The Okatana is made by Akado armory: www.akadoarmory.com/product/akado-premium-fencing-okatana/ I can absolutly recommend their blades for fencing and training HEMA / HAMA (Historical European / Asian Martial Arts)
@@gavinrn jaketheasianguy has a RUclips channel and says the swords get chewed up and basically you’ll need a new one soon enough. I know you spar all the time. Are you having to replace your sword from Akado often or not?
@ I don’t own one personally, but I have used them in our club. Here’s the thing, all sparring swords get chewed up eventually. If you use them in matched pairs, they last longer since the steel is the same hardness, but over time they get dents and burrs. A file or some sandpaper will keep them around and working fine for a long time. Sparring weapons are durable but ultimately disposable after years of use.
I thought you had to deflect to slowly build up posture damage and then bait them to charge you near the edge of a bridge where they will fall to their death
First of all, it was a very refreshing video to see. Japanese swords have been discusses since the dawn of the internet by HEMA enthusiast and I respect that this video showed a well balanced perspective, no childish memes, straight to the point. I am a researcher of Japanese arms and armors and I had studied a bit of Kaisha Kenjutsu (介者剣術) or armored sword fight. You can see many techniques online as well from different groups, from Murakumo yagyū shinkage ryū (村雲柳生新陰流) to Tennen rishin ryū (天然理心流). In these techniques you do see half-swording, where the blade is guided from the back rather than fully gripped, although there also grips, stabs and even pommel strike as in powerful thrusts with the end of the blade. There is a lot of grappling too. I loved the video as it also shown a lot of Japanese groudned techniques despite having read little to none (I would assume). It shows the capabilities of the human mind! The Bugaku shū sui (武學拾粹) reccomend to stab towards the face and/or use a lower posture and use the curvature of the blade to access the inside of the leg. Other manuals like the Tosouki reccomend to use powerful swing against the joints. As for the swords and armors, there are a lot of variables. During the 16th century, armors used in eastern Japan was usually thick and more comprhensive in terms of coverage, and there were a lot of places that would be covered by mail or other flexible armor. I wrote a study paper discussing those armors, and it is freely availabe online for those interested (Tōgoku no bugu: study notes). Swords as well were different. There are tips geometries better suited for armored fight such as ōkissaki, shobu zukuri or nagamaki/naginata naoshi blades which do have more slender and elongated tips. My biggest gripe with the akado sword is that the tsuba is super small. Larger weapons like this ōkatana would benefit from a way larger tsuba as seen in historical examples. Overall it was a pleasent video!! Good job to Dequitem.
@@deeipomar2366 I tried multiple times but to no avail. If you look it up Tōgoku no bugu (東国の武具): study notes you should be able to find it! I am sorry but you tube these days is very strict with the comments.
@@gunsenhistory7919 Yes i did some research on different techniques, but i am only an expert in european armored combat and armor forging, so i dont wanna talk about techniques that I only used in the last month. Luckely most of the techniques are very compareble. A more slender point on an okatana or tatchi would defenetly welcome. Are they like nadle point longsword/estoc tips? Is that the script: de.scribd.com/document/760756491/Togoku-No-Bugu-Study-Notes-An-essa?
I love that you mention tachi and O-katana specifically. When samurai fought in the Sengoku period they typically used tachi and a bit later in the period we see a slow transition to what they would call the Uchigatana. We call these katana but they were longer than later Edo period swords which were cut down due to blade regulations after the period of war. So while we tend to imagine smaller katana, when we are talking about warfare in armor and the high point of samurai warfare we are really looking at the O-katana and tachi. In some cases even the nodachi but like the European zweihander they were only used by specific troops in favour of polearms.
There's something surreal seeing two men fighting in a realistic, less flashy manner and in full armor. There's something even more surreal seeing one with a japanese blade lol
I hope some day you and Seki-sensei can discuss this in person. I know full armor is a tough opponent for a katana (or anyone), but he deals with a lot of other weapons as well, and I'd like to see his brain tick on how you might combine them for this task. I also just want to see him get his hands on some real European weapons. Great video as always.
@@dequitem It did indeed, just seeing fully armored combat with a Okatana that is not flashy anime style and has grappling elements incorporated brings me endless joy.
Dequitem my friend, great to see another informative video from you. As an American allow me to help you with your English. The word "spar" is pronounced like the words "car" or "far". Thank you for the upload my friend. Very interesting topic.
This is the most truthful, unbiased, video on this matter that i have come across. At the end of the day you make use of your weapons strengths and weaknesses to get the job done.
The scenery made me expecting that at the end of the video, the Lady of the Lake's hand would emerge from the water holding Excalibur, or a Patsy would come for you, with his large backpack and two halves of coconut.
I would be very interested to see more of these discussions and fights using foreign weapons against traditional European weapons from someone like yourself who is very familiar with armored combat. Great video!
All that needs to happen is have a duel with a 15th century Samurai and a 15th century Knight with all their weapons and equipment. That would be an amazing fight to choreograph
Los samurai habrían optado por armas contundentes como el sodegarami, el kanabo o la ono (hacha de guerra). También habrían decidido por usar armas cortas como un kodachi, tanto o aikuchi usándolas con técnicas de lucha. De hecho, es lo que usaban contra otros samurais con armadura, al igual que los caballeros, las hojas cortantes eran armas secundarias. La lucha es siempre el terreno donde son más fuertes, el legado de la lucha japonesa está presente en muchos estilos de combate que han demostrado su efectividad ante otros estilos como el Judo, el BJJ, Lucha libre o el Sambo, solo por mencionar algunos. Gran video.
Thats a real cool video! We always see comparissions between a katana and a longsword in terms of cutting, but we never see a video explaining how it could be used in real combat against armor, I bought my first katana a few weeks ago and this video is very useful, thanks!
