Message from @RayzorJack
Discord ID: 658293681253646346
Katana aren't bad weapons by any metric, but media in both east and west has propped them up to be far more than what they really are, I guess.
Why bother muckin' about with a katana when you can just beat a motherfucker with a kanabo?
Matchlocks: allow us to introduce ourselves.
Katanas: *autistic screeching*
@Zephyr Blackfish Now do a similar joke but with a nuke.
@Goddess Tyche nukes vs militaries, my dude.
@Zephyr Blackfish Yes, you need skill for both. But when you only have a low quality steel to work with, you absolutely cannot afford to pick the curve of your katana
The issue is that katana is not homogenous - it has softer steel at the back, and hardened steel edge
When you have good steel you can vary that infinitely.
With poor steel you can only do it as the metal allows, hence the curve is being dictated to you.
Odachi are kinda cool but I've heard that they have really bad weight distribution. They can weigh as much as a zweihander but they don't have the same pommel and taper to give them balance, so they're super unwieldy.
It is not good or bad, it is what it is.
And japanese katana craftsmen deserve all the respect for such results in the face of good steel scarcity
A bunch of drunken scandinavians made steel by burning animal bones in a crucible fueled by burning animal crap, while living in a frigid frozen hellscape; I don't feel like people give them enough props for that one either.
@Uksio I would say in that scenario with shitty metal, the metal would dictate the manner of sword to you.
TL;DR ye
>TFW Germanic savages have better steel than Japanese lords.
Japan had a hard time getting good metal right up to WW2
Why didn't the Japanese use shields?
Why do you think they wanted Manchzhuria so badly?
Same reason Apple wants Manchuria so badly.
That sweet, sweet chinese bitcoin.
The Manchuria thing actually makes me realise something else,
How many tanks and ships and planes were Japan even able to build
Given they lacked good quality steel
All the squares on that one are shields
https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-e7d8c246f6027184d95da01e52c37400
Not a lot of tanks or ships, relatively; A fair assload of Zeros though, since if memory serves they were mostly wood.
Isn't that their armour though?
You see Teriyaki Sushi-san, you don't need to hold shields if you wear shields.
Also they extensively used the stationary emplacement shields
https://i.stack.imgur.com/RPEBm.jpg
By that token a European knight *is* a shield.
Much heavier than european
Oh tower shields.
Like the Assyrians?
Like the fucking Rhodoks
Japanese just had different distinctions than europeans
Imagine being as advanced in 1500 AD as the Assyrians were in 700 BC.
Actually to be fair the Assyrians were pretty shit hot for the time.
Warfare in Japan was fairly unique, since the only real times they had land invasions to deal with it was kinda mostly just other Japanese.