Katana vs Longsword!

foreign gladiator channel in the UK, so now we have a really interesting comparison between the

longsword

and the

katana

. Much has been said about the

longsword

versus the

katana

. They are swords that I suppose can be compared to a certain extent. They are both predominantly two-handed swords that were used in what we would call the Middle Ages, the medieval period, obviously the longsword in Europe and the katana in Japan, in more modern times the katana has a real mystique and has become famous as an impressive cutter. Well, some of this is no doubt due to the way the blades are made and the fact that in Japan they have to go through a very, very long manufacturing process to end up with a high quality steel blade; however, European steel was no worse and in some ways, we could say that Europe was more blessed with better deposits of iron with less impurities and the actual fact that this means that blade manufacturing in Europe could lead to types of blades elastic steel that could be fully tempered, so one of the first things to keep in mind about the katana is that, generally speaking, they are very hard on the edge, usually the original antiques are around 60 Rockwell on the edge.

European swords range more like 45 to 50 Rockwell historically in the edge, so yes, the katana has a harder edge. which theoretically means it can have a sharper edge or at least retain a sharper edge; However, the European sword has an advantage over the traditional katana. Traditionally made katanas, the reason they have that wavy line along the edge of the ham is because the edge is just hardened or the edge is hardened to a greater degree by applying clay to the blade when it is dulled and that means that, while the edge is very, very sharp, the back of the blade is actually quite smooth.

European leaves are completely hardened. and tempered, which means that a European blade is like a spring, if you bend it it will straighten itself again. Japanese blades stay bent if you bend them, so which sword is better, obviously this is a question: in what context are we making it? which one is better for fighting armor which one is better for, actually, you know, a duel which one is better for fighting in battle which one is better for fighting in Japan which one is better for fighting in your Europe in the time periods in The weapons that were used were developed and evolve to adapt to the context in which they fit, but it is worth saying that each of these weapons has strengths and weaknesses, so the European swords mentioned have the advantage of having elastic blades that They are straight again when you bend them.

Japanese swords have the advantage. which are tougher on the edge in terms of the actual physical form and characteristics of the sword, as you can probably see on the screen, there is a reach length advantage for the longsword, we'll talk a little more about that in a minute, but it is very important to say that when we make these comparisons we are making generalizations, generally katanas are shorter, they generally have blades less than 30 inches and usually long swords have blades longer than 30 inches, generally their blades are in the region of 35 to 40 inches, so generally speaking there is a Richard advantage for the longsword in terms of the actual hilts or the tips that you grip essentially on the back of the sword, the handles They are of a similar type. length, but you will notice that they have very different handguards now, the cross guard of the European sword, we could say that it is more protective than the small disc guard, the Suba of the um Katana um, however, if we look only at the mechanics of cutting and If we are fighting zombies, then a handguard is very important, we are really looking at the swords and the leverage of the hilts.

Both grips are a similar length and therefore provide a similar amount of leverage, which is very important. mention with two-handed swords is that a lot of the leverage comes from the fact that you have two hands on the hilt, so one is pushing and the other is pulling, or rather, one is pushing a little more than the other is actually pushing. , so the longsword and katana actually have handles of fairly similar length, giving them a similar degree of control and leverage. Oh, having two hands on the grip not only means you have a lot of leverage on the gun, but it also means you get tired. less fast, so a one-handed sword can actually have a longer reach because you can reach further from your body with a one-handed sword than with a two-handed sword;

However, using a one-handed sword is more strenuous and the power only really comes from one arm and one wrist, when you have two hands on the weapon, it comes from your entire body and both arms and Leverage. The magic of leverage. Returning now to the reach issue I mentioned, it is very important to note that while the long swords tend to be much longer than the katana. Look at the shapes of those tips. Leaf tips with very different shapes for different purposes. The long sword is very, very narrow and pointed. In this case, you get some long swords that are wider. to the point, but in general, European swords certainly have this type of ERA, these types of dates tend to be narrower and more pointed at the end of the blade, this is for piercing various types of armor, predominantly padded and also men's armor , also known as chain mail, um.

However, the Japanese point, while it can be used to pierce tough materials, is of course a sharp point. Any sharp point can go through that kind of thing. It's really optimized for cutting and what that means is at the tip of the blade. You can still cut really very effectively up here with the European sword, at least in this example, and obviously there are several types of long swords in use in Europe, but with this example you can't really cut effectively here at all. to thrust, if you want to cut with a European longsword, the best part to cut, known as the center of strike, is shortened down here, usually it is the third quarter of the blade, if you divide the blade into quarters, the third quarter is The best part for cutting around here is okay, with a katana, you can cut with the center strike, which again would be around here, but you can also cut very, very, very well all the way to the tip, so actually, if we compare these two types of leaves.

While the long serrated blade is definitely significantly longer and for thrust that will be an advantage if you are fighting another opponent with the sword or certainly with a shorter sword, the center of percussion, that is, the part of the blade that cut better is actually quite similar, we notice it's in the third quarter up here on the longsword and it's essentially from the third quarter all the way on the katana now, whereas of course you can hit something and try to cut with the tip of this blade at extreme reach with the longsword, your chances of cutting much won't be great, so which one do we expect to work best in this experiment?