Regarding armor, I dont understand why people oppose Japan to Europe when Japanese armor is in fonction much closer to it than it is to chinese armor. You have a rounded helmet with face protection (often also protecting the neck in case of a bevor/mempo), mail on the arms with additional plates and hand protection, large pauldrons, a rather solid cuirass tapering at the natural waist from which hangs horizontal rows of plates protecting the hips, and then a semi flexible section protecting the front of the thigh, sometimes all around, and a separated solid shin section. That's both European and Japanese.
I mean the funny thing about late sengoku armour is in terms of design it’s very similar to lots of transitional plate armours from the 14-early 15th century, sometimes with the added bullet proofed breastplates Or similar in design to the plated mail/ plate that came from eastern Europe in the 15-16th century They made solid stuff especially around the 15-17th century
I appreciate part of my subscription to this mans excellent speaking voice. I am sure that aspiring voice actors and other artists will reference this dude. Thank you Dequitem for your work.
I think at the end of the day the biggest disadvantage the Samurai has here is not the weapon or their skills with a blade but their inexperience with combating full plate and the techniques required to combat it.
@@dequitemSamurai also used those things plus polearms anyway. Perhaps less so European style halberds but we do see two-handed striking polearms of many sorts by the Sengoku period in Japan too. Although they principally used spears with cross sections for thrusting into maille, thrusting in gaps, and the naginata. They also liked striking picks on polearms, and ranseur like yari. As well as pikes in some cases.
Always loved the aesthetic of a knight with a katana, thank you dark souls
16 дней назад+2
Me siting in cozy apartment, under blanket, with hot cocoa, eating chocolate... "hm yes, how to kill a knight with Okatana or Tachi? Might come handy sometimes!"
I can see the "a knight would easily kill a samurai and it would be a cakewalk" or "well, katanas are shit swords so realistically a samurai has no chance" or anything to the effect of knight glazing kind of comments coming. That, along with the ensuing argument that I have a feeling will happen in the replies to this comment.
It really comes down to skill with a tad of luck for the Samurai, that being said, it came down to Time frame for how extensive Samurai Armour was in terms of it metal components as it was on par with some western armour save for a suit of full plate
@@Cozonac3000 Samurai: "our swords are actually well made and we valued them more than our other belongings. All our money are spent on having them gilded and decorated" (Records from Francis Xavier, 1552) Period Europeans who saw these blades: "The storta (sword) and the dagger (which they begin to gird at the age of 12) are made of such finely tempered steel that could cut through our iron without losing its edge". (Pietro Maffei, le Historie delle Indie orientali, 1589) Obviously an exageration but it will never stop to be funny that the depiction of such accounts (i.e. how Japanese swords were perceived by period Europeans) went the opposite way of these types comments. I can quote at least 3 more sources that say the same
Feel free to tell them that you bought the Okatana because of me. This isn't a sponsored video. 😥 But I hope that they will sponsor me more swords in the future. I like their swords.
some Japanese blades have clam shell grinds(convex), for steel on steel contact, and they have armor fighting tanto(really thick pointed stabbers), not all katana or knifes has these features, but an katana is is an broad category(curved, single edged sword), and not just an single blade type, just like how some euro long swords are stiff(stabbing), and some are floppy(cutting), it's something that the user specifically picks depending on the context of the situation.
Or maybe have you thought about slowing down hits with annotations to better explain what you did ? Sometimes I have to rewind and rewatch multiple times to see clearly your fast moves
Over time, armor was developed to defeat weapons until they went full tank and then weapons were created to defeat armor. It's really a strange cycle that has continued into modern projectile weaponry... everyday someone is trying to develop a new piece of armor to defeat a bullet and someone else is working on a bullet to defeat that new piece of armor. This video really gets into how not having the perfect weapon to defeat a heavily armored knight means you need to rely on pros of your weapon to develop a technique where you can create openings.
Based off my knowledge of Yagyu Shingan Ryu and other old Kenjutsu schools: a lot of those schools relied on binding the enemy 's sword and moving it out of place to expose the weak points in the armor. Or you can go the Katori route and use the sword as a baseball bat. Also I need to note that Samurai did use partial plate armor if you look at so called nanban armor. And there were many other kinds of armor that provided full body protection.
@dequitem Gunbai military history blog has a translation of the original Yagyu Shingan ryu documents about fighting in armor. Alternatively google Katchu Heiho or Tokagkure ryu Kenjutsu
I saw a video where a knight used the pommel of his sword to ring the bell of his opponent who was wearing a helmet. The knight receiving the blow nearly threw up in his helmet.
Fantastic video, hope you had fun creating it and using the sword. I will only add that a common use of Japanese swords (and to be fair, most long Japanese melee weapons in general) was to raise up and repeatedly slam down on the opponent. In essence just diagonal overhead cuts, using the length and weight of the weapon to batter the opponent little by little. You can find a video on RUclips called “real samurai kumiuchi (armor battles)” to better illustrate this. In armor of course this likely won’t do any significant damage but it’s the equivalent of small thrust to bait/faint the opponent as you would do in European combat, while also fatiguing them from strikes. I love the things you guys do! I will be looking forward to the next video.
My thoughts were: 1) should I turn it so that the spine faces my opponent? I won't be doing much cutting anyway and the least I could do is mess up his blade... If it's sturdy enough, it should also work as a club. 2) is the blade too wide for gripping? Could I use the tsuba as a mace? 3) Where does the curvature help or complicate things?
Very nice video, I thought samurais can only bet that the gaps of chainmail is so bad that katana's tip can penetrate it. More new weapons please, if possible, would you make evaluation of fauchard, partisan, ranseur. And poleaxe/polehammer vs. sword please. Btw, May I translate and repost this video to Bilibili?
Hey man i saw a video of you talking about you going over the kingdom come deliverance combat system so i wanted to ask if you've seen a game called halfsword, it has those wonky physics based movement but i thought it depicted pretty well the thing about having to hit the gaps and throwing your oponent down, plus thrusting and halfswording is very useful in the game.
