Eh... That somewhat depends on the Era. Guns weren't super common in Japan during the Edo period due to the shogunate's insistence on isolationism hindering advancement in gun design, mostly used by farmers for scaring off animals. In fact, a large part of what won the Boshin War for the Imperial forces was them trading with Westerners for better guns than the ones that could be made by native gunsmiths. But, yeah, before the Edo period, most samurai would have had a matchlock.
@@GTSN38 Maybe in a 1v1 duel where both people start facing each other 10 feet apart and then engage, but Katana is more versatile by virtue of it's design. Thrusting with a thin sword is good in a very specific scenario, Katana is good pretty much anywhere aside from against armour.
@oliver6257 Not really, no. Katanas simply dont beat "long pointy stick". Not that it matters, they were reserves, exactly like any soldiers pistol today
You also have to remember that Seki Sensei is only familiar with Japanese weapons, so he was using the foil based on what felt natural to him, the fact that some of his movements reflected actual rapier and side sword techniques show that A) Seki Sensei is such a skilled swordsman that he is able to use a weapon effectively even if he's not very familiar with it. And B) Rapier type weapons are so specialized that their purpose comes almost instinctively...
@@mikasonche9752 - well that is what they claim, horse people came from Ukraine before the Black Sea was formed. Saber is used by cavalry, but did not start there or in Asia.
I honestly like when you do "weapon vs weapon" videos because your contemplative and thorough approach does justice to both weapons and you consider not just the weapons but the context of the warriors, very satisfying videos. I also really like Seki-sensei, afaik he's genuine and those clips of him are of him experimenting and learning rather than "demonstrating", they always welcome comments that correct or inform his interpretations of western weapons.
Completely agree with the first part of the comment. Not really with the second part. Seki may be genuine in heritage and years handling weapons but I haven't seen a single video of him sparring or pressure testing. Nor students of his. So...
@@kevinlobos5519 He's supposed to have competed in actual combat tournaments where he won, more akin to like HEMA tournaments than like Kendo and stuff. The main reason I believe it though is these "Seki tries" vids though because he always successfully intuits a lot of *correct* information about how to use these weapons and their pros and cons, so either they've faked it to the point where they have real knowledge anyway, or he actually is genuinely comfortable with martial arts. They also don't talk like fakers, they're knowledgeable about what separates Kendo, Iaido, and stuff apart from "real" combat martial arts but are still respectful and encouraging of those arts and their merits, fakers always detract from others to make themselves look more reliable. I'm happy to be proven wrong that's just why I believe him rn.
@gryphonconnor8233 Right, that's the thing, supposedly, it's all supposedly and we have no hard proof. The thing is, you can be respectfull and encouraging with other martial arts and still live in your own delusional bubble. I have been to schools like that, spent/wasted years in some of them when I was younger. Sometimes that respect and stuff is just superficial and they really think otherwise, but that's besides the point. What bothers me the most is that again, there's 0 hard proof. All we have are paired kata and some experimenting in which the sensei ALWAYS wins in a single move or two, it's always right and the student never challenges or pressures beyond that. And I don't mean in a disrespectfull way, it's just that the students always behave more like puppets than actual people when it comes to it. It's especially egregious when they have already spent months or years training swordplay. They should be able to respond to the very basic responses their sensei always default to. That's also a bad sign. We never see long exchanges, how to come back from screw ups, what if the oponent feints and you fall for it, what if he does a counter technique. You know, everything that can happen if your opponent is not a mindless manequin that will only attack once or twice in a very predictable way and won't attempt to react to anything you do to him. If they are incapable of that, then their Sensei is not actually teaching. He is scamming them. In the end I think it has to do with eastern martial arts culture which puts WAY too much emphasis on respect to your elders and your teachers, if you are part of a school, is part of your job to save your teacher's face and make him look good as much as you can. Or else they have that also eastern thing of "not showing the real good stuff" to outsiders and we only get to see the superficial stuff. But even then, as long as there's no real evidence of actual sparring, I can only assume they don't have the slightest ability to do everything they show in demos and kata when actually pressured in non cooperative practice 🤷🏻♂️.
