super long sword *sucks really bad at stabbing due to blade geometry can we just admit that out east they just made swords to look cool, but in terms of function limited themselves hard
i always layghed in the last samurai movie where tom cruise cuts trough a rifle stock and into the soldiers face that was like yea right that is a sword not a lightsaber xxD
Something that people seem to fail to realize about the effectiveness of polearms at close range is that a polearm is essentially a quarterstaff with a metal bit on the end to make it more deadly, but the metal bit for the most part does not prevent someone from using staff techniques with a polearm. Staves have plenty of ways to deal with opponents at close range, and polearms can use those, people just forget that you can hit with the shaft if necessary, and heavier staff techniques are hard to spar safely with because they are blunt force and tend to bypass armor.
@@scratchthesurface8084 I have sparring experience with it, as I do Kobudo I am also quite skilled with the staff. You can use a spear as a staff, if the lenght is right, and the techniques work as fine as with the staff, in some examples like trusts even better.
Would be interesting to see a comparison between the Nodachi against a European Greatsword/Zweihander. Considering they were both Cavalry stoppers and frontline troop weapons.
Jacek N While yes the majority of zweihanders saw use against pike formations binding up 5 or so pikes with long swing alot of Zweihanders were also deployed without Pike units themselves as a reinforcing role. Typically 2 zweihanders for every 60 pikemen/billmen.
Greatswords were not meant for use against cavalry. Sure, they were probably used on occasion, but spears and pikes and other polearms were preferable there. Greatswords were anti-polearm polearms. Specifically, they were used to break up pike formations.
uhm great swords being used as anti cavalry weapons depends on context, asian great swords were mostly used for this purpose, hence why the names for the chinese great swords and earliest japanese great swords translates to horse slaying sword or horse killing sword, sometimes killing is substituted with cutting. and as faar as european great swords go im aware of only two paintings showing the supposed use against pike formations and not one single written account. however they were commonly used as body guard weapons.
@@senseikensei7470 Guandao is an impartically weapon, it was use in more training or ceremonies than actual combat, naginata should be compare to podao.
you are tuley worthy of more than 150k subs, you are humble in explaining techniques and wise with all forms of educational topics. I love watching your videos because i know that they are filled to the brim with your charm and actual knowledge and not some biased opinion! thank you so much for everything you do and i hope to see the day you hit one million subs.
funny because wielding the spear is easier than any other weapon, and complete spear novices can destroy trained swordsman by sheer luck more than half the time
I remember seeing one of Skallagrims videos where he tried cutting the shaft of a historocally accurate spear. It took a good couple of whacks on a stationary spear, planted in the ground and he didn't actually "cut" it off, but rather made the wood crack/splinter. I think the reason why a lot of people believe that you can cut the shaft of a polearm or staff is because their experience with wood is usually with thin rods of pine or spruce (usually in the form of broom handles and the like). Now while pine and spruce is perfectly fine for mundane carpentry and as building material, it doesn't come anywhere near ash or oak. It's sort of like comparing aluminium to steel if we were to use metals as an example. A good analogy would be to look at a wood baseball bat. You'd have trouble cutting it even with an axe while it's lying on the ground, let alone someone wielding it, swining it around and in arms that will flex upon impact. That said, I don't know if I would completely discourage the tactic of hitting your opponents spear. Not with the goal of breaking the spear of course, but in order to break his guard. If he has a tight grip on his spear at any one point and you strike it with sufficient force, you could force him off balance. If his grip is too loose, then you might manage to disarm him. Hitting his spear to get the spear tip out of the way while closing the distance would also be beneficial to you since he'll have trouble employing the spear if you're basically in his face and the speartip is far behind you.
Sei un Grande Raph! As a Italo-Swiss with roots in italy and turkey i speak a few languages and i love how you sound! Its interesting to watch and hear. Since i live in switzerland I daily hear people talking other languages. In fact there are 4 languages here and nobody, absolutely nobody that i know or ever heard talks without an accent. And its funny to hear people from Tessin (Ticino) and people from Basel (Basilea) speaking the same language because the ticinese will speak with a huge italien (or Ticinese) accent while the people from Basel will have that typical German Accent. And hearing your pronunciation is absolutly stunning :) Kiip'ap de gudd work! :D
Man your knowledge on the medival style.weapons such as the Spear etc are amazing! Really enjoyed.your video man. I am still new to the Spear collecting and learning to properly use one. I look forward to your future videos on the spear. The Spear has become in the past 2 mos my favorite weapon to own and to study.
Been watching the channel for a while. Superb content, many thanks for this! Another -point- thing in favor of spears; According to the Civilization series, deploying spear formations on hills can be a cost effective strategy to shoo off tanks. I assume they brace against the ground, improving formation rigidity. : >
They both have their purposes. Unless in formation with others , spears have a better range but a bit less ability to engage multiple enemies, whereas the nodachi would likely do better with multiple enemies rather than a single spearman. As with all weapons of war its how they are used and how they are supported that generally wins out over blunt force. Great video, thanks!
I really like Nodachis/Odachis, I think they're really elegant weapons. There were some image of Nodachis I've seen that had such a long hand they were almost like spears, and some with blades so curved they were almost crescents.
One additional benefit with a nodachi is probably also that it is easier to retreive than a spear? Imagine if you plunge your spear into an advancing horse. Perhaps you bring the horse down, but if your spear is deep inside a collapsing horse, you might be unarmed. When using a nodachi to cut a horse as it passes, you are free to attack the next opponent.
Some tips from a spear guy. When two-handing, remember that a small movement of your hand makes for a big motion up front. A minute movement of both hands translates to a big movement of the tip, allowing for incredibly fast redirection. You are also going a bit too wide with your swings. Keep the movements tight and the point between you and your foe. When using the spear one-handed with a shield in single combat, do not hang your point out like your friend does. Hold the spear so the point is barely past your shield to deny your opponent control over it (while granting you maximum control). You can't effectively use the spear's reach in single combat with a single hand, thus you must trade that advantage off in exchange for the protection of a shield. When fighting against a spearman passing steps are your greatest ally. If you are using a shield you should stand shield-side forward, and do a passing step as you close to cover the most distance quickly while also putting your weapon-side forward for the biggest effective gain. When you don't have a shield, a similar principle applies. Don't forget that you can grab a spear if the opportunity presents itself.
I prefer underarm myself, but each grip has its merits. With underarm you have more control over the spear (especially when you remember to use your elbow and torso in conjunction with your hand as part of a lever to catch the spear when knocked aside or otherwise manipulate the point), but your attacks are all limited to the opponent's left side (which really sucks when they have a big shield). With overarm you have less control and can't strike low very easily (all your attacks are downward angles) but you can strike the opponent's upper-right side. One technique a lot of people cite regarding this debate is the throwing slide, which is where you basically throw the spear and let it slide through your hand while not letting it slip out fully (Thegnthrand has several videos showing this technique). You can do this with both the overarm and underarm grips (the technique maximizes the range of motion you have to accelerate the spear). However it is like the one-handed reaching thrust with a longsword in that it is fairly situational. In single combat there aren't often situations where the sliding technique is the better choice (though if your foe underestimates your reach you can use it to hit him when he doesn't think you can), at least from my experience. It comes down to what you are more comfortable with and what you are fighting against.
