of neckbeards
Precisely, the cancer must feel the pain before they emerge
hey! just because i cant grow much on my face doesn't mean i get all butthurt on sword myths being totally wrong!
also i knew all of that already before watching this video.
Nahhh i still take pride in the ulfberht
😂😂😂😂😂
You forgot to mention the ultimate weapon.
The pummel, the most versatile of throwable objects of all time.
This is pretty accurate from what I've heard from others online on this topic. The only thing that may not be wholly correct is the edge on edge parrying. This video at least doesn't say that it is never used or that you should parry with the flat, but they do say it is a bad decision. Lindybeige did a video on this a while back. He mentioned that the sharp edges create a bind, allowing for better feel and control of your opponent's blade. It's also much more likely, just based on the idea that you'd likely be focused on edge alignment for a cut so reorienting the blade for a parry would be a bit tedious. Then there's the simple fact that dulling your blade is highly preferable to losing a limb, or indeed, your life.
Look, I get that the steel used to make Katanas were poor, but come on. Anyone with common sense knows why people use bokken (wooden swords) to train and not a actual sword. It does not have to do with their lack of durability, like you implied.
Its also worth pointing out that in modern times, Katanas are not made of any different steel than any other quality blade, so it's historical weakness of poor steel is a moot point.
In the end its only a single edged curved sword, but can we stop downplaying and bashing it because 12 year olds got fed false information and praise it like it were went from heaven?
There are katana that are still made out of purified tamahagane. Because nowadays satetsu is not shoveled in with the dirt but extracted with magnets, so the starting out stuff is much purer. And then satetsu is not the worst material but it isn't really that good either. But hey you can get a metric ton for 200 bucks.
Slavik Chukhlebov That is true, but since it has a harder edge, it also has better edge retention. Yes, it's more brittle, but it holds its edge longer against light and medium targets.
Zeta Reticuli It is true that katanas are overrated, but saying that longswords are superior in every way is ignorant.
The katana's hard edge allows it to hold a very sharp edge for a longer time than a longsword, but chips easier. And the whole blade is thicker, which means it has more mass (compared to a European sword with the same length), which means it produces more force in a swing, giving it a great cutting power. (Although there are swords with even greater cutting power, like the falchion.) A katana can easily sever someone's limb or decapitate someone without taking damage, unless you really want to prove how bad of a sword it is by purposefully hitting metal armor with full force to damage it.
A longsword however is superior in thrusting.
You say modern spring steel katanas are nowhere near as durable as longswords, but they are pretty much equal in that regard.
That is true that a longsword can break a katana, but only the hardened part. The rest of the blade bends, which is less dangerous than snapping in two. And the longsword will always get a chip if you do that. But edge-to-edge contacts were mostly avoided by both the knights and the samurai.
Japanese swordsmiths were great. Even with an inferior smelting technology, they managed to forge a good quality sword out of poor quality steel.
If Japanese swords were as horrible as you said, they would have just imported longswords from Europe.
No. The longsword is not superior to the katana in overall, and the katana is not better either. Unless you compare every katana model to every longsword model, because the longsword category has many kind of swords with different attributes and functions, while all katana has (more or less) the same attributes and functions.
I understand that you dislike the katana because of how it is exaggerated by movies, anime, other TV shows, and video games.
If you put an armored knight with a longsword against an armored samurai with a katana, and they are equally skilled, and let's say they both have about 20 years of battlefield experience, the knight would have a better chance because his armor has fever weak spots. But if they don't wear any armor, then it's a very fair match that can go either way.
The European full plate armor was indeed superior to the Japanese plate armor, because it has fever and smaller weak spots. (And it's not as heavy as people think it is.)
I think this really comes down to fighting technique, and the tactics being utilized by opposing forces. A samurai vs. medieval swordsmen would be an interesting sight. Both wear armor effective against blades, and both have alternative methods of attack than their swords. The most intriguing thing to watch would be how they well they acclimate to fighting such a different opponent. A samurai likely did not often see sword-and-board opposition, and I doubt most knights from the middle-ages ever saw or heard of a katana, let alone fought against one.