Id like to to see war hammers retested but instead useing slege hammers. How does blocking a slege hammer work with a sword, a pole axe or shield. Does it push it out of the way. What if they go for your hand? Your the one with armor for it. All I got is an 18 guage larp helmet that dents to cheap wood.
I don’t know that much about katanas, but would the tip be a little too wide to get through the mail? I know it would hurt a lot, but I don’t think it would fully go through just looking at the tips of them. If it could, I don’t think it’d be good at it. That’s pretty much my only concern with the katana against knights, but if I’m wrong, then I’m wrong, I really don’t know anything about katanas and I’ve never had mail myself to know what it’s like, so I just have what I’ve seen on videos to go off of
ruclips.net/video/9T-M8zWwiUU/видео.html "There is no big crossguard... so you have to use another way to block the strikes of the opponent, and you have to deflect the strikes so that the opponent's attack will slide downwards and leave the blade..." This partially depends on the size of the tsuba, but if it's big enough to cover the hand then honestly, in my experience... this is untrue! You can still have it slide towards your 'hand'. A lot of katana vs longsword HEMA videos record a lot of hand strikes on the katana, from two reasons: The longer weapon is free to hand snipe the shorter weapon; and our gloves are big and bulky enough that what would have been shielded by the shadow of the tsuba is instead counted as a hit because our gloves are bigger than the tsuba. If either of these things are untrue, then the only thing lost is actively pinch-trapping the opponent's blade between your blade and the crossguard. I speak more from Chinese experience (messing with the positions of Dandao Faxuan, and a Miaodao with a large 12cm disk guard that very much shields my gloved hand; 8cm would've shielded my ungloved hand and is within historical Japanese tsuba ranges incidentally) so perhaps the Japanese do not do such things, but the Dandao Faxuan manual very much has forms and instructions which imply this type of ordinary hard gathering block. In fact, even if you have no guard at all, you can still pull off the usual guards; the real struggle there is that your positions have to be drastically more angled and exaggerated; your margin for error is terribly reduced. A crossguard or large disk guard means that even if your hands are on the same level as your opponent's in the block, you often get away with it. Lacking either (tiny tsuba/no guard at all), if you want to block an oberhau with a plow-like lower hanging from a gathering type motion, you have to have your hands much, much lower than your opponent's and actively angle your blade so as to prevent the blade from sliding into your hands by constraint of your opponent's natural wrist motion - and from there you can even take it into a muteren by pushing into the opponent's blade from this lower triangular position. A very similar position is visible in Meyer's rapier actually.
You seem very media savvy. If you've seen Firefly, Josh Whedon did writing on Alien 4 and comparing the crew of the ship in Alien 4 to that of the Firefly is interesting.
Unlike what weebs believe, even samurais with less armors still aimed to cut or thrust unprotected joints and back side of legs, not tried to cut "through" armors. If you meant to use a sword as a main weapon agaist an armored foe, the method is clear. There aren't much differences between East and West as long as it is used by a human with 2 arms and 2 legs.
Goedendag - yes I will. Kanabo isn't planned. Naginata - possible in the future. Lantern shield - nothing planned I don't have interest in building one.
My friend is really into katanas and sword fighting. and he has 3 fully unsharpened katanas. Probably a stupid question because I think I know the anwser. Would investing In armor be worth it or would I be ok just with the normal blades?
First time I held a real katana I was more struck by the age and history of such a thing than anything else, and secondarily how small it was. I have a really really good reproduction of a greatsword of war and I had it at the time, so the katana was a rather cute little blade in comparison.
Yes, that Okatana is very much a battle sword. A sword of the Sengoku Jidai. It makes a lot of sense when you consider that swords became smaller in the following period of peace.
"Don't kill ÿour training partners." 😅😂 He says that after the Norman knight, wearing chain maile, was hit with a pole hammer. I'm certain he died. Or at least wished he had. That looked painful.
@dequitem yes, they would have to guard the hamstring. I wonder how easily a hook to the back of the knee can throw the knight off balance - even if it does not cause a wound. Perhaps you will show us.
The armour missing from the back of the thigh is all part of a mounted knights harness. A harness designed for ground combat, like most English armour, has proper armour protection for this area. Its one of the trade-offs. mounted, you cannot feel or give commands to the horse if plate armour is there, as well as without. The inner and rear thigh is against the horse and saddle, when mounted so cannot be easily attacked. Jason Kingsley www.youtube.com/@ModernKnight has spoken about the control issue. As he jousts. Ground focused armour has full thigh protection. It generally has a more flexible design around the ankle. The same area has thicker armour and a much less flexible, but more protective ankle design for mounted combat. As mounted troops will expect more hits to the lower legs from ground troops. Here is a pic of Dr Toby Capwell's armour configured for multi purpose combat . As he has the lance cut-out pauldron on, but no mail for the rear of the knee and posterior , but the plate for the upper thigh attached. So mounted combat with some expectation for ground as well uk.pinterest.com/pin/7881368075041768/ The rear of armour is rather hard to find pictures of.
The most annoying part of a katana is, that it don't bend...therefore it fucks the armour. In this cases unrealistic. And again a samurai would go on ankles or back of the knees...a berserk too.
I find it interesting how originally there was a Hollywood trope that katanas could cut through anything and were the best swords by far. And then as HEMA became popular that trope almost reversed to katanas being useless against armor. It’s interesting how both camps are exaggerations and there are really way more similarities than differences. Despite how passionate the European / Japanese culture fans can be about which is superior. In truth, they are both just pointy metal sticks 🗡️
Want to fight with your armour afainst me, I do it plain, naked?...but you die alone cause of the thrown axes. If I have a Wakizashi too...good night. Still a nice show!