@@kevinlobos5519 This serves your point more than mine but I don't think Seki has ever intended to show us actual sparring, that I've seen anyway, the kata are rehearsed in order to practice movements in a granular way, so afaik we've never actually seen anyone try seriously to beat Seki, and when something puts him on the backfoot in these videos they tend to just stop, like how rather than recieving a thrust from the rapier, he stopped to talk about how he really didn't want to and why lol. I see your point though, I looked it up and apparently the accolades he has are reliable, he shouldn't have been able to fake grades and his Ryu is nationally recognized, so he is a genuine descendant of Samurai if I'm understanding the Ryu correctly, not that that means his combat skills are "real" but his techniques shouldn't be fraudulent at the very least. I understand though the issues with that system and its culture on a surface level at least, I'm not gonna say something like "well surely he'd perform just as well in a HEMA tournament because his Ryu is real", there's a lot of issues with that, but I'm still under the impression that information from him is good if you take it with a grain of salt, given like I said how the conclusions he drew when applying his Kata to western weapons coincide well with how HEMA practioners understand those weapons. Unless of course it's staged and he does research beforehand to go through the motions, no way to know really.
As a knuckle dragging lonsgsworder, I’ve been clowned on by rapier fencers my entire life. Even if I’m using a really big longsword the rapierist will consistently outreach me and nail me with a thrust to the shoulder or face. The very few times I’ve managed to land hits against them were by very aggressively closing to grabbin distance and either striking with the pommel (gently) or push/pull slices in halfsword; and even then sometimes they’ll just retreat and annihilate my fingers with a cut. Rapiers are honestly terrifying.
Yeah, it's humbling to remember why rapiers became the go-to sidearm for unarmored fighting and duels instead of longswords. I also find longswords more fun, but I can't deny the effectiveness of rapiers.
I really like this video. Clearly is a " reaction" to Seki senssei's video, but it isnt just a guy looking at something and making small comentary, it tries to expand on the subject, it is researched prior recording and is formatted beyond just Skalagrim sitting in front of monitor. Really cool.
Granted, but who else could he react to? Seki sensei has trained in katana for decades, and I find it remarkable how intuitively he falls into reasonable stances and maneuvers using weapons he hasn’t trained on. This bears on the “what happens if they swap weapons” question. Not every samurai is going to be as good at using an unfamiliar weapon especially in the heat of battle against a resisting opponent. Still, the European might have the bad luck to run into a samurai with that kind of ability, and I’m wondering how many Europeans who trained on the rapier would also be able to switch to a two handed side sword style or whatever. Yeah, it depends.
The stance you showed holding the katana upright like a baseball bat is called "hasso" in Japanese. It is almost never used in competitive play because of the reach issue you identified; however, it was apparently more useful in real-world combat. Because a katana is less tiring to hold upright than sideways, the stance allows the user to stay combat-ready for longer, which is particularly important when one does not know in advance how long the battle will last, e.g. when one suspects an ambush. The compactness of the stance is also helpful in close quarters, like indoor brawls or many-to-many battles. Finally, if the user is wearing Japanese armor, the arm guard would block the throat and heart from enemy thrusts.
Hasso was also pretty commonly used in armored combat since doing Jodan no kamae (high guard) was pretty difficult when you had a helmet in the way, especially if that helmet also had a maedate (crest/ornament)
Trained with both years ago. In 1 on 1 settings when we played around with rapier types vs katana types, the rapier and fighting styles that come with it provided enough of an advantage that relative novices with rapiers were beating experienced bushido. Several vs several though the cutting prowess of katanas really showed once the groups got past holding a solid line. People would spread out in an attempt to keep some distance, and when there's several people doing that, it was easier for the bushido to swing and hit someone who wasn't facing them directly. We weren't collectively trained for military formations though, so can't really say either side was effectively using their weapons for that scenario.
I have some doubts your "trained in both" statement given you refer to *people* as "bushido". Now, it could just be that you're American and like everything else American you were misinformed or simply too lazy to learn/use the correct terminology. Or maybe you aren't American and you're just making things up. No way to tell, but either way, "bushido" is simply the wrong term. It's like not knowing the word "soldier" and using the word "Geneva Conventions" instead. Dunno, but as I say, I have doubts. :) Beyond that, rapier vs katana is almost always going to end badly for the katana user *unless* they get lucky. That said, rapier vs Odachi or Nodachi would be a more interesting contest because the rapier's reach is negated. I suspect Odachi is a bad idea because that's just too big and slow, but nodachi is about the same size.
What counted as beating someone? Only good, life/fight ending, clean hits are counted in kendo. I almost never see the same for most rapier fencing. So if we are just judging on contact couting as a win then yea rapier is gonna come out on top every time.