Minor point perhaps, but it does not look as if the sword is cutting through the staff. The staff breaks, which is because it hasn't been cut parallel to the grain of the wood. I have a jo that I've owned for fourty years and it's stil in one piece because the grain runs all the way through. I've seen quite a few broken, sometimes by mine, because they were improperly made. Same principle applies when you're looking for timber for construction, buying a wooden baseball bat etc. As to cutting through wood with a sharp blade: For obvious reasons one would not use a very soft kind of wood for the shaft. Cutting through, for example, oak is impossible even with the relatively thin jo. That being said you will see jo versus katana kata where the katana is met at an oblique angle. This way the diameter of the wood is much larger and the nick won't weaken the jo too much.
plus I would add that (I skallagrim pointed out once) effective use of a sword tends to need more practice of effective use of a speer (effective, not proper). Specially (but I'm not sure about it) if you think of a unit of swordmen against a unit of spearmen.
I would love to see you expand on what you were saying about the tanto being a fine choice for defeating an armored opponent. Maybe a vid focused on knife combat with respect to Japanese history.
How about spear vs. Naginata? I am curious mostly because I don't know a whole lot about how Naginata's are used and I'd be interested in how they compare as a polearm to a more traditional spear.
I think most stories or depictions of "cutting an opponents weapon in half" were simply the weapon failing from overuse or lack of maintenance. Eventually, even the best made things wear out.
kanabo dont really have that much length, and they ranged heavily in size and weight. infact the older ones ive seen all appear to be thinner and lighter then the more modern examples.
bmxriderforlife1234 I see your point, but i dont think Metatron would have a problem covering that, given the comparison he did between Roman armour and Japanese armour despite the many variations of both:)
mryupjup Yep, but I am still very interested for Metatron to talk about Kanabo more in depth. Like the cases where it was used and whatnot. For example, Scutum + Gladius is pretty bad in isolated combat(1v1) but great in formation fighting. so i wanna see what situations can take away a Kanabo's weaknesses and capitalise on it's strengths:)
the kanabo was mostly a shock tactic weapon from my understanding, wasnt really used for its advantages but more to strike fear into the enemy. id like to hear more about the kanabo as well but honestly i think a comparison to polearms is pretty pointless.
we were using two wooden sticks same thickness as the one you show to represend swords in our theater play, during the dual scene one of the shafts actaully broke the other in half. So it doesnt matter that your sword was blunt, it has to do with the material the shaft is made of.
xD 0:12 Damn, dude! I was just saying that black on black (or blue!) is hard to see, especially when you're trying to show that thing to the camera. It was still a good video, much like this one!
Quite an interesting video, and cool to see someone who actually prefers a spear in battle over the sword. Though bringing up the mention of cost, it does make me wonder as someone who has started to take an interest in possibly collecting weapons. Does a spear cost significantly less than a sword? One would assume so, considering so much less metal is used and you only have to grind an edge and point onto a much smaller amount of material; then merely fasten it to a pole. And repair is also more simple, I know Skallagrim did a video a month or so ago demonstrating how easy it is to re-haft an axe.
the jumper is blue! I am curious to see what Raff thinks of Nioh's swordplay vs. For Honour's. They're similar enough that fair comparison can be made.
Depends on the angle of the cut. A 45 degree angle might do it, a 90 degree angle will never do it, and A 30 degree angle will do it most of the time (If your blade is sharp). I can cut a good 2 inches into a small tree for every single cut I make with my axe, and it should take me about two minutes to cut down a tree that is a foot in diameter depending on the hardness of the wood. however I am using a razor sharp axe with a 2lb head on it with a Scandinavian grind. Also, using a Japanese sword on that staff, it looks like it’d be harder to cut in half than that staff you had before. It looks like a hard, well seasoned piece of wood you have there.
Zhanmadao was more useful against armored cavalry, because though the horse is armored, its legs are not. The "horse cutting cleaver" was known to be put to effective use by Yue Fei against heavy Jurchen armored cavalry. And what you said at the end of the video is a very good guess. General QiJiGuang actually preferred to use pikes against infantry, rather than using them against cavalry. He says this on the basis that pikes could break their shafts when used against cavalry. This might not sound so important in European battlefields in which pikemen almost always outnumber cavalry by a large margin. But when fighting the Mongols/Manchus, whose superior mobility allow local superiority in numbers, but also have multiple horses per soldier, broken pike shafts becomes a problem. Against these enemies, pike block may not be able to afford to exchange one of their pikes for one enemy horse (early Manchu and Jurchen cavalry had heavily armored horses). Quote from QiJiGuang: 中原之地，兼防内盗贼，可用长枪与敌战，则长枪难用何也？敌马万众齐冲，势如风雨而来，枪身细长惟有一戳， 彼众马一拥，枪便断折，是一枪仅可伤一马，则不复可用矣。惟有双手长刀藤牌，但北方无藤，而以轻便木为之，重不过十斤，亦可用。以牌蔽身牌内，单 刀滚去，只是低头砍马足，此步兵最利者也。 Transation: Within the Central Plains, when countering bandits, we can use long pikes to battle the enemy, then how is the long pike difficult to use? It is when 10,000 enemy cavalry are charging with a power like that of a rainstorm. A pike's long thin body can only be used to stab, and upon contact with a horse, the pike will break. This is having one pike only injuring one horse, hence the pike is not reusable. We have ChangDao and rattan shields wielded by a pair of hands, but the north have no rattan, but light wood that weighs no more than 10 jin. These can also be used. When the body is concealed behind the shield, and with head downcast [the soldiers] roll forward with the Changdao to cut the horse's leg, this is how infantry becomes victorious. Also don't let Qing battle art full you. These artists, like Reinassance painters, paint Manchu cavalry of THEIR time, even though the battle took place a hundred years or more before. When the Manchus were fighting the Ming, Manchu battle horses were armored. The following is a Korean description of Manchu armies during that time. 一哨之中，别抄百，长甲百，短甲百，两重甲百，别抄着水银甲，万军之中，表表易认，行则在后，阵则居内，专 用于决战 Rough Translation For every one Shao (military unit of 400 troops), there's one hundred Bayara (Jurchen elite guard), one hundred that wear long armor, one hundred that wear short armor, and one hundred that wear two armors. Bayara wear quicksilver armor, even in an army of ten thousand they are easily recognizable. They stay at the back during march, and in the middle during battle, and specialized in decisive battle. Ming account again: 編五牛彔為一隊,行則一路,止則一處,依次而下,戰則攻一處。披長厚甲者,執長矛及長柄大刀戰於前,披輕網 甲者持弓箭從後射之。所選精兵騎馬立於他處觀之,見有不勝,相機助戰。故每戰皆能取勝。 Rough Translation (Jurchen) organize five Niru (Jurchen military unit based on their hunting custom/party, originally 10 people, but gradually expanded) intoone unit, they marched on one road, and stopped at one place. They dismounted one by one, and during battle they attacked the same target. Those who wore long and thick armor and wielded long spear and long-handled glaive fought at the front, those who wore "light web armor" (probably chainmail?) wielded bows and arrows and shoot from behind. Picked elite troops mounted on their horse and stood at other place to observe, if they saw the battle was not won, they would wait for the chance to reinforce the line. That's why Jurchen won every battle they fought.
