KATANA RAGE!
Have a video supporting you. (the part before the link was mostly sarcastically saying the points you friend made)
Damn that was a good video. Managed to find primary sources for everything the guy said too; it cannot be refuted. Got modern pattern-welding companies quoting on a museum sword from 875-900 A.D., a whole excerpt from a professor of materials science and engineering about saying how the Celts were making pure iron in 1200 B.C. (my fact checking says the guy in the video is wrong - however the Celts were making STEEL around 200 A.D. using a forging method called 'piling' where "Carburized rods were hot forged to form the blade," which is about when pattern forging started to appear.
Katanas first appeared around the year around 800-900 A.D. as Jotoko (I have yet to find a primary source for this date though), and during the Muromachi period it was essentially mass produced with less care as a general cheap infantry weapon, export to the Chinese and also adapting on a Chinese sword design.
And then Kamakaze happens, and the Japanese are shaken.
So, there are my facts (well there are more, but I type less pages of text so your eyes don't melt and my keys don't bleed), and these will support my claims greatly:
EUROPEAN LONGSWORDS:
- They were high quality, durable and effective at piercing armour. So much so that the Romans(!) had to adapt their military to incorporate heavier shields and heavier armour, as well as making their short n' stabby Gladii.
- Later this adapted to heavy infantry and the elite warrior caste Knights fighting on foot, fighting with shield, fighting on horseback and of course having to pierce chain/plate [spurned by heavy infantry tactics popularized by the Romans, later the whole of Europe (100 years war much?!), especially more 15th century examples - the Landsknecht and the Suisse]
- Longer reach, more swing - More force! Counter acts shields, great for cavalry (swords had to become longer when Europe started getting cavalry-centric - hence, Long-swords) and pierces heavy armour. Romans cared more about quick stab kills, infantry wanted something that would knock a rider off their horse, riders wanted something that would knock infantry's heads off - Where does this sound familiar?
JAPANESE KATANA:
- You know the origin of Kamakaze? Divine wind, that destroyed the largest navy ever gathered - that was going to invade Japan?
It was a Mongolian led force.
Now think of this as well - the Mongolians were only stopped from conquering Japan because of the sea and luck. They pretty much roflestomped everywhere they went in the world.
They also happened to be an extremely fast moving, lightly armoured force with better swords than the Japanese, as well as a unique fighting style they were unused to.
- Suddenly you start seeing more curved swords, tempered simply with larger, thicker backings. A direct response to the Mongolian threat. This made them absolutely ineffective against the Japanese's toughest armour (of the same iron they made their weapons out of as well - which even had iron lacings!), but brilliant for fighting Mongolians riding in leather armour. Your infantry man is charged by a Mongolian trying to ride him down - his spear is gone or won't save him in time, and he has to quickly draw a weapon that will surely kill the rider.
And that's what gave the Katana the shape we know today, as opposed to the more straight Jotoko.
- Momoyama period brings peace and time to make the swords more artsy, and they evolve into Shinto also as the Samurai become a more bureaucratic class.
These are the swords Hollywood knows today, except they make theirs EVEN MORE flashier.
- Then a whole lot of history about Tokugawa Shogunate, rediscovering lost techniques and what not but that's a minor note.
Oh and the final icing on the cake is that the Ermey guy? Well, the Katana he used had a clearly American Kissaki as opposed to a Japanese forged one.
- American show host
- American sponsorships
~I wunda wot moootiiiveesss Ermey could have to glorify mysterious and exotic Eastern weapons manufactured by sponsored companies~
Well, it's nearly 2AM and I have yet more work to do.
Fun fun fun.
G'night Bay12, happy Katana hunting.
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Topic: Things that made you RRRRRRAAAAGGGGEEEE today: Trust-o-nomics Edition (Read 3773423 times)