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The Mystery of The katana
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<blockquote data-quote="Dausuul" data-source="post: 5341686" data-attributes="member: 58197"><p>The katana is meant to deal with unarmored or lightly armored foes, while the longsword is meant to deal with enemies covered in metal. This reflects the fact that Europe had plenty of iron while Japan was metal-poor*.</p><p></p><p>Thus the katana has a curved blade with a very sharp edge, good for slicing, which is deadly to unarmored flesh but so-so against mail and useless against plate. The longsword is straight, good for stabbing, so that it can punch through mail or slide into an eyeslit. It has a less sharp edge (though I'd hardly call it "dull," you can still cut yourself on it) to hold up better when it hits metal.</p><p></p><p>It's a bit much to say that you'd beat your enemy to death with a longsword. If the guy isn't wearing armor, you can absolutely score a one-hit kill with it. Maybe not as efficiently or reliably as with a katana, but European martial arts weren't nearly as brutish as they're made out to be.</p><p></p><p>All bets are off, though, when fighting a guy in full plate; plate armor versus the weapons of the day was about as close as any society has ever gotten to making a soldier personally invincible. You had to either knock the guy silly with a blow to the helmet, find a way to put some incredible force behind your thrust (a charging horse or a crossbow helped), or wrestle him down and pin him so you could drive your blade through a joint or visor. Half-swording, the practice of gripping your sword halfway up the blade with your free hand, was one way of accomplishing the latter, as was using a stiletto or the like. For knocking him silly, you'd switch the sword around and bash him with the hilt--this is a recognized technique in medieval "fechtbuchs."</p><p></p><p>And a knight in plate with a longsword, versus a samurai with a katana? Good luck with that "stabbing through plate" plan. That's a great way to get your fancy slicey sword broken in half. Me, I'm putting all my chips on the knight.</p><p></p><p>[size=-2]*Does this mean they use katanas in Dark Sun?[/size]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Dausuul, post: 5341686, member: 58197"] The katana is meant to deal with unarmored or lightly armored foes, while the longsword is meant to deal with enemies covered in metal. This reflects the fact that Europe had plenty of iron while Japan was metal-poor*. Thus the katana has a curved blade with a very sharp edge, good for slicing, which is deadly to unarmored flesh but so-so against mail and useless against plate. The longsword is straight, good for stabbing, so that it can punch through mail or slide into an eyeslit. It has a less sharp edge (though I'd hardly call it "dull," you can still cut yourself on it) to hold up better when it hits metal. It's a bit much to say that you'd beat your enemy to death with a longsword. If the guy isn't wearing armor, you can absolutely score a one-hit kill with it. Maybe not as efficiently or reliably as with a katana, but European martial arts weren't nearly as brutish as they're made out to be. All bets are off, though, when fighting a guy in full plate; plate armor versus the weapons of the day was about as close as any society has ever gotten to making a soldier personally invincible. You had to either knock the guy silly with a blow to the helmet, find a way to put some incredible force behind your thrust (a charging horse or a crossbow helped), or wrestle him down and pin him so you could drive your blade through a joint or visor. Half-swording, the practice of gripping your sword halfway up the blade with your free hand, was one way of accomplishing the latter, as was using a stiletto or the like. For knocking him silly, you'd switch the sword around and bash him with the hilt--this is a recognized technique in medieval "fechtbuchs." And a knight in plate with a longsword, versus a samurai with a katana? Good luck with that "stabbing through plate" plan. That's a great way to get your fancy slicey sword broken in half. Me, I'm putting all my chips on the knight. [size=-2]*Does this mean they use katanas in Dark Sun?[/size] [/QUOTE]
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