Katanas are better than longswords thts just fact poor metal or not..its the better tool when cutting look at history western swords kept changing because they were flawed it a wonder tht longswords cut anything
The two Kalari Payattu guys from the intro picture didn't appear in the video
Lol what? Since when was the small sword a cut oriented weapon?!
Yeah. I own one. The only thing sharp on it is the point. I think he said the literal opposite of what he meant. Maybe there is some sort of edged small court sword that I've never seen. It was a weird statement. >.
Yeah, I think it was probably just a slip of the tongue. But it still made me rewind the video because I though that I misheard him or something.
if I'm correct I believe the Greeks used slash based short swords but I don't believe any European short "Knight Swords" as people love calling them were all for stabbing either through mail or between plates and this allowed for useful edge to edge blocking when at a loss for shield, and as far as the katana catching edge to edge isn't helpful for preventing a significant cut as it risks both a broken blade and fatal wound.
if I'm correct I believe the Greeks used slash based short swords but I don't believe any European short "Knight Swords" as people love calling them were all for stabbing either through mail or between plates and this allowed for useful edge to edge blocking when at a loss for shield, and as far as the katana catching edge to edge isn't helpful for preventing a significant cut as it risks both a broken blade and fatal wound.
You are talking about the Gladius which actually was also used for thrusting. And there is actually the term Knightly sword (also called arming sword) and it is a side-sword and a sort of "emergency" weapon and used against armored (probably more to parry, block and then ring them to the ground for a coup de grace) and unarmoured enemies, but most likely also for self protection. Also, I suppose you have to make a distinction between parrying and blocking. A static block with ANY weapon can be less than ideal either because the enemy weapon bites into your weapon which mayhaps either damages the blade or hilt (in case of a polearm) or may slide of and into your hand if you ask me.
About the edge on edge, i have a counter argument: My life > My blade. Also, clinching can be used to your advantage.
I always though 'quenched in blood' meant that a sword couldn't be considered good until it had been tasted in combat.
Well jesus,im a sword "expert" (I've just dedicated 10 years of my life to swords so I just call myself an expert,no biggie) and I can say that everything said in this video is true to an extent or entirely true,there are some things I have problems with but it's mostly pronunciation and the terms used rather than the actual fact,and putting katana fanboys in place with facts about how shitty katana really were,always amuses me,and the amount of autism mixed with cancer and a little bit of jack Daniels on the rocks that is in this comment section,the katana fanboys are triggered as usual when anyone even says something remotely true about the katana,in actually laughing as I scroll through this cancer
Mind if I ask you what sort of weapons you train with?
I've trained with sabres,longswords,rapier fencing and I did some shit with pole arms
Surely an expert must've noticed, that a smallsword isn't a dedicated cutting weapon?
wait... people actually believe that you quench (No idea how to spell that word) swords in blood? Realy?
About Edge on Edge parrying... yea well its not that impractical actually. Parrying with the edge makes the swords "bite" into each other, while parrying with the side causes the blades to slip around or bounce alot easier. So if you want to stop a blow, you parry with the edge (or guard), but if you want to redirect the blow, the side works better.
But honestly, if you are in a fight to the death facing an opponent of relative equal skill, you dont go for form perfection, you simply do what you need to stay alive and make sure that the other person fails at this very same point.
About swords against metal armor. Thank you for this. Yes sharp weapons do little against metal armor. But i have to question your logic about a blunt blade being more effective against plate than a sharp sword. Reality aint a game. A weapon dont do more damage against plate just because you put "blunt" as its "damage type".
Like this. Take two identical blades. One is sharp, one is blunt. Swing both swords against a helmet, and they will deliver exacly the same amount of kinetic energy. The tools are the same, the conditions are the same. The effect will be the same.
About the pommel... Errr no? The Normans did not develop the pommel to deal with plate armor. Thats stupid. The fact that a pommel CAN be used as an improvised club dont mean that was its specific reason for existance.