Have you looked at the 1st and 2nd Miaodao forms? Each is an anti spear form. One using more binds and grabs, the other using rapid angled stepping and covering to close. The 1st is from the Ming Changdao, the second is from the Late Qing/Early Republic period. If you're interested I can provide links.
Grats on the subs! Btw I think you you will like NIOH of course but it's like dark souls so I know u did a rant on that lol enjoy it it's a very fun aggressive game but if u didn't like the high risk high reward mechanics of dark souls, you might have a nasty time with this game.
I haven't got a chance to try on real or replica nodachi and spears yet (Only SCA weapon, but I have a feeling those can't be used to represent the real ones). But from what I heard of its function and for the asthetic preference, I would take a long (and a bit wide) bladed spear over nodachi. It is a still spear, and it can be used as a lance, and it can still cut/chop as well.
Not sure the bo was cut as much as split. I looks like the break followed the wood grain in a diagonal, meaning it could have broken the same place if it hit anything hard. Had the woodgrain gone lengthwise it would likely have held. Modern methods of making wooden shafts via sawing and sanding, creates straight shafts but not durable. Medieval method of splitting the wood lengthwise means the grain follows the shaft. Just my thought on this :)
Last boss of the internet Metatron in the white cape wielding Nodachi, i know you prefer the spear but the looks are badass. I am watching this late 80's to late 90's sci-fi anime Legend of the galactic heroes,there is war between empire and alliance and the leader of the empire is called Kaiser. Empire's main protagonist has white cape, and wants to conquer the universe
Let me put forth the following for your consideration. 1) Chinese sources do record spear heads being cut off by the nodachi carried by the Japanese raiders. Granted they used softer ash to make spear shafts in the South and Northern spears were stiffer, but that was indeed done historically. 2) The blade doesn't have to cut off spears head in order to be effective. Just binding the spears with the blade would give the swordman a temporary advantage to close in. The blade is there to make it stick and knock the spearman off balance for that split second. 3) The Chinese did adopted the nodachi to be some kind of standard weapons, but they were infantry weapons not for counter cavalry.
I have a nodachi and it just feels cumbersome with such a short handle. I have asked the manufacturer for a nagamki handle, but they were unable to supply, even though they claimed to be 'manufacturers'. If you know of any suppliers able to provide nagamaki handles for a nodchi upgrade, would be appreciated.
Congrats for reaching the 150 K! You TOTALLY deserve it; I myself subscribed when you had like 12 K subs and did watch almost every vid since then. Greetings from your neighbour-country (to Italy) Austria!
Would you look into something modern? Given your focus on Japanese swords I'd like to see you review some variations on tactical wakizashi, particularly ones with an ito wrap like the hisshou.
On cutting a spear shaft, in the example you show there was "car crash physics" - both weapons were moving towards each other. This means all of his force, and all of your force impacted the wood. If someone swings a spear at you in an arc, instead of thrusting, you can use their own power behind the swing, plus your power to help cut it. But I think most spear shafts broke on their second or third opponent, not from a lucky cut.
Great video. On the subject of cutting the shaft though. You forgot to mention that a spear is wielded in a way such that any cut you could make to the shaft would be at a low angle. So the sword would probably glance off taking only a small amount of wood. Unless you happened to get lucky and hit just the right point on the grain.
Sword were cavalry weapon and status symbol that You was carrying all the time. Also civilian carried swords/big knifes. On battlefield sword in most cases probably was not main weapon.
Swords generally require a lot more skill to use. They require solid footwork, understanding of distance and fast reaction to opportunity (the list goes on). Although if you can master the sword, you will be a lot stronger with the spear. A spear is just the safer option and very effective. However, do not think of Metatron as a good example of a trained swordsman. He needs a lot of work, just look at his footwork it's terrible. On another note, in more confined space the sword is probably stronger as the spearman has to be able to move backwards to avoid a skilled swordsman getting passed the point of the spear.
hey noblest one!! id love a video comparing/contrasting the japanese concept do (as in budo) with dao (as in daosim). particularly curious as daoism relates to chan and zen buddism. cheers!
I've heard spears are also best for those with little to no combat experience. Thrusting is a lot easier than cutting or striking, and the reach suits a beginner perfectly. Add to that easy recovery and range control of a spear...and it seems like the best weapon for anyone but a specialist of some kind.
I slowed down the footage and saw that you didn't actually cut through the weapon. The bo was actually shivered apart. if you pause at the moment of contact, you can see that the opposite side of the bo staff is where the split actually began. you hit the bo at the perfect spot to shiver it apart.
I'm sorry if you already made a video about this that I just didn't see, but I'm interested to learn why shields weren't very common in Japanese warfare. I'm always told that bows were extremely effective weapons in historical combat and that shields were the main defense against them. Clearly the Japanese used bows as we've seen from many examples, so what did they do to defend against them?
One disadvantage a spear has over a sword or other bladed weapons, which mainly applies to unit on unit combat, such as a battlefield, is that a spear is hard to turn around to a new facing due to it's length. If an army is able to get a flank attack on a unit using spears, or a 2 pronged attack where they can have a unit repeatedly threatening the flanks, forcing the spearmen to have to keep turning around, it can actually tire out the spear users and leave them vulnerable. From what I understand, that's how the Romans defeated the famous Spartan Phalanxes, is by getting units to keep attacking them from the sides, so the Spartans would have to keep turning around with their spears which would wear them down, then the Romans would go in for the kill once they'd sufficiently worn the Spartans down, or managed to get a successful flank engagement in. The Romans used their short Gladius and the Spartans used their spears as their respective primary weapons, of course.
Could you please talk about counter armor strategies and techniques? I only found your half swording video about this topic from which seemed to be most about using it as a tool to get them unarmed or on the ground. Are there any ways to fight it with more "swordlike" actions? Or how spears, blunt weapons could works. Like anything they used against heavy infantry. Love your videos btw (but you need white hair too for visibility reasons :)
Nem Denemam I'm not nearly as knowledgeable as metatron about this but grappling was very useful, along with daggers. The Persians during the middle ages used a shamshir with a buckler while holding a dagger in an icepick grip.
Metatron, great video - as ever, but I must contradict you about one point. You did not cut your friend's staff. You broke it. I am not a swordsman but I am pretty good with a woodcutter's axe. In my experience it is very, very unlikely, if not downright impossible to cut something even as thin as that staff, let alone a pole arm shaft, with one blow, if it is being held in someone's hands. There is just too much give in the system. Put it on a solid surface, say a chopping block, and a good sharp axe will cut something as thick as a spear shaft, no worries. This is not to say that pole arms did not break in battle but I suspect that they would have to sustain repeated blows, or suffer some other mishap.