Historical ones had practically no flex, which would make them good for stabs, but the edge would not have a good time against European armour and the steel quality was a lot worse than people think, they were made to be extremely well sharpened but they blunted incredibly easily and quickly. Your stand in is only similar in length and shape, iron was scarce in Japan and needed a lot of processing due to impurities, spring steel like yours would have been extremely desirable to them though honestly any of your armour would have been sort after as it was not within the technical limitations to make themselves unless they imported the materials, and even then they were used to local processes and not so much how to utilise what didn't have the same limitations. Even modern Japanese blades are much much more easily done to a higher standard as they can separate the impurities long before they start forging the iron (not to say there aren't still limitations on place, their designs are specialised in one direction (making questionable quality steel into passable tools), they might be appreciated for their craftsmanship but the cost to quality ratio in not particularly good, and English, German or Spainish antique steel, which you can find in charity shops or your grandparents have are such better knives that it's ridiculous, unfortunately due to deindustrialisation your option is probably Chinese, in which case it's probably a cost for use decision, and master chefs will go with the top shelf or rather most of the people buying themselves Japanese knives will fancy themselves master chefs as they make the purchase). The Chinese adopted weapon designs from the Japanese under the Ming, it should be noted however that the thing which defined the Japanese was much more their attitude to combat than the weapons they used, they were relentless, skilled and exceptionally brave, this counted for far more than what they used in most of the fights they had. Of course that means less in a fight between cannon or gun, and they wouldn't successfully take Korea but they still left a lasting impression, if not the best one (the Chinese stopped trading with them after some Japanese clans started a fight with each other in the trade quarter of a Chinese port and then managed to burn down a good part of the whole city, ironically the Europeans would start their trade with the Japanese in large part by just acting as middlemen in the trade with China).
The steel quality was a lot better than people think. All European accounts I've read about katana praise their cutting ability/durability/steel quality. European swords are made in pretty much the same way, most were a composite of iron and steel and not all steel even into the 16th-17th century.
The Okatana is made by Akado armory: www.akadoarmory.com/product/akado-premium-fencing-okatana/
I can absolutly recommend their blades for fencing and training HEMA / HAMA (Historical European / Asian Martial Arts)
I wonder if the sparring Katana offered by Weaponism is a better than the one made by Akado…?
@@taccntb4345I dunno. The Akado blades are really great. They handle well and draw and sheathe great too.
@@gavinrn jaketheasianguy has a RUclips channel and says the swords get chewed up and basically you’ll need a new one soon enough. I know you spar all the time. Are you having to replace your sword from Akado often or not?
@ I don’t own one personally, but I have used them in our club. Here’s the thing, all sparring swords get chewed up eventually. If you use them in matched pairs, they last longer since the steel is the same hardness, but over time they get dents and burrs. A file or some sandpaper will keep them around and working fine for a long time. Sparring weapons are durable but ultimately disposable after years of use.
@ This seems logical. What you say makes sense. Cheers.
I thought you had to deflect to slowly build up posture damage and then bait them to charge you near the edge of a bridge where they will fall to their death
😂
Golden comment :D
Hesitation is defeat.
"ROBERRRTOOO!!!"
Only legends will appreciate this comment 😂😂
First of all, it was a very refreshing video to see. Japanese swords have been discusses since the dawn of the internet by HEMA enthusiast and I respect that this video showed a well balanced perspective, no childish memes, straight to the point.
I am a researcher of Japanese arms and armors and I had studied a bit of Kaisha Kenjutsu (介者剣術) or armored sword fight. You can see many techniques online as well from different groups, from Murakumo yagyū shinkage ryū (村雲柳生新陰流) to Tennen rishin ryū (天然理心流). In these techniques you do see half-swording, where the blade is guided from the back rather than fully gripped, although there also grips, stabs and even pommel strike as in powerful thrusts with the end of the blade. There is a lot of grappling too.
I loved the video as it also shown a lot of Japanese groudned techniques despite having read little to none (I would assume). It shows the capabilities of the human mind! The Bugaku shū sui (武學拾粹) reccomend to stab towards the face and/or use a lower posture and use the curvature of the blade to access the inside of the leg. Other manuals like the Tosouki reccomend to use powerful swing against the joints.
As for the swords and armors, there are a lot of variables. During the 16th century, armors used in eastern Japan was usually thick and more comprhensive in terms of coverage, and there were a lot of places that would be covered by mail or other flexible armor. I wrote a study paper discussing those armors, and it is freely availabe online for those interested (Tōgoku no bugu: study notes).
Swords as well were different. There are tips geometries better suited for armored fight such as ōkissaki, shobu zukuri or nagamaki/naginata naoshi blades which do have more slender and elongated tips.
My biggest gripe with the akado sword is that the tsuba is super small. Larger weapons like this ōkatana would benefit from a way larger tsuba as seen in historical examples.
Overall it was a pleasent video!! Good job to Dequitem.
Is your paper written in English? If so, would you mind sharing the link?
@@deeipomar2366 I tried multiple times but to no avail. If you look it up Tōgoku no bugu (東国の武具): study notes you should be able to find it!
I am sorry but you tube these days is very strict with the comments.
@deeipomar2366 I am unable to send links or reply to this comment, you tube is very tricky these days!
But if you look it up it should be easy to find
Your insight on this matter is much appreciated! I love it when I can see structured discourse with a clear line of reasoning.
@@gunsenhistory7919 Yes i did some research on different techniques, but i am only an expert in european armored combat and armor forging, so i dont wanna talk about techniques that I only used in the last month. Luckely most of the techniques are very compareble.
A more slender point on an okatana or tatchi would defenetly welcome. Are they like nadle point longsword/estoc tips?
Is that the script: de.scribd.com/document/760756491/Togoku-No-Bugu-Study-Notes-An-essa?
