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Terrible Article.

First off, you go onto say the Katana is useless if your not trained in it. Most things are useless if you don't know how to use them. Even guns. If I where to enter a shootout with a Police offer, I am going to lose. He has more training with it. Same with swords, clubs, pullarms, darts. Anything

Then you go onto say that a Katana is useless again heavy armour. I've some news, In Japan during that time period full plate didnt really exist. Compairing 6th centry swords to 13th centry out of region armour is pointless. My Kevlar makes short work of your Arquebus!

I've yet to meet anyone that claims a Katana or any sword can block bullets. Unless you count movies, and if you do. You have serious problems.

I am not to knowledgable on Japanese history, so please bare with me on this. The Katana was an honorable sword. Not because It was the end all and be all of weapons, but because the Society said it was. Much like the Bible. Christians believe its a Holy book therefor it is. To them.


On another note. I've always been partial to the Naginata.

guns/swords dont kill people, people do

That IS the point - the katana was POOR military weapon and a SHITTY modern day one because of the IMMENSE amount of training required to use one effecively, due to its innate lack of mass and the desgin of the blade - if you did not have training with it; you were going to die.

As opposed to the b*****d sword, whcih if you didnt have trianing - it was still a fairly simple weapon - you could pretty much just grab with both hands and hit them REALLY hard with the pointy end - no techniqe required to be effective there.



Buddy.

The katana was used up until the EARLY 19TH CENTURY - when the introdcution of modern policy in the Meji era did away with the need or wont of a sword.

So yeah - full plate was around while the katana was in use.



You havent been to GD yes have you?




Honor?

Repeat after me.

HONOR. IN. COMBAT. IS. TOTALLY. POINTLESS.

The samurai had a code of honor, the Bushido Shinjousu, I have a copy of it on my desk next to me THIS VERY SECOND.

The code of Bushido was pretty much just a system that said the following

Honor your family.
Do well by those you meet.
Be polite.
Be vigilient.

That was pretty much the gist of it. The common mistake about the katana being 'honorable' is the concept that the samurai considered it thier 'soul' - by that they meant how they used it reprisented the condition of thier character, its essentially if you draw your sword in defense of the weak - thats a good thing, thus 'honorable'.

Whilst if you rape, pillage and plunder - bad thing 'dishonroable'.

The reason this worked is because the ENTIRE BLOODY CULTURE subscribed to this system, so everyone followed these invisiable codes of conduct in battle and what not...

But in modern soceity - SMART society, honor systems are pointless, even if it WERE the mainstream - the world is too big, too diverse for these to work, there woudl always be someone who fougth dirty, and who didnt play fair.

So honro is comabt is stupid, if someone is trying to KILL ME I'm seriously not worried about figthing fair, I'll bit, kcik, scratch and beat his a** with blunt instriments in any manner i deem fit to SURVIVE.

Honor in combat is silly, stupid, and will get you KILLED.

A weapon, therefor cannot be honorable, as it is a TOOL, its not alive, it doesnt influence your being, its a BIG SHARP METAL STICK.



Huzzah.

I've always been partial to the FN-F2000.

Practicality, yo.

Dont forget Sean Connery.

Black belt or no - you just dont ******** with that s**t.

He'll go all badass Scotsman on your a** with a golfclub.

I think this thread turned to ridicuousness a long time ago. Oh I think Spain still knights I think as well.(will research)

I fear I may have been partially responsible in inspiring this, yet I shall attempt to repeat what I said in my PM.

The katana is hardly an ultimate weapon, true, but it wasn't made to be either. Now, when was the katana most popular? Its popularity skyrocketed just around the time when they were entering the edo-period (tokugawa-era), due to less emphazising on warfare and more on individual accomplishment. This in turn was because of the strict feodalism that Ieyasu founded, one which ensured a manner of "peace" within the previously ever so infighting-eager country.
The reason the katanas popularity went up in this period was most of all because it wasn't as much the kind of sword most people would prefer on the battlefield as it was a quickdraw-weapon.
Why is this so useful? Simple - dueling, something that grew ever more common in these peaceful times.
The katana was, already when it was made, designed for a warrior to be able to draw it with lightning speed. The quickdraw-duels in most western-movies are, after all, inspired by the iai-duels of samurai. The strength of the katana lies in the ability to utilize the saya, the curved blade and your own body in order to draw a sword of such length with speed rivalling that of a dagger.

In combat the same principles remain, to a degree. The katana was made for speed, not heavy impact.
Even in the edo-period, while many swords of greater length and the like were modified to be more like katana, many other weapons were popular.

Though even harder to learn and handle than a katana, for some reason I've always been quite fond of the kusari-gama.


I shall take this opportunity to try and relate the whole story, as briefly as I can manage.

First Musashi beat the man, fair and square, he defeated him. Then Musashi went off to fight others, while the man, more or less devastated by his defeat, modified his style and trained harder than ever.
When they met next time he had developed an entirely new weapon, the jo, and a style which was essientially based around primarily beating Musashi's style and secondly being generally effective against the common, during the period steadily growing, kenjutsu.
Finally, he did not beat Musashi. Both lived their lives following the duel claiming that they had lost, something I find it strange people so rarely interpret as a draw, and after the fight the man became Musashi's disciple.
Now if he had been superior, why did he want to study under an inferior man?

I am in no way insulting Jodo or its founder, but I find simple statements of Musashi's defeat somewhat annoying.

I can't believe anyone has not mentioned the mace, flail, morning star, warhammer, pickhammer yet. Doesn't anyone think that these weaopns also have their uses against opponents? I personally am fond of the mace and flail. I would like to see a samurai try to block one of those! Even though I respect the Samurai, medieval weaponry is just more practical and adaptive.

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