One small point. I would argue that the nodachi would be, on avg, less durable than a pole arm, on avg. I say this because Nodachi, like all japanese swords, have brittle edges that, when broken, lead to severely compromised structural integrity and thus a weapon prone to catastrophic failure. The pole arm, on the other hand, has no such problem. We must remember that, although wood is easy to chop through in the right conditions, it is relatively hard to cut through wood that is not well supported and which absorbs much of the energy from the strike by moving with the energy. This is what happens when a person holds a long pole and it is struck- it moves a good amount. Pair this with the hazard that chopping at such poles would cause to the integrity of the nodachi blade, and the fact that this proneness to damage would probably make such intentional strikes to the pole arm undesirable, and we can see that, more often than not, the pole arm could be considered the more durable weapon. Also, spears are thrust-centric while the nodachi is cut-centric. Thus, the pole arm, if looked in this light, should be considered far far more durable. This is because the nodachi is utilizing a tactic that is inherently more violent to the construction of any elongated weapon, while the spear uses a tactic that is particularly easy on a pole. Think Eiffel Tower-esque steel structure vs crane arm...we know what can support more weight.
In my honest opinion, an odachi is a better anti-horseman weapon, spear is a better anti-cavalry weapon. I mean, if you are fighting out from a formation, you can possibly make a massacre of mounted fighters using an odachi, but only when the fight is on and cavalry has lost the momentum of attack. Against charging cavalry, nothing is better then a wall of spears, except pikes. I can't immagine an effective "wall of odachis" instead.
the swordd if you look at the history footnote that was either used from horseback or if used from the ground it was most likely used against the horse itself
I love how I found this channel only a few weeks ago and you are easily one of my favorite channels.Your right there with Skall. I do appreciate how you do post more but Skall may not have the time. Anyways, congratulations on 150k subs you deserve it and much more.
have you found scholagladitoria yet? he might be up your alley. there is also swordsage if you have any interest in chinese martial arts and sword play, and if you just want to see sword reviews then check out Matthew Jensen, he does reviews and other videos on some pretty friggin sweet swords. from customs made in america to actual nihonto.
Samurai Metatron I have carved a Nodachi Sword out of wood and me and my friend have fenced, he used a "double bladed" stick can you teach me and some other people how to block a double bladed spear and to strike? And please tell me about the Dundau Sword, its culture and history..
Along with Miyamoto Musashi, my favorite historical samurai/ninja is Hattori Hanzō (服部 半蔵, ~1542[1] - November 4, 1596). A native of Iga, Mikawa Province - one of the most famous historical home areas of ninja in Japan - Hattori was renowned for his sōjutsu (槍術), or fighting with the Japanese spear, or yari (槍). Hattori's greatest feat was rescuing Tokugawa Ieyasu (徳川 家康, January 31, 1543 - June 1, 1616) - the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate (1603-1868), which ruled Japan for over 260 years - to safety in Mikawa Province with the help of the remnants of the Iga ninja clans, as well as with their one-time rivals, the ninja in Koga. As an American of Japanese descent, while I admire samurai and ninja and such, if I were a samurai living during the Sengoku period, or any time when the samurai class existed in Japan, I think I too would prefer Japanese polearms in general, and Japanese spears in particular, including those with more than one blade per shaft, to Japanese swords as my primary weapon: ruclips.net/video/R_g2s_33Y1I/видео.html; ruclips.net/video/uj1Fv07wvlw/видео.html; ruclips.net/video/CMGndnqlpz4/видео.html; ruclips.net/video/fLSGgTr-b_8/видео.html; ruclips.net/video/4fZO9PhOoTU/видео.html; ruclips.net/video/0-ZHHKU1DPc/видео.html; ruclips.net/video/fCXJGKvdy1g/видео.html; ruclips.net/video/fCXJGKvdy1g/видео.html.
People forget how effective Polearms are because of videogame nonsense and that swords are just "cooler". Spears and Pikes ruled most ancient battlefields right up until the invention of guns. Swords in most cases were back up weapons in case your enemy closed in on you or your spear broke.
Don't care how superior spears are swords are still better, anybody can use a damn spear just thrust it into someone, Swords actually require legitamate skill to use.
People need to stop being jealous of how long the nodachi is, don't hate, be happy with what the gods blessed you with.
Lol
super long sword
*sucks really bad at stabbing due to blade geometry
can we just admit that out east they just made swords to look cool, but in terms of function limited themselves hard
i always layghed in the last samurai movie where tom cruise cuts trough a rifle stock and into the soldiers face that was like yea right that is a sword not a lightsaber xxD
The whole idea of them using swords on the late 19th century is silly.
@@edersonnico swords are still used. They were used in wwII and later wars
Toshiro Obama has cut 5” into a steel helmet
Something that people seem to fail to realize about the effectiveness of polearms at close range is that a polearm is essentially a quarterstaff with a metal bit on the end to make it more deadly, but the metal bit for the most part does not prevent someone from using staff techniques with a polearm. Staves have plenty of ways to deal with opponents at close range, and polearms can use those, people just forget that you can hit with the shaft if necessary, and heavier staff techniques are hard to spar safely with because they are blunt force and tend to bypass armor.
do you have sparring experience with it?
@@scratchthesurface8084 I have sparring experience with it, as I do Kobudo I am also quite skilled with the staff. You can use a spear as a staff, if the lenght is right, and the techniques work as fine as with the staff, in some examples like trusts even better.
Would be interesting to see a comparison between the Nodachi against a European Greatsword/Zweihander. Considering they were both Cavalry stoppers and frontline troop weapons.
A zweihander was not a cavalry stopper. They were mostly used against pikemen. So it's pretty much the opposite use.
Jacek N While yes the majority of zweihanders saw use against pike formations binding up 5 or so pikes with long swing alot of Zweihanders were also deployed without Pike units themselves as a reinforcing role. Typically 2 zweihanders for every 60 pikemen/billmen.
Greatswords were not meant for use against cavalry. Sure, they were probably used on occasion, but spears and pikes and other polearms were preferable there. Greatswords were anti-polearm polearms. Specifically, they were used to break up pike formations.
Ofcourse it'd always be preferred to have pikes. But I was just stating they could be used to help with cavalry like the Nodachi was.
uhm great swords being used as anti cavalry weapons depends on context, asian great swords were mostly used for this purpose, hence why the names for the chinese great swords and earliest japanese great swords translates to horse slaying sword or horse killing sword, sometimes killing is substituted with cutting.
and as faar as european great swords go im aware of only two paintings showing the supposed use against pike formations and not one single written account. however they were commonly used as body guard weapons.
lets do Naginata vs Spear next~
Naginata should be compare with glaive or fauchard.
@@pirotess2 maybe against a guandao
@@senseikensei7470 Guandao is an impartically weapon, it was use in more training or ceremonies than actual combat, naginata should be compare to podao.
But... Naginata is, basically, a spear aka long stick, but with long blade
@@ДобрыйКит-у3р polearm
you are tuley worthy of more than 150k subs, you are humble in explaining techniques and wise with all forms of educational topics. I love watching your videos because i know that they are filled to the brim with your charm and actual knowledge and not some biased opinion! thank you so much for everything you do and i hope to see the day you hit one million subs.
"A very unskilled opponent who's wielding the spear improperly"
So basically, your average Yari Ashigaru
*Angry Oda clan noises*
Our men are running from the battlefield!
@@kaydens6964 qhat a shamefull Display of Our troops
funny because wielding the spear is easier than any other weapon, and complete spear novices can destroy trained swordsman by sheer luck more than half the time
@@escapetherace1943 My Katana Samurai charging downhill say otherwise
Right up until the moment a second unit of enemy Yari Ashigaru come up
I remember seeing one of Skallagrims videos where he tried cutting the shaft of a historocally accurate spear.