What people think would happen if a samurai and musketeer dueled: "cool sword fight" What would actually happen: "the good, the bad and the ugly soundtrack starts playing for a gun showdown".
Not really, the few documented cases ended in a one-sided bloodbath and the one that was in a civilian context ended with the rapiers banned because some drunken Portuguese sailors killed a bunch of ronins in a pub brawl that went wrong. The trashing was so one sided that the blacksmiths had to adjusted the geometry of the katanas to be a slightly better match against the rapiers. The biggest documented encounter was the 1582 Cagayan battles, and of course it wasn't just sword vs sword, so there are other factors involved in the death to kill ratio (better armor, better ships, possibly better training, etc.). Still, the main combat force was a 60 men Spanish tercio, so at least 20 swordmen (a tercio is 1/3 arquebusiers, 1/3 pikemen, 1/3 swordsmen). And the numbers are not pretty... it was a 60 men tercio + 20 sailors vs 1000+ pirates, including ronin and ended in an embarrassing one-side trashing, with a Spanish victory. Check the wikipedia article for more details.
@@Imman1sthe last case is speculated to be false, there is no reliable source that confirm that the events of that squirmish happend in that way, also comparing a mix national pirates to samurai is kinda dumb. The tercios where an elite well trained and well equiped profesional military force, the pirates they fought where mere bandits and brigands, not only that, but the number 1000 is only mentioned in a letter sent by an officer asking for rienforcment, in witch it describes a force of 11 ships of witch kind you can't put more that 15 men each. the story of 60 european soldier beationg 1000 samurai reads like propaganda to me.
Rapiers are incredible for out spacing an opponent for what they are. A proficient rapier duelist isn’t gonna get himself hit by any other sword user unless they clearly outmatch him in skill. Rapiers became THE duelling sword for very good reason, they’re pretty much designed for the purpose of having the most advantage in reach and defence of any contemporary sword. In an unarmored match though, I imagine the katana would do a much nastier blow if it’s user were to find a way through or around the rapier user’s guards and maneuverability.
Only if KATANA will miss this tiny sharp sword, if it was hit by a really big sword it will break it or bend it that is why it was never used against someone with a shield and a proper sword, if the person had no shield and he could avoid his own sword been hit by a bigger sword then yes it was very deadly actually but one strike on the sword itself from katan it will bend...It was light fast and deadly as long as it was not hit by a big sword....
@@DailymailnewzRapier won't break that easily though. A Samurai found it hard way when he duel a Portuguese duelist, don't remember how it really went since it was long time ago I've read that book but samurai was humiliated in that duel so bad that he end his own life afterward.
@@inquisitorsteele8397 Yes in one to one situation it is a good sword but as long as the opponent has no shield it is a one to one sort of stuff...You can imagine someone stopping is with a shield and then striking it with those big swords from old times ha ha it will bend...a very narrow light sharp long spear was the same, it did not allow anyone come nearer and it was easily movable now if the opponent has that long very light spear which is the same as this kind of sword but it is just on a wooden stuff and it is long it can get anyone but again only in one to one , that kind of spears were so narrow and light you could throw them straight at anyone from a couple of meters and they were dead on the spot as long as they had no sheild so those spears would be the ultimate winners against this narrow sword...They were also used as swords too because they could be struck like a sword while the oppenent was at least three or four meter away, it was deadly but they were outdone by galatine or the robe kind of dagers they were the most deadly of all weapons if they threw the rope it and hit that was it and if it went around the sword or around the person that was it, the opponent eather threw a dagger or just kept on pulling the robe until he got so nearer that he could kill with anything, that was one of the most deadly weapons in one to one combot but they all went out of market because deadly pistol of the old times replaced them all....There was the hand arrow that was hidden so if someone struck and left enought space that arrow could be thrown very very fast with hand and the person was dead meat, but these all came to an end because of old powder pistols and some were like shot guns as well...
@democracyforall the thing about a rapier is its 1 handed sword and you can use pretty much anything in your other hand a pistol a shield used for parry and this idea you have that you can bend the rapier easier is misguided if your trying to bend the rapier to beat your opponent in a duel your already dead the entire fighting style is optimized for countering this.