That's some 1800s poem scenery, very picturesque
I love that you mention tachi and O-katana specifically. When samurai fought in the Sengoku period they typically used tachi and a bit later in the period we see a slow transition to what they would call the Uchigatana. We call these katana but they were longer than later Edo period swords which were cut down due to blade regulations after the period of war.
So while we tend to imagine smaller katana, when we are talking about warfare in armor and the high point of samurai warfare we are really looking at the O-katana and tachi. In some cases even the nodachi but like the European zweihander they were only used by specific troops in favour of polearms.
You know, just casually standing in a misty forest to chat swords.
Beautiful shots in this one, mate.
There's something surreal seeing two men fighting in a realistic, less flashy manner and in full armor. There's something even more surreal seeing one with a japanese blade lol
Amen
I hope some day you and Seki-sensei can discuss this in person. I know full armor is a tough opponent for a katana (or anyone), but he deals with a lot of other weapons as well, and I'd like to see his brain tick on how you might combine them for this task. I also just want to see him get his hands on some real European weapons. Great video as always.
He's used some already and he really loved the polearms.
That would be cool.
And apparently he also really likes the halberd 😁
@@Wulf-sq9zw That was it! I was trying to remember.
Been so pumped for this!
I hope it blessed you!
@@dequitem It did indeed, just seeing fully armored combat with a Okatana that is not flashy anime style and has grappling elements incorporated brings me endless joy.
I can't wait from Seki Sensei's reaction. Who knows? Maybe Sensei would don Samurai armour with long sword.
Would be realy cool to see his opinion!
Dequitem my friend, great to see another informative video from you. As an American allow me to help you with your English. The word "spar" is pronounced like the words "car" or "far".
Thank you for the upload my friend. Very interesting topic.
Thanks.
16:59 "And don't kill your training partner."
Can't promise that if I'm being honest, but I'll definitely try my best
This is the most truthful, unbiased, video on this matter that i have come across. At the end of the day you make use of your weapons strengths and weaknesses to get the job done.
Thanks for that compliment!
The scenery made me expecting that at the end of the video, the Lady of the Lake's hand would emerge from the water holding Excalibur, or a Patsy would come for you, with his large backpack and two halves of coconut.
I would be very interested to see more of these discussions and fights using foreign weapons against traditional European weapons from someone like yourself who is very familiar with armored combat. Great video!
There is more on my channel and there will be more in the future.
The first time I held a katana, I thought "Katanas might be just a short polearm with a long blade." Fun times, fun times.
The handle feels like holding a polearm.
All that needs to happen is have a duel with a 15th century Samurai and a 15th century Knight with all their weapons and equipment. That would be an amazing fight to choreograph
I will make a fight between a knight armor and a samurai armor, but it will not be choreographed!
Using an office as setting 😂
Standing on a rock in the fog 🗿
If I don't have the perfect medival manor as an office, I will continue to search beautyfull locations for the videos.
I would love to see a video where you go over your armour and the historical sources for it? Great content as always!
There are already two video about it. "Best medival helmet" and "dressing a knight".
Los samurai habrían optado por armas contundentes como el sodegarami, el kanabo o la ono (hacha de guerra). También habrían decidido por usar armas cortas como un kodachi, tanto o aikuchi usándolas con técnicas de lucha. De hecho, es lo que usaban contra otros samurais con armadura, al igual que los caballeros, las hojas cortantes eran armas secundarias. La lucha es siempre el terreno donde son más fuertes, el legado de la lucha japonesa está presente en muchos estilos de combate que han demostrado su efectividad ante otros estilos como el Judo, el BJJ, Lucha libre o el Sambo, solo por mencionar algunos. Gran video.
Thats a real cool video! We always see comparissions between a katana and a longsword in terms of cutting, but we never see a video explaining how it could be used in real combat against armor, I bought my first katana a few weeks ago and this video is very useful, thanks!
I LOVE the misty forest !
Regarding armor, I dont understand why people oppose Japan to Europe when Japanese armor is in fonction much closer to it than it is to chinese armor. You have a rounded helmet with face protection (often also protecting the neck in case of a bevor/mempo), mail on the arms with additional plates and hand protection, large pauldrons, a rather solid cuirass tapering at the natural waist from which hangs horizontal rows of plates protecting the hips, and then a semi flexible section protecting the front of the thigh, sometimes all around, and a separated solid shin section. That's both European and Japanese.
It’s practical human protection
I mean the funny thing about late sengoku armour is in terms of design it’s very similar to lots of transitional plate armours from the 14-early 15th century, sometimes with the added bullet proofed breastplates
Or similar in design to the plated mail/ plate that came from eastern Europe in the 15-16th century
They made solid stuff especially around the 15-17th century
@BrasaodeArmas aí Tiago, se liga nesse vídeo! Nada melhor que a pratica para comprovar teorias
I appreciate part of my subscription to this mans excellent speaking voice. I am sure that aspiring voice actors and other artists will reference this dude. Thank you Dequitem for your work.
Very interesting.
I didn't put much thought into how the curvature of the blade would come into play, because I have no experience with such blades.
I think at the end of the day the biggest disadvantage the Samurai has here is not the weapon or their skills with a blade but their inexperience with combating full plate and the techniques required to combat it.
Axes, clubs, hammers and maces are not superior weapons against armor, but I agree to the rest.
They had full armor themselves, so it wouldn't be hard to understand other than the material was sturdier. They adjust what they know as most did.
@@dequitemSamurai also used those things plus polearms anyway. Perhaps less so European style halberds but we do see two-handed striking polearms of many sorts by the Sengoku period in Japan too. Although they principally used spears with cross sections for thrusting into maille, thrusting in gaps, and the naginata. They also liked striking picks on polearms, and ranseur like yari. As well as pikes in some cases.