It took a good couple of whacks on a stationary spear, planted in the ground and he didn't actually "cut" it off, but rather made the wood crack/splinter.
I think the reason why a lot of people believe that you can cut the shaft of a polearm or staff is because their experience with wood is usually with thin rods of pine or spruce (usually in the form of broom handles and the like). Now while pine and spruce is perfectly fine for mundane carpentry and as building material, it doesn't come anywhere near ash or oak. It's sort of like comparing aluminium to steel if we were to use metals as an example.
A good analogy would be to look at a wood baseball bat. You'd have trouble cutting it even with an axe while it's lying on the ground, let alone someone wielding it, swining it around and in arms that will flex upon impact.
That said, I don't know if I would completely discourage the tactic of hitting your opponents spear. Not with the goal of breaking the spear of course, but in order to break his guard.
If he has a tight grip on his spear at any one point and you strike it with sufficient force, you could force him off balance. If his grip is too loose, then you might manage to disarm him.
Hitting his spear to get the spear tip out of the way while closing the distance would also be beneficial to you since he'll have trouble employing the spear if you're basically in his face and the speartip is far behind you.
Problem with that method of test is in combat the spear is moving and it’s velocity and angle add to the swords.
Sei un Grande Raph!
As a Italo-Swiss with roots in italy and turkey i speak a few languages and i love how you sound! Its interesting to watch and hear. Since i live in switzerland I daily hear people talking other languages. In fact there are 4 languages here and nobody, absolutely nobody that i know or ever heard talks without an accent. And its funny to hear people from Tessin (Ticino) and people from Basel (Basilea) speaking the same language because the ticinese will speak with a huge italien (or Ticinese) accent while the people from Basel will have that typical German Accent.
And hearing your pronunciation is absolutly stunning :)
Kiip'ap de gudd work! :D
Man your knowledge on the medival style.weapons such as the Spear etc are amazing! Really enjoyed.your video man. I am still new to the Spear collecting and learning to properly use one. I look forward to your future videos on the spear. The Spear has become in the past 2 mos my favorite weapon to own and to study.
Nodachi also seems like a pain in the ass to carry around.
You should see lindybeige's video on how zweihanders were carried. They might not be as much pain in the ass as you might of thought.
The nodachi is surprisingly light, if well made.
this channel is many thing in one
you got gaming, History, Weapons, Armor, "Debunking" and etc.
im still going thru your video right now
Been watching the channel for a while. Superb content, many thanks for this!
Another -point- thing in favor of spears; According to the Civilization series, deploying spear formations on hills can be a cost effective strategy to shoo off tanks.
I assume they brace against the ground, improving formation rigidity. : >
In soviet Russia spears cut swords.
GermanCurl In Soviet Russia you protect armor
Braden Vande Plasse
In Soviet Russia tank drives you.
Nvm, apparently that was in China.
Braden Vande Plasse You mean soldiers riding on top of APCs?
GermanCurl in Soviet Russia, you hold a sword by its blade and strike with the pommel.
Well, if you can call a berdysh a type of spear...
They both have their purposes. Unless in formation with others , spears have a better range but a bit less ability to engage multiple enemies, whereas the nodachi would likely do better with multiple enemies rather than a single spearman. As with all weapons of war its how they are used and how they are supported that generally wins out over blunt force.
Great video, thanks!
I love the fact that whatever your interest, if you talk passionately about it, you can build a decent following. Congratulations on your success.
Great video! Really looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the game, Nioh. I really enjoyed it and thought it was a lot of fun. Cheers!
youre a nice guy thanks for that there's not many in the world now dont change
I always appreciate your unbiased views. Many sword buffs are total purists with either European or Japanese swords.
Great video, as always!
Thank you very much for that and keep up the good work with your videos :)
Metatron I love your Takeda clan Samurai curiass
Metatron My two favorite clans during the Sengoku Jidai was the Otani & Shimazu clans.
Thank you. I would like to start making videos again, hopefully before too long.
Thanks Metatron! I'll try to make another video soon :)
I really like Nodachis/Odachis, I think they're really elegant weapons. There were some image of Nodachis I've seen that had such a long hand they were almost like spears, and some with blades so curved they were almost crescents.
BEAUTIFUL BLADES my friend..
I want a Nodachi Sword from For Honor
Congratulations Metatron. Keep up the quality content.
YESS!! Ive been wondering about this topic for quite some while!! Thank you!
One additional benefit with a nodachi is probably also that it is easier to retreive than a spear? Imagine if you plunge your spear into an advancing horse. Perhaps you bring the horse down, but if your spear is deep inside a collapsing horse, you might be unarmed. When using a nodachi to cut a horse as it passes, you are free to attack the next opponent.
That's a very good that's why I don't give the spear all of the credit I would use the nodachi it would do a lot of damage.
You have taught me something with every post. Thank you, Raf.
Some tips from a spear guy. When two-handing, remember that a small movement of your hand makes for a big motion up front. A minute movement of both hands translates to a big movement of the tip, allowing for incredibly fast redirection. You are also going a bit too wide with your swings. Keep the movements tight and the point between you and your foe.
When using the spear one-handed with a shield in single combat, do not hang your point out like your friend does. Hold the spear so the point is barely past your shield to deny your opponent control over it (while granting you maximum control). You can't effectively use the spear's reach in single combat with a single hand, thus you must trade that advantage off in exchange for the protection of a shield.
When fighting against a spearman passing steps are your greatest ally. If you are using a shield you should stand shield-side forward, and do a passing step as you close to cover the most distance quickly while also putting your weapon-side forward for the biggest effective gain. When you don't have a shield, a similar principle applies. Don't forget that you can grab a spear if the opportunity presents itself.
I prefer underarm myself, but each grip has its merits. With underarm you have more control over the spear (especially when you remember to use your elbow and torso in conjunction with your hand as part of a lever to catch the spear when knocked aside or otherwise manipulate the point), but your attacks are all limited to the opponent's left side (which really sucks when they have a big shield). With overarm you have less control and can't strike low very easily (all your attacks are downward angles) but you can strike the opponent's upper-right side.
One technique a lot of people cite regarding this debate is the throwing slide, which is where you basically throw the spear and let it slide through your hand while not letting it slip out fully (Thegnthrand has several videos showing this technique). You can do this with both the overarm and underarm grips (the technique maximizes the range of motion you have to accelerate the spear). However it is like the one-handed reaching thrust with a longsword in that it is fairly situational. In single combat there aren't often situations where the sliding technique is the better choice (though if your foe underestimates your reach you can use it to hit him when he doesn't think you can), at least from my experience.
It comes down to what you are more comfortable with and what you are fighting against.
Finally Metatron is going to play Nioh.... A much better representation of Japanese 戦国時代 armour and weapon than For honor did.
ルリ scarletwing your parents hate you
James O'Morain That is why I live half a earth from them.
For honor is a good game. buggy because OH UBISOFT but a good game with good-ish representation
ルリ scarletwing To be fair, For Honor never claimed to be a good historical representation of each of the faction's armor.
well it not like longsword of for honor looks realistic with all that bulkiness and decorations :)
I really enjoyed your interactive videos series. Please do more.