Way to debunk myths repeated by katana worshippers by using myths repeated by katana bashers. Saying that katanas were made of pig iron or any other inferior material is as much of a bs as saying that katanas were lighter and sharper than most European swords. Pig iron (which is just steel with really high amount of carbon) was indeed used in the process of making them, but it stopped being pig iron after the folding. Folding is just a process of removing majority of the impurities. Its side effect is that it also lowers the amount of carbon in steel which is why they decided to use pig iron in the first place. Their blades weren't as brittle as you make them out to be either. The edge had a pretty high amount of carbon which did make it harder and break easier, but because of softer core they were more likely to just chip rather than snap. They were prone to bending because of their stiffness though. All in all katanas were not inherently better or worse than their European counterparts, it's just different. There are some design choices that are really holding them back though.
Nanaya 7e it's a matter of preference, and though I prefer a bastard sword for thrusting, i cant say the katana is inherently bad. This video however
Try piercing a Knight in Full plate armour with your beloved Katana. I will sit to my German Longsword.
Or you could just get a chinese sword
@@turkay67turkay Try piercing a knight in full plate armour with your longsword. I'll take a halberd for that job with maybe a mace as sidearm and a dagger should it devolve to grappling.
Ehm that's why you use the crossguard of a longsword? We're talking about Longswords only, if you want I can pull the most versetile weapon in the arsenal. A Pollaxe.
Thinking about it, with current technology and knowledge of metallurgy, we would be able to make very deadly swords
Nice video, and heating and cooled is called heat treatment.
Also the best swords always start out as a block it is hammered out and folded, allot of people believe the Japanese started this but they have found Cimmerians swords were folded six to eight times now I know that isn't that much but for people that were considered to be barbarians this is profound.
I personally will always like the Bastard sword a broad sword you can use with one hand or with two, the Katana is a okay sword and the Tapered is not one of the swords I like.
Your right about the Fuller also it can be a weakness in a sword if the black smith makes it off center.
Great video I enjoyed watching it.
1:00 Well guess who is now an expert on Valyrian steel..
JorgEduardorR if a steel is castable it's also able to be heated until soft
You are applying real world logic to fantasy and magic.
Look into titanium smithing. It can't really be used the same way. It can be, but that is generally making life way harder for the smith.
7 myths about swords! "In movies and tv shows..." 🙄
edge on edge parry is effective if the angle is good
Edge on edge parry is bad for the sword but good for you because guess what. ITS A PARRY.
Quijybo Janklebits Ya, it's not ideal but it's better than being dead. Pretty much what he said.
Well, it allows you to have a stronger parry, so it can be ideal.
Leo. The idea of a parry isn't to block and stop, it's to deflect and redirect.
I recognize the katana has it's flaws; I love it anyway.
9/10 Some great information here. I have only two quibbles:
1) The small sword was entirely thrust oriented, not cut oriented.
2) Edge-on-edge parrying is still a hotly debated topic. Some experts think edge-on-edge parrying was mostly avoided, other think it was common, and in some ways even preferable.
Well to be perfectly honest a lot of techniques only make sense if you have edge on edge contact. And it really comes out when you practice with sharps.
katanas became legendary not because they are badass swords, but because they were still being made in the 1800! looooong after Europe had moved to firearms. Remember that Japan jumped straight from medieval to the industrial revolution almost overnight. Europe had already lost a lot of its sword making knowledge by then.
Oh for fucks sake.
Nobody lost the technology of making swords in Europe.
They were still used in the 19th century.
Japanese soldiers including Samurai were making full use of firearms the moments those became available for hundreds of years before that time.
You think the Samurai were so ignorant as to refuse the use of a modern weapon becausee of traditions?
A few of them did refuse because of tradition. A few, not all, not even most, but a few.
As to the rest of what you said you are right. Sword use in warfare continued though in a diminished capacity right up till the end of horse mounted cavalry.
yu nofun
Not to mention that swords are still used to this very day in all manners of entertainment and educational purposes. Its not like they entirely disappeared, they simply became obsolete. As for military use, it was a very effective backup weapon as it doesn't require ammo and the rare use of it meant your blade wouldn't be as damaged from constant fighting either... you lose your gun, you still have a sword as a backup, no different to how most modern soldiers have a pistol and knife (though the latter is also utility).
American Army uses hatchets if i remember correctly. which is more usefull then either if your out of ammo. it can break barriers. punch through kevlar, build barriers, and of course kill people. it does sacrifice reach, and it does take more endurance to use but think about it, if you're reduced to melee in a firefight it probably won't matter.
