@MarcusCVance “Katana suck bc this one shrine sword exists”
Bro what are we even doing anymore
Like aren’t European descriptions on Japanese arms and armor usually very positive? Like especially their swords?
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Connor Nguyen
676 posts
I've read a few articles on this sword and it is pretty interesting!
None of the articles I've seen, however, make similar claims to this meme.
Fenrir the Ice Wolf@Fenrirtheicewo1
Japanese katana sucks...
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@Busho7879 @gunsen_history I’ll have to pick that one up. I meant that you must’ve had to look at many swords to make a “typical” or “average” sword for each era
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@ConnorNguy68741 @gunsen_history My main source of information was from the book “The connoisseurs guide to Japanese swords” I did look at individual examples as well but those were supplementary. The pictures of swords I made here are made to represent the trend of the age not specific swords mind you.
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@C4nn0n_F0dd3r @Knightly_Hist This technique gets mentioned every time a typical longsword is mentioned despite all the depictions I’ve seen show it with special swords with spikes as quillions or spikes on the pommel. Normal longswords don’t have those
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what really goes hard is how this strike has been mythologized. not only are "slashes" with the blade still seen in the corpus of techniques, but 90% of the attacks consist of thrusting. so why would the murder stroke be due to the ineffectiveness of thrusts, if its not dominant
The Medieval Scholar@MedievalScholar
This art goes so hard. The German technique of Mordschlag translates to "murder blow". This involved gripping the sword with both hands on the blade and smashing the opponent with the pommel or crossguard. This technique was used to more reliably do harm to an opponent wearing armor where the use of slashes or stabs would not be effective, as blunt strikes were exceptionally more effective against armor. It was not a standardized technique, but rather a practical method that soldiers and knights might resort to when facing armored opponents to essentially turn your sword into a mace or hammer. The image below comes from the Codex Wallerstein, which was a 16th century collection of three 15th century German fechtbuch manuscripts.
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@C4nn0n_F0dd3r Very interesting. What is the purpose in throwing the shield away? Did this happen anywhere else?
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"It was a hand to hand fight, in which they discarded their shields and attacked with swords only, while, indifferent to their own fate, and devoting the utmost ardour to inflicting severe loss on the foe, they were ready to meet even death..."
- Julian, on Mursa Major (351)
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@kaiju_tebasaki That’s odd. Was it the lacquer that confused him?
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@archaeologyart Anymore info about this one? It looks very Japanese in origin and I’ve never heard of renaissance executioners warring masks like these. Any additional info would be great.
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Faces of the Ancient World: Masks Across 9,000 Years
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@jQKnW3Lg7A85650 They are just very unique. I’ve never seen an arquebus with ladder sights before. Here in the west it’s understood these early firearms were very inaccurate and not worth training in precision marksmanship or extreme long distance firing. i want to learn why/how they were used
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@ConnorNguy68741 よく、お調べになっておられますね。日本に入った技術は大抵独自の発展をします。しかし、何故長距離銃についてお知りになりたいのですか。歴史的な背景に興味があるのか、手工業的な興味のどちらでしょうか。
日本語
慶長大火縄銃
徳川家康は、大坂城攻めの準備として城攻戦に使える長距離火縄銃を、堺と国友の鉄砲鍛冶に作らせた。
これにより187 .5ｇ（50匁）の玉を1.6km先まで飛ばせる全長約3m、重量約135kgの慶長大火縄銃が合計で393挺製造された。
この大鉄砲は1人で持ち上げる事は出来ず台に置いて使われた。
日本語
@zerkarsonder “Sword fighting was not just mindlessly bashing swords” type shit
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@moriko38 Very forward thinking, the Japanese would only do that later with their gunto
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@gunsen_history This might also explain why I sometimes hear kendo practitioners develop calluses on their left hands. It may also be because they hold shinai tighter with the left. Have you heard of anything similar in koryu?
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@ConnorNguy68741 Yes, there are a series of studies on the impact responses of the mekugi. You can find them on Jstage. Long story short the mekugi is placed in the position that receive the less vibration/stress when it strikes, when it is mounted in koshirae.
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@gunsen_history
Do you know if any research has been done regarding mekugi I can’t seem to find any. I’ve often heard the criticism that just having a bamboo peg wouldn’t have been enough in war but watching this video by Skallagrim-
youtu.be/AG4XMEATD88?fe…
YouTube
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@gunsen_history @genius_eu Were Japanese people not let back in during Sakoku?
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@genius_eu A lot of Japanese whom remained outside of Japan after the Sakoku edict might have ended as lifetime mercenaries!
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"Seven Samurai" in Banta.
A rather unknown and interesting episode concerning the feats of Japanese mercenaries in SEA happened in November 1617, in the Island of Banta.
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I like how people say that just because knights were wearing slightly more encompassing armor than the Japanese they are sure to win any engagement as if Europeans werent losing matchups like this constantly.
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@zerkarsonder What time period would this kind of loadout be found? 14th-15th ce?
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