A rising 'hello noble ones' at the beginning... that's some high-level stuff. Level 40 wizard shit.
Minor point perhaps, but it does not look as if the sword is cutting through the staff. The staff breaks, which is because it hasn't been cut parallel to the grain of the wood. I have a jo that I've owned for fourty years and it's stil in one piece because the grain runs all the way through. I've seen quite a few broken, sometimes by mine, because they were improperly made. Same principle applies when you're looking for timber for construction, buying a wooden baseball bat etc.
As to cutting through wood with a sharp blade: For obvious reasons one would not use a very soft kind of wood for the shaft. Cutting through, for example, oak is impossible even with the relatively thin jo. That being said you will see jo versus katana kata where the katana is met at an oblique angle. This way the diameter of the wood is much larger and the nick won't weaken the jo too much.
plus I would add that (I skallagrim pointed out once) effective use of a sword tends to need more practice of effective use of a speer (effective, not proper). Specially (but I'm not sure about it) if you think of a unit of swordmen against a unit of spearmen.
I would love to see you expand on what you were saying about the tanto being a fine choice for defeating an armored opponent. Maybe a vid focused on knife combat with respect to Japanese history.
You deserve the growth m8
How about spear vs. Naginata? I am curious mostly because I don't know a whole lot about how Naginata's are used and I'd be interested in how they compare as a polearm to a more traditional spear.
I think most stories or depictions of "cutting an opponents weapon in half" were simply the weapon failing from overuse or lack of maintenance. Eventually, even the best made things wear out.
great video, always like your weapon comparison videos! Not a fan of the black background tho
So where does the Naginata come into the picture?
Hey man, you're gonna love Nioh. My only bit of advice is to use visitors as much as possible. Happy gaming!
Can you do a Kanabo vs Poleaxe/Halberd please?!!!
Since both of them are heavy weapons with considerable reach!
kanabo dont really have that much length, and they ranged heavily in size and weight. infact the older ones ive seen all appear to be thinner and lighter then the more modern examples.
bmxriderforlife1234 I see your point, but i dont think Metatron would have a problem covering that, given the comparison he did between Roman armour and Japanese armour despite the many variations of both:)
mryupjup Yep, but I am still very interested for Metatron to talk about Kanabo more in depth. Like the cases where it was used and whatnot. For example, Scutum + Gladius is pretty bad in isolated combat(1v1) but great in formation fighting. so i wanna see what situations can take away a Kanabo's weaknesses and capitalise on it's strengths:)
the kanabo was mostly a shock tactic weapon from my understanding, wasnt really used for its advantages but more to strike fear into the enemy. id like to hear more about the kanabo as well but honestly i think a comparison to polearms is pretty pointless.
Nice video.
I wouldn't mind learning about distance/thrown weapons. Shuriken, throwing knives, blow darts, etc.
If that's possible.
Congratulations on 150k!! You definitely deserve them!
Chris
we were using two wooden sticks same thickness as the one you show to represend swords in our theater play, during the dual scene one of the shafts actaully broke the other in half. So it doesnt matter that your sword was blunt, it has to do with the material the shaft is made of.
xD 0:12
Damn, dude! I was just saying that black on black (or blue!) is hard to see, especially when you're trying to show that thing to the camera. It was still a good video, much like this one!
your work is so great and I always watch your videos... I also learned many things about roman and medieval history from you
Quite an interesting video, and cool to see someone who actually prefers a spear in battle over the sword. Though bringing up the mention of cost, it does make me wonder as someone who has started to take an interest in possibly collecting weapons. Does a spear cost significantly less than a sword?
One would assume so, considering so much less metal is used and you only have to grind an edge and point onto a much smaller amount of material; then merely fasten it to a pole. And repair is also more simple, I know Skallagrim did a video a month or so ago demonstrating how easy it is to re-haft an axe.
the jumper is blue! I am curious to see what Raff thinks of Nioh's swordplay vs. For Honour's. They're similar enough that fair comparison can be made.
Depends on the angle of the cut. A 45 degree angle might do it, a 90 degree angle will never do it, and A 30 degree angle will do it most of the time (If your blade is sharp). I can cut a good 2 inches into a small tree for every single cut I make with my axe, and it should take me about two minutes to cut down a tree that is a foot in diameter depending on the hardness of the wood. however I am using a razor sharp axe with a 2lb head on it with a Scandinavian grind. Also, using a Japanese sword on that staff, it looks like it’d be harder to cut in half than that staff you had before. It looks like a hard, well seasoned piece of wood you have there.
Zhanmadao was more useful against armored cavalry, because though the horse is armored, its legs are not. The "horse cutting cleaver" was known to be put to effective use by Yue Fei against heavy Jurchen armored cavalry.
And what you said at the end of the video is a very good guess. General QiJiGuang actually preferred to use pikes against infantry, rather than using them against cavalry. He says this on the basis that pikes could break their shafts when used against cavalry. This might not sound so important in European battlefields in which pikemen almost always outnumber cavalry by a large margin. But when fighting the Mongols/Manchus, whose superior mobility allow local superiority in numbers, but also have multiple horses per soldier, broken pike shafts becomes a problem. Against these enemies, pike block may not be able to afford to exchange one of their pikes for one enemy horse (early Manchu and Jurchen cavalry had heavily armored horses).
Quote from QiJiGuang:
中原之地，兼防内盗贼，可用长枪与敌战，则长枪难用何也？敌马万众齐冲，势如风雨而来，枪身细长惟有一戳， 彼众马一拥，枪便断折，是一枪仅可伤一马，则不复可用矣。惟有双手长刀藤牌，但北方无藤，而以轻便木为之，重不过十斤，亦可用。以牌蔽身牌内，单 刀滚去，只是低头砍马足，此步兵最利者也。
Transation: Within the Central Plains, when countering bandits, we can use long pikes to battle the enemy, then how is the long pike difficult to use? It is when 10,000 enemy cavalry are charging with a power like that of a rainstorm. A pike's long thin body can only be used to stab, and upon contact with a horse, the pike will break. This is having one pike only injuring one horse, hence the pike is not reusable. We have ChangDao and rattan shields wielded by a pair of hands, but the north have no rattan, but light wood that weighs no more than 10 jin. These can also be used. When the body is concealed behind the shield, and with head downcast [the soldiers] roll forward with the Changdao to cut the horse's leg, this is how infantry becomes victorious.
Also don't let Qing battle art full you. These artists, like Reinassance painters, paint Manchu cavalry of THEIR time, even though the battle took place a hundred years or more before. When the Manchus were fighting the Ming, Manchu battle horses were armored. The following is a Korean description of Manchu armies during that time.
一哨之中，别抄百，长甲百，短甲百，两重甲百，别抄着水银甲，万军之中，表表易认，行则在后，阵则居内，专 用于决战
Rough Translation
For every one Shao (military unit of 400 troops), there's one hundred Bayara (Jurchen elite guard), one hundred that wear long armor, one hundred that wear short armor, and one hundred that wear two armors. Bayara wear quicksilver armor, even in an army of ten thousand they are easily recognizable. They stay at the back during march, and in the middle during battle, and specialized in decisive battle.