@@blumiu2426Yup, some samurai even made bullet proof armor later and they had seen Early Modern Portuguese and Dutch armors.
if this was posted 600 years ago, you'd have the town guard on you
Why?
This is so entertaining, cinematic and inspiring! Good job I love them ❤❤❤🤩🤩🤩
Super excited to see this upload from you! Keep doing what you love Dequitem because you are Damn Good at it!!!
Still the sexiest looking armor I’ve ever seen btw
Always loved the aesthetic of a knight with a katana, thank you dark souls
Me siting in cozy apartment, under blanket, with hot cocoa, eating chocolate...
"hm yes, how to kill a knight with Okatana or Tachi? Might come handy sometimes!"
I can see the "a knight would easily kill a samurai and it would be a cakewalk" or "well, katanas are shit swords so realistically a samurai has no chance" or anything to the effect of knight glazing kind of comments coming.
That, along with the ensuing argument that I have a feeling will happen in the replies to this comment.
Samurai: our swords are made by glorious tamahagane, folded 1000 times....
Knights: ours use good steel.
Hehheheeh
It really comes down to skill with a tad of luck for the Samurai, that being said, it came down to Time frame for how extensive Samurai Armour was in terms of it metal components as it was on par with some western armour save for a suit of full plate
😅
@@dequitem don't worry, thank you very much for creating this video, it's excellent. Have you thought of purchasing any samurai armor for yourself?
@@Cozonac3000
Samurai: "our swords are actually well made and we valued them more than our other belongings. All our money are spent on having them gilded and decorated"
(Records from Francis Xavier, 1552)
Period Europeans who saw these blades: "The storta (sword) and the dagger (which they begin to gird at the age of 12) are made of such finely tempered steel that could cut through our iron without losing its edge".
(Pietro Maffei, le Historie delle Indie orientali, 1589)
Obviously an exageration but it will never stop to be funny that the depiction of such accounts (i.e. how Japanese swords were perceived by period Europeans) went the opposite way of these types comments. I can quote at least 3 more sources that say the same
What a great discussion :D And I was JUST looking for a practice Okatana that someone who knows their business would recommend. Perfect timing!
Feel free to tell them that you bought the Okatana because of me. This isn't a sponsored video. 😥 But I hope that they will sponsor me more swords in the future. I like their swords.
@@dequitem Will do :D Its already bought but will send a msg to them.
some Japanese blades have clam shell grinds(convex), for steel on steel contact, and they have armor fighting tanto(really thick pointed stabbers), not all katana or knifes has these features, but an katana is is an broad category(curved, single edged sword), and not just an single blade type, just like how some euro long swords are stiff(stabbing), and some are floppy(cutting), it's something that the user specifically picks depending on the context of the situation.
i think the next japanese weapon i’d love to see used would be the naginata
The tilting plate looks awesome
A knight from Zwei Association using uchigatana from Shi Association.
Time for Boundary of Death spam build reception.
Bro went katana dex build with full heavy armor.
Super cool video. Except anyone carrying a tachi would also have a tanto to be used with grappling
I know!
I know but this will become another video!
Thank you. Very interesting.
I love your content, very informative.
Sometimes your moves are so fast, I feel like you could use a slow-mo camera to really see what's happening
Thanks for the compliment. My camera can do slomotion, but I don't like slomotion scenes.
Or maybe have you thought about slowing down hits with annotations to better explain what you did ? Sometimes I have to rewind and rewatch multiple times to see clearly your fast moves
Insane location, these Videos are always beautiful asf
Haha the rain is nice
Didn't felt nice in that moment!
@dequitem i can imagine haha
Terrific video, Dequitem! ⚔🔥🛡
me encanto la pelea en la nieve de unos caballero medievales, totalmente inédito realmente creativo, mis felicitaciones totales, un saludo desde Perú
There is a full fight video on my channel.
@@dequitem ¡¡¡¡GRACIAS AMIGAZO !!!
wow great opening shot
You are the epitome of cool. Also awesome video !
Wow, thanks!
Great video! I wonder if Shad will admit defeat on this topic? LOL
I didn't know that he thought otherwise. I remember that in his test vs mail armor he wasn't able to penetrate it.
Correct! He said that katanas were useless against armor, BUT you just proved with the right skillz this is not true.
this guy is a total badass
this video is so beautiful visually speaking
Yo the fuckin ambience is off the charts
Over time, armor was developed to defeat weapons until they went full tank and then weapons were created to defeat armor.
It's really a strange cycle that has continued into modern projectile weaponry... everyday someone is trying to develop a new piece of armor to defeat a bullet and someone else is working on a bullet to defeat that new piece of armor.
This video really gets into how not having the perfect weapon to defeat a heavily armored knight means you need to rely on pros of your weapon to develop a technique where you can create openings.
Based off my knowledge of Yagyu Shingan Ryu and other old Kenjutsu schools: a lot of those schools relied on binding the enemy 's sword and moving it out of place to expose the weak points in the armor.
Or you can go the Katori route and use the sword as a baseball bat.
Also I need to note that Samurai did use partial plate armor if you look at so called nanban armor. And there were many other kinds of armor that provided full body protection.
@dequitem Gunbai military history blog has a translation of the original Yagyu Shingan ryu documents about fighting in armor.
Alternatively google Katchu Heiho or Tokagkure ryu Kenjutsu
You should do a video comparing Knights armor with not only Samurai armor but armor from different parts of the world.
I will compare these two first.
my brother is getting famous ?? I hope you will still stay in contact even tho you get popular (just kidding)
Yes little sister!
This video looks like that old Excalibur movie!
@Let's ask Seki Sensei needs to see this :D
When you flex the katana i was like NOOOOOOO YOU WILL BREAK IT 😅.
I saw a video where a knight used the pommel of his sword to ring the bell of his opponent who was wearing a helmet.
The knight receiving the blow nearly threw up in his helmet.