@@yunofun No one in their right mind did that, even a legendary lord such as Takeda Shingen said "less spearmen, more gunners"
Ugh I hate the way he says "katana".
Joseph Blevins meh everyone has a word that they can't say
abc news I guess
Joseph Blevins it rhymes with banana.
Da Sword Of Gork Ironic how your name is sword and you are watching this video, don't you think?
Joseph Blevins I know, I get that a lot.
Fun fact the Katana is my favorite sword. I know it is a shitty weapon in comparison to other swords but I have practiced it since I was young and have gotten used to it. The best part about me is that I know the Katana is not a good sword, but still like it.
1:27 "The hilt, pommel and guard will be added." And that's where I stop watching the video.
EDIT: I watched further and oh my fucking word this video wrong about so many things. Edge on edge parries are fine, some people avoid them but there's nothing fundamentally wrong with them. Plenty of manuals and treatise give examples of edge on edge parries, particularly later ones. While sword fighters would never have a conversation while their swords are locked (except perhaps in a friendly duel), I've heard of the act of locking swords being called a conversation in itself, because each combatant gets so much information from it, so if Hollywood had to put dialogue somewhere in a battle it's a surprisingly fitting place.
All things considered Katanas are the best sword, given the material they had to work with. Give a European smith of the same era a lump of Japanese steel and see if he can do better. Katanas actually are one case where an edge on edge parry would be avoided at all costs since the spine of the sword was deliberately made out of softer steel so it could take hits without shattering, while the edge of the blade was made out of much harder steel which was prone to shattering. Look at a cross section of a katana and you'll be amazed at the ways they combined soft and hard steel into a single sword to get the best properties out of both, a method called Soshu Kite being one of the most intricate which had the best results.
You say that the small sword is a cut oriented weapon which is totally untrue, the small sword is an entirely thrust oriented weapon.
Learn more before you try to inform others, especially when you take such a condescending tone through much of the video.
SwishSwish THANK YOU SOMEONE ELSE WHO FEELS MY PAIN
Europeans could do better with the same steel, it wasn't just the steel (though that definitely was a factor) they had both superior smithing methods and superior weapon design, everything else you said checks out though
But Katanas are nowhere close to being the best sword. I'm not saying they're bad, they're pretty good in all honesty.
The sword lock in movie fight make no sense, you can just hit the other's head easily with moving your blade
you know why the katana is not the best sword? it is way too heavy for it's length, a logsword weights the same and it's longer, the katana doesn't have a pommel so you can't end them rightly, it doesn't have a guard so it's easy to hurt your hands. the katana needs a whole different training, it's not better than european swords, but it's not the worst, it's just different
A note on edge on edge parry: I’ve done some training with the dao, a Chinese sword. We are taught to block with the edge because the sword is strongest in that direction. A block with the flat of the blade has the risks of the blow either breaking your sword (this is even more likely when blocking with the flat than the edge), or of your sword bending, such that the attack you’re trying to block powers through and still strikes you.
Faced with the choice of spending an hour sharpening my sword after a fight or risking breaking the sword entirely, I would much rather take the former. Blocking with the edge is much more effective for stopping an attack. A block with the flat of the blade can be useful for redirecting an attack but not if you need to stop the opponent’s blade outright.
finally, a youtuber like this that knows about sword fighting
and about swords
But he has bad information try metatron or skilagram
I watch *skallagrim and shadiversity
I knew Katanas were crap, but all my friends give me hell about that
theyre not crap , like, honestly the steel quality before the folding process was very low, but they were very good at subverting the weaknesses of the metal, like how the edges are hard but the rest of the blade comparatively was soft, making the blade fairly durrable, they were also almost excessively sharm, being able to cut through multiple unarmored carcasses.
really all swords are pretty useless against armored opponents , thats why theyre a side arm , somethint you carry so you don't have nothing at all to deffend yourself with.
katana are in the upper level of okay, maybe even the lower point of good
They aren't. The katana is one of the best swords you there. It's probably the best cutting sword and it has above avg piercing ability. While japanese metal tends to suck we don't exactly have to worry about that now.