Ming account again:
編五牛彔為一隊,行則一路,止則一處,依次而下,戰則攻一處。披長厚甲者,執長矛及長柄大刀戰於前,披輕網 甲者持弓箭從後射之。所選精兵騎馬立於他處觀之,見有不勝,相機助戰。故每戰皆能取勝。
Rough Translation
(Jurchen) organize five Niru (Jurchen military unit based on their hunting custom/party, originally 10 people, but gradually expanded) intoone unit, they marched on one road, and stopped at one place. They dismounted one by one, and during battle they attacked the same target. Those who wore long and thick armor and wielded long spear and
long-handled glaive fought at the front, those who wore "light web armor" (probably chainmail?) wielded bows and arrows and shoot from behind. Picked elite troops mounted on their horse and stood at other place to observe, if they saw the battle was not won, they would wait for the chance to reinforce the line. That's why Jurchen won every battle they fought.
Have you looked at the 1st and 2nd Miaodao forms? Each is an anti spear form. One using more binds and grabs, the other using rapid angled stepping and covering to close. The 1st is from the Ming Changdao, the second is from the Late Qing/Early Republic period. If you're interested I can provide links.
it'd be great if you could make a comparative video about the kanabo and the peasant staff - similarities, techniques, strengths, weaknesses, etc.
Grats on the subs! Btw I think you you will like NIOH of course but it's like dark souls so I know u did a rant on that lol enjoy it it's a very fun aggressive game but if u didn't like the high risk high reward mechanics of dark souls, you might have a nasty time with this game.
I haven't got a chance to try on real or replica nodachi and spears yet (Only SCA weapon, but I have a feeling those can't be used to represent the real ones).
But from what I heard of its function and for the asthetic preference, I would take a long (and a bit wide) bladed spear over nodachi. It is a still spear, and it can be used as a lance, and it can still cut/chop as well.
Not sure the bo was cut as much as split. I looks like the break followed the wood grain in a diagonal, meaning it could have broken the same place if it hit anything hard. Had the woodgrain gone lengthwise it would likely have held. Modern methods of making wooden shafts via sawing and sanding, creates straight shafts but not durable. Medieval method of splitting the wood lengthwise means the grain follows the shaft. Just my thought on this :)
Last boss of the internet Metatron in the white cape wielding Nodachi, i know you prefer the spear but the looks are badass. I am watching this late 80's to late 90's sci-fi anime Legend of the galactic heroes,there is war between empire and alliance and the leader of the empire is called Kaiser. Empire's main protagonist has white cape, and wants to conquer the universe
Let me put forth the following for your consideration.
1) Chinese sources do record spear heads being cut off by the nodachi carried by the Japanese raiders. Granted they used softer ash to make spear shafts in the South and Northern spears were stiffer, but that was indeed done historically.
2) The blade doesn't have to cut off spears head in order to be effective. Just binding the spears with the blade would give the swordman a temporary advantage to close in. The blade is there to make it stick and knock the spearman off balance for that split second.
3) The Chinese did adopted the nodachi to be some kind of standard weapons, but they were infantry weapons not for counter cavalry.
Supposedly, Imagawa Yoshimoto cut one of his assailants' spears before his death. At least that's what I heard.
I have a nodachi and it just feels cumbersome with such a short handle. I have asked the manufacturer for a nagamki handle, but they were unable to supply, even though they claimed to be 'manufacturers'. If you know of any suppliers able to provide nagamaki handles for a nodchi upgrade, would be appreciated.
Congratulations on 150k! It is well-deserved.
Congrats for reaching the 150 K! You TOTALLY deserve it; I myself subscribed when you had like 12 K subs and did watch almost every vid since then.
Greetings from your neighbour-country (to Italy) Austria!
Would you look into something modern? Given your focus on Japanese swords I'd like to see you review some variations on tactical wakizashi, particularly ones with an ito wrap like the hisshou.
The next video should be Naginata vs Halberd. It would be nice to see some of the most famous polearms from Japan and Europe compared.
Could you do a video on the naginata?
On cutting a spear shaft, in the example you show there was "car crash physics" - both weapons were moving towards each other. This means all of his force, and all of your force impacted the wood. If someone swings a spear at you in an arc, instead of thrusting, you can use their own power behind the swing, plus your power to help cut it. But I think most spear shafts broke on their second or third opponent, not from a lucky cut.
Great video. On the subject of cutting the shaft though. You forgot to mention that a spear is wielded in a way such that any cut you could make to the shaft would be at a low angle. So the sword would probably glance off taking only a small amount of wood. Unless you happened to get lucky and hit just the right point on the grain.
I would love to see a playthrough of Nioh from you!
im slightly confused because after this video I dont see a use anymore for swords overall
For example, you can not wear a polearm on your belt. To draw an analogy, sword is a hand gun, spear is a battle rifle.
makes allot of sense, thx
Sword were cavalry weapon and status symbol that You was carrying all the time. Also civilian carried swords/big knifes. On battlefield sword in most cases probably was not main weapon.
Swords generally require a lot more skill to use. They require solid footwork, understanding of distance and fast reaction to opportunity (the list goes on). Although if you can master the sword, you will be a lot stronger with the spear. A spear is just the safer option and very effective. However, do not think of Metatron as a good example of a trained swordsman. He needs a lot of work, just look at his footwork it's terrible. On another note, in more confined space the sword is probably stronger as the spearman has to be able to move backwards to avoid a skilled swordsman getting passed the point of the spear.
Back up weapons in battle.
Weapons for civilian wear.
Cool weapons. :D
And for overlong ones like this nodachi or a Zweihänder - fluff.
hey noblest one!! id love a video comparing/contrasting the japanese concept do (as in budo) with dao (as in daosim). particularly curious as daoism relates to chan and zen buddism. cheers!
A nice idea would be to do a comparison to a naginata vs a pole arm or spear.
I'm so happy! I've been subscribed for a long time and I love this channel!
I've heard spears are also best for those with little to no combat experience. Thrusting is a lot easier than cutting or striking, and the reach suits a beginner perfectly. Add to that easy recovery and range control of a spear...and it seems like the best weapon for anyone but a specialist of some kind.
I slowed down the footage and saw that you didn't actually cut through the weapon. The bo was actually shivered apart. if you pause at the moment of contact, you can see that the opposite side of the bo staff is where the split actually began. you hit the bo at the perfect spot to shiver it apart.
good video. congrats on 150k subs
I think it's great that you classify your friends as "they can destroy me", "evenly matched" and "I can destroy them".
I know this is two years old, but I have to mention that Nodachi schools have specific anti-polearm techniques such as the nuki-dome and the yar-dome.
I'm sorry if you already made a video about this that I just didn't see, but I'm interested to learn why shields weren't very common in Japanese warfare. I'm always told that bows were extremely effective weapons in historical combat and that shields were the main defense against them. Clearly the Japanese used bows as we've seen from many examples, so what did they do to defend against them?
Brad Smith Most Japanese warriors had armor I guess.
11:20 if you give the shaft a hand job you can change the length of the spear in combat...