Fantastic video, hope you had fun creating it and using the sword. I will only add that a common use of Japanese swords (and to be fair, most long Japanese melee weapons in general) was to raise up and repeatedly slam down on the opponent. In essence just diagonal overhead cuts, using the length and weight of the weapon to batter the opponent little by little. You can find a video on RUclips called “real samurai kumiuchi (armor battles)” to better illustrate this. In armor of course this likely won’t do any significant damage but it’s the equivalent of small thrust to bait/faint the opponent as you would do in European combat, while also fatiguing them from strikes.
I love the things you guys do! I will be looking forward to the next video.
Honestly have me thinking of picking one up to spar with since I have a sharp Odachi I can’t use lol
Akado Amory have very good trainers!
My thoughts were:
1) should I turn it so that the spine faces my opponent? I won't be doing much cutting anyway and the least I could do is mess up his blade... If it's sturdy enough, it should also work as a club.
2) is the blade too wide for gripping? Could I use the tsuba as a mace?
3) Where does the curvature help or complicate things?
Yess! Finally!
I wish they allowed curved feders at longsword events, kriegsmesser my beloved 😭
The Mune of giant Katana is blunt and has quite a bit of weight like a bludgeoning weapon.
I feel that cross guards would be grabbed by samurais, though the curved blades are clearly for killing those with less armor or less developed armor
Very nice video, I thought samurais can only bet that the gaps of chainmail is so bad that katana's tip can penetrate it. More new weapons please, if possible, would you make evaluation of fauchard, partisan, ranseur. And poleaxe/polehammer vs. sword please.
Btw, May I translate and repost this video to Bilibili?
I have a idea 4 your next video, knight vs artillery ? 😳
😥
Hey man i saw a video of you talking about you going over the kingdom come deliverance combat system so i wanted to ask if you've seen a game called halfsword, it has those wonky physics based movement but i thought it depicted pretty well the thing about having to hit the gaps and throwing your oponent down, plus thrusting and halfswording is very useful in the game.
Yes I know about it. At the moments I don't have enough time to make videos about it!
Id like to to see war hammers retested but instead useing slege hammers. How does blocking a slege hammer work with a sword, a pole axe or shield. Does it push it out of the way. What if they go for your hand?
Your the one with armor for it. All I got is an 18 guage larp helmet that dents to cheap wood.
I don’t know that much about katanas, but would the tip be a little too wide to get through the mail? I know it would hurt a lot, but I don’t think it would fully go through just looking at the tips of them. If it could, I don’t think it’d be good at it. That’s pretty much my only concern with the katana against knights, but if I’m wrong, then I’m wrong, I really don’t know anything about katanas and I’ve never had mail myself to know what it’s like, so I just have what I’ve seen on videos to go off of
I also talked about this problem in my video.
@@dequitem I must’ve missed that part or something. I might have to rewatch
Thanks for the video, very interesting.
11:48 What is the type of helmet you use here called?
Closed helmet. 1470.
The way you sheathed that O-Dachi made me sad
It's a weapon for training and war. It's not important to safe it.
ruclips.net/video/9T-M8zWwiUU/видео.html
"There is no big crossguard... so you have to use another way to block the strikes of the opponent, and you have to deflect the strikes so that the opponent's attack will slide downwards and leave the blade..."
This partially depends on the size of the tsuba, but if it's big enough to cover the hand then honestly, in my experience... this is untrue! You can still have it slide towards your 'hand'.
A lot of katana vs longsword HEMA videos record a lot of hand strikes on the katana, from two reasons: The longer weapon is free to hand snipe the shorter weapon; and our gloves are big and bulky enough that what would have been shielded by the shadow of the tsuba is instead counted as a hit because our gloves are bigger than the tsuba. If either of these things are untrue, then the only thing lost is actively pinch-trapping the opponent's blade between your blade and the crossguard. I speak more from Chinese experience (messing with the positions of Dandao Faxuan, and a Miaodao with a large 12cm disk guard that very much shields my gloved hand; 8cm would've shielded my ungloved hand and is within historical Japanese tsuba ranges incidentally) so perhaps the Japanese do not do such things, but the Dandao Faxuan manual very much has forms and instructions which imply this type of ordinary hard gathering block.
In fact, even if you have no guard at all, you can still pull off the usual guards; the real struggle there is that your positions have to be drastically more angled and exaggerated; your margin for error is terribly reduced. A crossguard or large disk guard means that even if your hands are on the same level as your opponent's in the block, you often get away with it. Lacking either (tiny tsuba/no guard at all), if you want to block an oberhau with a plow-like lower hanging from a gathering type motion, you have to have your hands much, much lower than your opponent's and actively angle your blade so as to prevent the blade from sliding into your hands by constraint of your opponent's natural wrist motion - and from there you can even take it into a muteren by pushing into the opponent's blade from this lower triangular position. A very similar position is visible in Meyer's rapier actually.
Yes you can, but most historical fights documents these different fighting styles.
You seem very media savvy. If you've seen Firefly, Josh Whedon did writing on Alien 4 and comparing the crew of the ship in Alien 4 to that of the Firefly is interesting.
Wrong video?
According to sekiro knights are only killable by gravity with samurai weapons
Unlike what weebs believe, even samurais with less armors still aimed to cut or thrust unprotected joints and back side of legs, not tried to cut "through" armors.
If you meant to use a sword as a main weapon agaist an armored foe, the method is clear. There aren't much differences between East and West as long as it is used by a human with 2 arms and 2 legs.
Can you do a goedendag or a kanabo or even a naginata if possible,thanks!
May i suggest lantern shield?
Goedendag - yes I will.
Kanabo isn't planned.
Naginata - possible in the future.
Lantern shield - nothing planned I don't have interest in building one.
@@dequitem i should be a seer lol 💀
👍
My friend is really into katanas and sword fighting. and he has 3 fully unsharpened katanas. Probably a stupid question because I think I know the anwser. Would investing In armor be worth it or would I be ok just with the normal blades?