*Ending them rightly*
トースト unscrew that pommel and throw that shit.
I got triggered
Good Video!
but the smallsword is thrust oriented, not cut oriented
wow wasn't expecting much from this video but was pleasantly surprised. thankyou for spreading proper information like this.
After seeing so many terrible sword vids on youtube... to see one that is so correct is incredibly refreshing.
the Japanese "A" sound does not change through out the word. Every "A' is like the a in f*a*ther.
Actually you where wrong with the Parrying with the edge part. Edge on edge parrying was in fact a thing, and it's why a crossguard was put onto swords, if the Crossguard is aligned with the blade's edge it would be completely useless at stopping the other sword from sliding down the blade and hacking off you're fingers, there is more logic to support my statement but I'm sick and lack the motivation to type this comment further.
Overall the video was very well done and right, which a surprised from these kind of channels well done.
* your
sorry this is late, but i thing he was talking about the technique used by samauri to deflect the attack with the opposing edge, as it was not bladed. i imagine that this is what he mixed up
Yeah, I do fencing (I'm pretty nice at it even if I do say so myself) and whenever I see those bullshit scenes I'm just like "He easily could have won that fight if he remesed or parry-reposted, but no he went for the super epic looking blade struggle."
You riposted in the wrong kingdom, knave
Me: Yo, pass the *saber*
Friend: You better not *beat attack to gain right of way*
Me: www.google.com/search?q=beat+attack+fencing&rlz=1CALEAI_enUS744&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwihuteR2eDTAhWIeSYKHZRiDO4Q_AUICigB&biw=1366&bih=678&safe=active&ssui=on#imgrc=nnjEMfkG6WZLKM:
Waste Of Space modern fencing or medieval fencing?
Waste Of Space what's ur fav sword sabre rapier or eppe
Definitely saber, sure other sworded fencers think saber fencing is dumb but I like it.
This is very useful for when I finally get around to writing that medieval fantasy novel I've been thinking about for the last 10 years.
The way he says katana, I'm dying laughing.
HE DIDNT METION HOW THE POMMEL COULD BE USED TO END THEM RIGHTLY WHAT IS THIS
I cringed every time he said katana
you say katana like Kataaaana
i know right, its frustrating
squidward tentacles You say Katana like Kuh Tuh Nuh.
Rainbow Dashtruction That doesn't sound right at all
Jeff TheSpec Depends if you use the english mispronounciation or proper pronounciation. Kuh Tan Nuh is the usual english pronounce.
The japanese, which sounds like Kuh Tuh Nuh or the hiragana かたな is the proper pronounciation.
At least english didnt bastadize it as much as iconic examples like Karate (Kuh Luh Teh) or Karaoke. (Kuh Luh Oh Keh)
Rainbow Dashtruction I see. Thanks for clearing that up
>be me
>watching sword video
>get to part on dude talking about edge on edge parrying not being accurate
>looks at sword
>sword has crossguard that tapers with the edge
>useless since we parry with flats of our blade right??
Parrying was done with the edge of a sword primarily because the flat only had a quillion in very rare cases (Like with Grosse Messers sometimes). Crossguards exist so somebody can't just yoink a sword down while in a bind and cut your knuckles off.
One thing I would like to note in terms of edge on edge parrying. Edge on edge parrying was a thing. If you look at a sword blade as three sections you have the weak of the sword which is where you want to strike with. This is roughly the last third of the blade. Then you have the middle of the sword, which is literally the middle third of the sword most of the time. Finally you have the strong of the sword which was the first third of the sword. This is the part you want to parry with because the sword is a lever and thus you have more control over your opponent's weapon if you parry with this part. Unless your distance sucks when you attack and end up way too close, you should never hit someone with the strong of your sword, so the edge there isn't as important as the edge of the weak.
I wouldn't be smithing swords if I didn't take an arrow to the knee. :/
Only thieves and vampires creep around at this hour. Which are you?
Did I even get that right idk
GreenEggsAndSpam both
An arrow in the knee is Nordic slang for getting married.
Samurai uses spears..
Mystery Train Yes, they used a bow or a Yari (A spear) but they always had a katana as a side arm, they carried it around the town too.