One disadvantage a spear has over a sword or other bladed weapons, which mainly applies to unit on unit combat, such as a battlefield, is that a spear is hard to turn around to a new facing due to it's length. If an army is able to get a flank attack on a unit using spears, or a 2 pronged attack where they can have a unit repeatedly threatening the flanks, forcing the spearmen to have to keep turning around, it can actually tire out the spear users and leave them vulnerable.
From what I understand, that's how the Romans defeated the famous Spartan Phalanxes, is by getting units to keep attacking them from the sides, so the Spartans would have to keep turning around with their spears which would wear them down, then the Romans would go in for the kill once they'd sufficiently worn the Spartans down, or managed to get a successful flank engagement in.
The Romans used their short Gladius and the Spartans used their spears as their respective primary weapons, of course.
Could you please talk about counter armor strategies and techniques? I only found your half swording video about this topic from which seemed to be most about using it as a tool to get them unarmed or on the ground. Are there any ways to fight it with more "swordlike" actions? Or how spears, blunt weapons could works. Like anything they used against heavy infantry. Love your videos btw (but you need white hair too for visibility reasons :)
Nem Denemam I'm not nearly as knowledgeable as metatron about this but grappling was very useful, along with daggers. The Persians during the middle ages used a shamshir with a buckler while holding a dagger in an icepick grip.
You have risen because of your daily uploading, but your videos or so long they don't get a whole lot of views.
you deserve the success you have Metatron! keep on.
I would like you to talk about my favourite book: The Hagakure.
Saluti da Londra!
oh lol i thought you would have done a video of the spear vs the naginata
Metatron, great video - as ever, but I must contradict you about one point. You did not cut your friend's staff. You broke it.
I am not a swordsman but I am pretty good with a woodcutter's axe. In my experience it is very, very unlikely, if not downright impossible to cut something even as thin as that staff, let alone a pole arm shaft, with one blow, if it is being held in someone's hands. There is just too much give in the system. Put it on a solid surface, say a chopping block, and a good sharp axe will cut something as thick as a spear shaft, no worries.
This is not to say that pole arms did not break in battle but I suspect that they would have to sustain repeated blows, or suffer some other mishap.
One small point. I would argue that the nodachi would be, on avg, less durable than a pole arm, on avg. I say this because Nodachi, like all japanese swords, have brittle edges that, when broken, lead to severely compromised structural integrity and thus a weapon prone to catastrophic failure. The pole arm, on the other hand, has no such problem. We must remember that, although wood is easy to chop through in the right conditions, it is relatively hard to cut through wood that is not well supported and which absorbs much of the energy from the strike by moving with the energy. This is what happens when a person holds a long pole and it is struck- it moves a good amount. Pair this with the hazard that chopping at such poles would cause to the integrity of the nodachi blade, and the fact that this proneness to damage would probably make such intentional strikes to the pole arm undesirable, and we can see that, more often than not, the pole arm could be considered the more durable weapon.
Also, spears are thrust-centric while the nodachi is cut-centric. Thus, the pole arm, if looked in this light, should be considered far far more durable. This is because the nodachi is utilizing a tactic that is inherently more violent to the construction of any elongated weapon, while the spear uses a tactic that is particularly easy on a pole. Think Eiffel Tower-esque steel structure vs crane arm...we know what can support more weight.
In my honest opinion, an odachi is a better anti-horseman weapon, spear is a better anti-cavalry weapon. I mean, if you are fighting out from a formation, you can possibly make a massacre of mounted fighters using an odachi, but only when the fight is on and cavalry has lost the momentum of attack. Against charging cavalry, nothing is better then a wall of spears, except pikes. I can't immagine an effective "wall of odachis" instead.
the swordd if you look at the history footnote that was either used from horseback or if used from the ground it was most likely used against the horse itself
Edged weapons can also just get stuck in the shaft of a polearm if you swing too hard, then your opponent controls your weapon
I'd love to see a video about the Naginata
Another good comparison video would be Longbow vs Arquebus.
I love how I found this channel only a few weeks ago and you are easily one of my favorite channels.Your right there with Skall. I do appreciate how you do post more but Skall may not have the time. Anyways, congratulations on 150k subs you deserve it and much more.
have you found scholagladitoria yet? he might be up your alley. there is also swordsage if you have any interest in chinese martial arts and sword play, and if you just want to see sword reviews then check out Matthew Jensen, he does reviews and other videos on some pretty friggin sweet swords. from customs made in america to actual nihonto.
bmxriderforlife1234 Thank you for letting me know
no worries, haha i follow all of them because their content is sweet. theres also lindybeige.
"link in the description for full video"
Where's the description
Samurai Metatron
I have carved a Nodachi Sword out of wood and me and my friend have fenced, he used a "double bladed" stick can you teach me and some other people how to block a double bladed spear and to strike?
And please tell me about the Dundau Sword, its culture and history..
Congratulations on 150 000 subs, Metatron. :) I suggest Roman scutum and a centergrip shield for the next comparison video.
Metatron could you please do reviews on the different spears you own?
I learn so much here!
You could combine Nioh with your Yokai series. I think that could be interesting.
Along with Miyamoto Musashi, my favorite historical samurai/ninja is Hattori Hanzō (服部 半蔵, ~1542[1] - November 4, 1596). A native of Iga, Mikawa Province - one of the most famous historical home areas of ninja in Japan - Hattori was renowned for his sōjutsu (槍術), or fighting with the Japanese spear, or yari (槍). Hattori's greatest feat was rescuing Tokugawa Ieyasu (徳川 家康, January 31, 1543 - June 1, 1616) - the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate (1603-1868), which ruled Japan for over 260 years - to safety in Mikawa Province with the help of the remnants of the Iga ninja clans, as well as with their one-time rivals, the ninja in Koga.
As an American of Japanese descent, while I admire samurai and ninja and such, if I were a samurai living during the Sengoku period, or any time when the samurai class existed in Japan, I think I too would prefer Japanese polearms in general, and Japanese spears in particular, including those with more than one blade per shaft, to Japanese swords as my primary weapon: ruclips.net/video/R_g2s_33Y1I/видео.html; ruclips.net/video/uj1Fv07wvlw/видео.html; ruclips.net/video/CMGndnqlpz4/видео.html; ruclips.net/video/fLSGgTr-b_8/видео.html; ruclips.net/video/4fZO9PhOoTU/видео.html; ruclips.net/video/0-ZHHKU1DPc/видео.html; ruclips.net/video/fCXJGKvdy1g/видео.html; ruclips.net/video/fCXJGKvdy1g/видео.html.
Pausing at 8:30 what wood was his staff?
People forget how effective Polearms are because of videogame nonsense and that swords are just "cooler". Spears and Pikes ruled most ancient battlefields right up until the invention of guns. Swords in most cases were back up weapons in case your enemy closed in on you or your spear broke.
even when guns became a thing, bayonets turned them into spear, was still a thing until VERY recently.
Don't care how superior spears are swords are still better, anybody can use a damn spear just thrust it into someone, Swords actually require legitamate skill to use.
Could you talk about the naginata at some point? I can't think of anything for you to compare it to, but it's a weapon that's always fascinated me.
is it possible for a staff to be made of iron or steal? like the rods that construction workers use.
Can't wait to hear your thoughts on Nioh...