Always a good idea to buy armor 😅
Spar (sparring) rhymes with car
First time I held a real katana I was more struck by the age and history of such a thing than anything else, and secondarily how small it was.
I have a really really good reproduction of a greatsword of war and I had it at the time, so the katana was a rather cute little blade in comparison.
But not that Okatana, it's longer than most longswords.
Yes, that Okatana is very much a battle sword. A sword of the Sengoku Jidai. It makes a lot of sense when you consider that swords became smaller in the following period of peace.
I love you dequitem pls remember me
😅 Hi.
3:50 what's the helmet that the knight on the left is wearing?
Wo bist du in dem Video? Mega schõn
Im Harz!
@@dequitem Sieht mega geil aus haha
I'm assuming that this would also work with Chinese Changdao/Miaodao as well?
Properly yes, but I never tried these weapons.
When I heard "Ow!" from that thrust right after you said it, yeah, that'll hurt. Great aim lol
😅
man how much did that armor cost? and where can a get tho's type of practiceing weapons
Dominus Gladius sells safe training weapons, if you wanna steel training weapons I can recommend Akado armory and Sigi forge.
now how about a tetsubo??
Where did you get the daggers?
Regenyei armory.
"Don't kill ÿour training partners." 😅😂
He says that after the Norman knight, wearing chain maile, was hit with a pole hammer. I'm certain he died. Or at least wished he had. That looked painful.
I was in the Norman armor.
@dequitem you didn't die! That's a relief! 😅😁
UUULALA!
Every time I look at the hamstring (back of upper thigh) armor opening I think it is vulnerable to hooking attacks with a halberd.
Yes but not that to get there.
A knight know about that weak spot.
@dequitem yes, they would have to guard the hamstring. I wonder how easily a hook to the back of the knee can throw the knight off balance - even if it does not cause a wound. Perhaps you will show us.
The armour missing from the back of the thigh is all part of a mounted knights harness. A harness designed for ground combat, like most English armour, has proper armour protection for this area.
Its one of the trade-offs. mounted, you cannot feel or give commands to the horse if plate armour is there, as well as without. The inner and rear thigh is against the horse and saddle, when mounted so cannot be easily attacked.
Jason Kingsley www.youtube.com/@ModernKnight has spoken about the control issue. As he jousts.
Ground focused armour has full thigh protection. It generally has a more flexible design around the ankle. The same area has thicker armour and a much less flexible, but more protective ankle design for mounted combat. As mounted troops will expect more hits to the lower legs from ground troops.
Here is a pic of Dr Toby Capwell's armour configured for multi purpose combat . As he has the lance cut-out pauldron on, but no mail for the rear of the knee and posterior , but the plate for the upper thigh attached. So mounted combat with some expectation for ground as well uk.pinterest.com/pin/7881368075041768/
The rear of armour is rather hard to find pictures of.
You got a Twt Dequitem?
Twt?
The most annoying part of a katana is, that it don't bend...therefore it fucks the armour. In this cases unrealistic. And again a samurai would go on ankles or back of the knees...a berserk too.
You mean the katana get fcked by the armor, not reverse!
Gravity
Roberrrrrr!!
I find it interesting how originally there was a Hollywood trope that katanas could cut through anything and were the best swords by far. And then as HEMA became popular that trope almost reversed to katanas being useless against armor. It’s interesting how both camps are exaggerations and there are really way more similarities than differences. Despite how passionate the European / Japanese culture fans can be about which is superior.
In truth, they are both just pointy metal sticks 🗡️
Want to fight with your armour afainst me, I do it plain, naked?...but you die alone cause of the thrown axes. If I have a Wakizashi too...good night.
Still a nice show!
🤨
Historical ones had practically no flex, which would make them good for stabs, but the edge would not have a good time against European armour and the steel quality was a lot worse than people think, they were made to be extremely well sharpened but they blunted incredibly easily and quickly. Your stand in is only similar in length and shape, iron was scarce in Japan and needed a lot of processing due to impurities, spring steel like yours would have been extremely desirable to them though honestly any of your armour would have been sort after as it was not within the technical limitations to make themselves unless they imported the materials, and even then they were used to local processes and not so much how to utilise what didn't have the same limitations.
Even modern Japanese blades are much much more easily done to a higher standard as they can separate the impurities long before they start forging the iron (not to say there aren't still limitations on place, their designs are specialised in one direction (making questionable quality steel into passable tools), they might be appreciated for their craftsmanship but the cost to quality ratio in not particularly good, and English, German or Spainish antique steel, which you can find in charity shops or your grandparents have are such better knives that it's ridiculous, unfortunately due to deindustrialisation your option is probably Chinese, in which case it's probably a cost for use decision, and master chefs will go with the top shelf or rather most of the people buying themselves Japanese knives will fancy themselves master chefs as they make the purchase).
The Chinese adopted weapon designs from the Japanese under the Ming, it should be noted however that the thing which defined the Japanese was much more their attitude to combat than the weapons they used, they were relentless, skilled and exceptionally brave, this counted for far more than what they used in most of the fights they had. Of course that means less in a fight between cannon or gun, and they wouldn't successfully take Korea but they still left a lasting impression, if not the best one (the Chinese stopped trading with them after some Japanese clans started a fight with each other in the trade quarter of a Chinese port and then managed to burn down a good part of the whole city, ironically the Europeans would start their trade with the Japanese in large part by just acting as middlemen in the trade with China).
The steel quality was a lot better than people think. All European accounts I've read about katana praise their cutting ability/durability/steel quality.
European swords are made in pretty much the same way, most were a composite of iron and steel and not all steel even into the 16th-17th century.
they have anti armor katana blade types, called "clam shell grind" which means it's edge is beefed up, to withstand steel contact