Mystery Train shhhhh dont tell them (and its a naginata not a spear)
They carried different kinds of polearms, yes they had naginata, which were basically japansese glaives, but they also used yari which were spears. And of course, they had many more.
and bow, katana are like accesories lol
Katanas are sidearms, like most swords.
So what would happen if you made a katana out of a more fit material? Would it be too heavy?
AspiringArtist no, it would weigh the same
SteelWarrior115 Okay, thank you
I'm way late to this reply but feel like I can still add something helpful.
A katana made out of higher quality metal would act the same as any other weapon when made out of higher quality metals; be better in virtually every way. It would be less fragile, hold its edge better, have superior rigidity (unless flexibility is the idea, like rapiers, but most swords are designed to only bend so far, so they remain powerful cutters), all without increasing weight to any discernable degree.
The design of the katana is good. At cutting. It has, like any other sword in existence, ups and downs. Curved swords all are generally inferior stabbing weapons to straight weapons for several mechanical reasons, but are superior cutting weapons because they have certain other mechanical *advanges*
Even made out of the best possible materials, katanas are just swords specialized for slicing and dicing. There are better cutters out there, but all swords sacrifice effectiveness in some areas to focus on others, so there is no such thing as an "ultimate" sword design, otherwise it would be the only one anyone used after its discovery.
It will still be unbalanced and unwieldy. You'd be better off using a Zweihänder.
it actually has proper balance for cutting. You want the balance slightly past the hilt in cutting weapons. Its not unwieldly either.
Edge on edge parries are definitely historically accurate techniques. Parrying with the edge and parrying with the flat are both viable ways to defend a blow. Defending a blow with the edge can be advantageous because your wrist aligns with the blade in a more structurally sound way, giving you more leverage. Though you may chip your edge, you arent likely to care if you successfully defend yourself and deliver a counter attack. Also, the smallsword is a dedicated thrusting sword, not a dedicated cutting sword as you mention. Many had triangular cross sections to produce a much stiffer thrust, this comes at the cost of the ability to deliver effective cuts, hence it was rare for smallsword blades to be sharpened much beyond the point. It was much more like a giant needle than a sword.
"Fencers" try to avoid parrying with the edge but actual, historical swordsmen would do it without a second thought. The edge of a sword is not more valuable than one's life, says Matt Easton on countless occasions. Nonetheless, I honor you for helping to stop the spread of misconceptions. Great vid!
The whitest pronunciation of katana ever
kokolok's say something interesting or useful.
kokolok's "kah-tah-nah"
Give us the right pronunciation then
Don't ever say katana again!
5:50 end him rightly
* 5:50
well i fucked up Again so im gonna say 5:56 there we go
It's almost as if... GASP! Those things were done for entertainment purposes. Man, so glad you cleared all that up. You tool.
A new material has been recently discovered, Graphene. Graphene is only 1 atom thick. Imagine how powerful a Graphene sword would be. The graphene won't break on contact because it is 200 times stronger than steel.
Oathkeeper from game of Thrones is made from valyrian steel. Recasting is the only way to reuse valyrian steel.
thegreeenbeast Not true. Valyrian steel is magic you can't manipulate it like steel. You use fire and spellwork to melt it back down and cast it. It can not be molded like steel and in fact in Game of Thrones regular steel is manipulated like real steel.
Outside of the magical stuff and fictional substances, titanium suffers a similar problem. If you attempt to try anything fancy while shaping titanium (such as bending and twisting it) it tends crack and break.
Also, it doesn't normally exist in large masses and the substance itself is incredibly durable. When using it, the best option is to grind it down into dust and then pour the later molten metal into a cast.
Max Wiercx THIS is the only fact check worth reading
i was going to coment this exact thing so thanks
The Katana IS the best sword... but only cuz it looks fucking awesome
well personally i think it looks pretty flimsy
I prefer a cross guard over the disc, tbh. Offers better protection, and additional techniques that simply can not be done with a disc guard. Also, double bladed swords can cut both ways, and thrusting is more effective with a different kind of tip. Overall, I find the typical European design offers a lot more options for both defense and offense.