So I'm just going to keep my opinion to my chest. I think that in this test it is very possible that that will happen. The katana works better than the long sword and that is due to several reasons, first of all, katanas are famous for being easy to cut, so when we do cutting sessions when we have test cutting classes, these kinds of things a The katana is often a good sword to give as a gift. a beginner now, this might go against what many of you may have been told, perhaps you may have been told that katanas require a lot of training and a lot of experience, it's not true, actually, someone who doesn't really know what which they necessarily are. doing with the sword and who is not trained in swordsmanship, we will probably find that the katana is easier to cut and that is due to several reasons, first of all, the blade is short but it is thick, okay, for which has a similar weight to the long sword, um.

This long sword is a little bit heavier than this Katana, however of course it's longer, it's a bigger weapon so that's to be expected, but with the katana, even though it's shorter, it's actually quite a blade. thick, meaning it is rigid. Very forgiving blade, meaning that if our edge alignment gets messed up anything less than perfect, the stiffer blade can actually drag across the target and still cut pretty well. The other reason is for the reason I mentioned which is due to weight. The distribution of this is and the fact that it's still quite thick at the tip, then the shape of the tip and, you know, the balance point and this type of thing, this sword, this type of sword, most of katanas, not all katanas are the same, but most katanas cut very, very well from that part of the blade to the tip, which means it's very forgiving, it means that the cutter not only doesn't have to worry too much about edge alignment, obviously, if you achieve edge alignment.

Perfect, then it will cut better, but if they get messed up a little, this type of blade is more forgiving, but also, if they hit a different region along the blade, it will still cut well with the longsword, no matter how long. be the swords. just touch this blade and you can see that they are flexible because to get that extra length the blade has a distal taper which means it gets thinner and thinner towards the tip generally speaking or tapers at that part of the blade, so it essentially has a silhouette. It starts wide and tapers here so the weight distribution can still be manageable as a fast weapon as a combat weapon, but you can get the longest blade length possible primarily to use the tip for thrusting but to increase your cutting. range as well, but that means that when we cut against various targets for someone who may not be trained to use a long sword as well, they will find this to be a more challenging sword to cut than the katana, first of all, it's got that wobble , so if it's not as stiff as the katana, meaning if you move the alignment slightly away from the edge, the blade will flex and that will go against your cutting form.

Also, I would say that the region of the blade that can cut effectively is shorter on a long sword than on a katana, if someone hits it with the tip of the blade, it's going to cut very very badly, you really need to cut here Conversely, the fact that this blade is narrow means that if we get the edge alignment right and if we cut with the right part of the blade, once the blade passes through the target, there is actually less resistance because Of course, a thinner blade offers less resistance than the material we are cutting. compared to a thicker blade, having said that my experience is that most people find katanas easier to cut now, ultimately the curve of the blade makes a big difference, it makes a very very slight difference .

I would say not. It doesn't make much difference, people think that the curve of a katana makes a big difference, but actually, as you can see, katana blades of this type from the 19th century are not very curved at all and so it actually helps to have A slightly curved blade actually helps you sharpen it easier and varies slightly, meaning the contact portion between the edge and the target is a little smaller and therefore the force is more concentrated. It also helps slightly with the draw. with the drawing through the target and the cutting effect, but that is what you get with a straight blade and also with a tapered blade, so I would say the curve adds a little extra cutting power, but not much.

Katanas aren't very curved, nor as curved as things like the toolbar behind me, for example, while reduced blade length means reduced tip speed, that means that because weapons generally Although many people will find it easier to accelerate to a fast speed, we must remember that the long sword has the same leverage, a longer blade, so the speed of the tip is faster and is actually only a little heavier than the katana, so it's still a fast speed. and sword symbol that can move quickly through the target. The basic body mechanics of cutting with a katana and a longsword are not much different at all.

We have similar length grips. Similar ish weapons. We have to think about the alignment of the edges. twist and turn the body how we place the foot, ideally the foot on the side we are cutting from should land or at least be forward at the same moment we land the blow, really the most critical things for these cuts to be effective are speed. of the blade, so accelerating the sword as fast as possible and that comes from body mechanics and the alignment of the edge, if the edge is not aligned, it doesn't matter if it's a long sword or a katana, it won't cut well.

It has been said about the so-called drawing cut or pulling the blade towards you with thekatana, actually this applies to all swords and if you look at the arc of the arms, the natural arc of the arms, it doesn't matter what. The type of sword it is will naturally produce the drawing effect anyway, so in reality, for a layman, for someone who is not a swordsman, for someone who is not trained with either the katana or the longsword, The effect of using one or the other is not. They will not be very different, they will cut similarly and have similar effects.

The differences will really come from the edge, the speed of the blade, and the alignment of the edge with the katana. There are two factors that are really important here. is that the center of percussion is essentially all the way to the tip and even the tip can cut well and the thickness and stiffness of the blade means it's more forgiving if the edge alignment isn't perfect, so I think for most people of the time a katana will be easier to cut more effectively. That said, we have to remember that this is a very limited test, it's really just testing which one cuts most effectively, regardless of range or distance or any other type of fighting conditions in a real fight.

You have to remember that the longsword has a very real range. Advantage with the tip and to some extent with the edge, but has a better hand guard. It has a flexible blade that won't bend if you make a mistake. a cut or someone stands on it or something, so the long sword has other advantages. It's not that the katana is per se a better sword, but I think that in this test, and this could be valid for the viewers of my channel, this could be valid. Contrary to what people expect me to say, I think that for this test the katana will probably outperform the longsword.