Chauncer I think the rapiers and longswords look the coolest
Man says Katana's look cool, in return he gets people judging the katana on how well It'd do... I don't how good a sword actually is has anything to with how cool it looks
This was actually better than most videos of its type. however;
5 contained a myth in a myth; parrying* with the edge is by far the most common way to deal with an incoming strike because using any other part of the sword is biomechanically weak (congrats on not stating the flat outright), or just unlikely to work in most situations. there are a number of techniques for that but they're relatively rare. And using the guard is ludicrous, though it does come into play after blade contact in many situations.
4 was generally right, but it's worth noting that only rapiers and modern sports-fencing foils have pommels as counterweights. the main function of a pommel is to keep your sweaty and/or bloodied hand on the sword, though obviously it can also be used to hit people. most historical pommels are hollow.
I could also talk about how the katana probably wouldn't usually be as fragile as stated, but eh.
*in historical fencing (look up HEMA - Historical European Martial Arts) it's not as simple as parry/attack. many techniques are both a defence and an attack, and a number of them don't even use the sword to defend (though they're typically the riskier ones).
Haha! I just pictured some buff dude sticking a molten sword in a big jar of peanut butter.
"...the kuh-tan-uh..."
He didn't say it a whole bunch of times but his goofy pronunciation just made me notice all 9 instances lol
Good job guys you did your research! :)
I'm going to tell you a little secret.
One of the most realistic sword battles in movies was in Star Wars : A New Hope.
The duel between Obiwan Kenobi and Darth Vader was a well paced and cautious exhibition in Kendo.
That why its my favorite sword fight in movie history.
As someone who trains in Bolognese Swordsmanship, i can tell you that we parry with the edge more than anything else, and it's that way for all other swordsmanship styles as well. The cross guard is nice, but you are still parrying with the edge and allowing it to slide to the cross guard. The guard is very important for parrying, but more for stopping the blade further once it gets to that point, as well as controlling the opponent's blade after a parry, as protecting the hands, adding weight to the hilt, and can be used as a tool when striking or a lever when grappling.
Despite this, many of our parries don't even make contact with the guard at all. When parrying with the strong of the blade (As most parries do) you parry and control the opponent's blade with yours. If it slides down to the crossguard, it remains the same.
With some others, we beat the opponent's blade out of the way, using the middle or weak of the blade. This doesn't make any contact with the crossguard at all.
If you have a shield or other defensive weapon, yes it is of course what you mainly use to parry. But there are many cases where you don't have one.
And yes, there can be some edge damage, but it's usually minimal and easy to repair later. When your life is at stake, you begin to care less about how shiny your sword is.
Other than that, this was a good video that can clear up a lot of misconceptions.
Edge to edge parry is actually historical, specifically in hema. Some manuscripts even go as far as to say that edge to edge is the primary way to parry. The flat of the blade is not made to withstand the force as swords became thinner and designed for thrusting more than slicing.
Nice! One of the best top-x lists I have seen. Especially on such a nerdy topic. Good work, well researched!
Correction: Katana do not break easily - however, they indeed do *bend* easily, making them similarly useless in a battle or duel. From an immediate defense standpoint, breaking would actually be preferable, since you then have a pointy end that you can aim straight at your opponent. Bending is preferable if you survive the battle. just bend the sword back into shape and resharpen the blade, no need to make a new one when resources are scarce anyway.
That difference in approach can also be seen in the difference in design between european and japanese swords. European swords (while very diverse across time and location) generally have a hard core and softer edges, while nihontō usually have a softer core but as hard an edge as possible with the available materials.
I thought this video was going to be another person that had no idea what they where talking about, trying to talk about ancient weapons and failing. I am happy to be wrong. Good video. 10/10
"The Smallsword, an entirely cut-oriented weapon."
What.
Very well made video. Most top 10 videos that involve swords or fencing spew out nonsense they've read from a random website. I'm glad to see there's top 10 videos out there that do proper research and with people making the videos who care about being truthful.
I'm not sure I have ever seen a movie make swords with molds..the only reason any group of people ever did this was to make a LOT of swords very quickly. It was a quantity over quality thing. This was the only way to outfit an army quickly. This method was definitely used, it was just not preferred.