@@Dailymailnewz I wouldn’t call rapiers tiny. They were longer than a katana. They didn’t weigh that much less than a katana either and considering that most of the weight is concentrated in the hilt which were usually quite sturdily built, a rapier is probably the best equipped sword to block and parry a strike from another sword. The blades weren’t flimsy either, they were reinforced to resist bending or breaking as thrusting is one of the most stressful things a sword can do especially against armor, which historically rapiers have been known to puncture. Don’t get me wrong, katanas are really cool and like any two handed longsword they can deal devastating cuts to an unarmored opponent, but rapiers basically replaced all swords except sabres in Europe. After centuries of people duelling each other, everyone came to the same conclusion that a one handed thrusting sword was just the way to fight 1v1. The katana in comparison came to be in peacetime, the tachi was the sword of choice for the warring samurai and the katana didn’t catch on until the edo period. It’s not a fighting sword, it’s a ceremonial weapon. A really kickass ceremonial weapon and samurai in peacetime still duelled each other with it, but the katana faced none of the competition the rapier did in Europe to come on top as the sword of choice. I do think though the question in which would win in a fight entirely depends who the fighters are and how skilled they are. Swords are just tools after all, two completely unskilled fighters using either weapon could result in either winning
I believe that Matt Easton made a video where he read historical letters/documents describing how each side viewed this exact match up. If I recall correctly the European side's biggest comment was that once a thrust was landed back up quick because the Samurai will run down the blade to land a cut. Whereas the Japanese side talked about how to bind the Rapier too close in safely or the Raperist will just stab the Samurai to death.
I personally think that the rapier has the advantage in an unarmored duel because it was designed specifically for that.. its longer range, precise and super quick thrusts ( face, heart, liver, throat, lungs, piercing through that just once is a death sentence more often than not, either instantly or through internal hemorrhage or simply paralyzes you on hit for a follow up ) and the full hand protection are a very significant advantage IMHO. Whereas the Katana is more of an all rounder, a weapon better suited to deal with a variety of situations ( can deal with surprise attacks with its fast draws especially in confined spaces, more versatile if faced with more than one opponent because it can deliver deep cuts very quickly and has a lower chance to stay stuck as the opponent grabs the rapier blade that just pierced his body while his friend finishes you off, it can also be carried at all times without being too cumbersome, can cut/pierce through slightly better protections than plain clothes over human flesh and has more authority/use at very close range when almost grappling). I think the katana should be compared to a medieval short bastard sword or a longsword because the Japanese equivalent for a specialized duel weapon like the rapier would probably be the kusarigama but it is not a sword type of weapon even though it has a bladed element.
Your videos are always amazing, Skall! You're confident and knowledgeable, but also humble and honest enough to admit when you're out of your area of expertise. It'd be great if you could discuss a topic like this by bringing over someone with Kenjutsu training.
The Metatron has humiliated himself within the kenjutsu community and overall shown a severe amount of disrespect to the school he trained in. He taught many techniques publicly on his RUclips channel that he wasn't approved to teach and sparred within weeks of learning katori shinto ryu without getting the school's approval. It's not 100% confirmed, but I suspect he was kicked out of his school since he stopped making kenjutsu videos only after a couple of months of joining Katori Shinto ryu and was told by the soke himself to stop recording videos. Bringing the Metatron in to represent kenjutsu would open up a lot of old wounds and overall not be healthy for Skallagrim's community or the kenjutsu community as a whole.
@@josephlucas4024Ouch, I had no idea. Thank you for the correction, I was completely unaware of the situation. As a kenjutsu practitioner myself, it really hurts me to hear about such news.
@@josephlucas4024, was it that Metatron mentioned the school’s name in his videos, or he just posted videos without mentioning Katori Shinto Ryu? My guess is that they wouldn’t care as long as he didn’t mention the school’s name. I could be wrong though.
As a medium level fencer(really only did about two years each of foil and epee) it's interesting to see how someone who's not my coach explain rapier combat
@@wallace5081 Foil is the training weapon for the smallsword, and epee was a "less-lethal" evolution of the smallsword for 19th-century honor duels (Note: There's still record of deaths in epee duels, because it's still a pointy blade you're stabbing each other with, even if it is "less-lethal" than a traditional smallsword.) That being said, smallsword fencing is a descendant art of rapier fencing, and while it's not the same weapon there are general principles that still translate between both weapons. There's a reason most high-level rapier competitors also have foil or epee backgrounds; good fundamentals are good fundamentals.
I think matt eastons take was the best,the katana is good as a close range battle sword that can cover lots of space and defend well against multiple opponents but the rapier is a pure duelist weapon pretty much unmatched in 1 on 1 but in a battle it's going to lack
The reason why the rapier is so overpowered is because it's the closest thing to a spear that a sword can be -- but because it's still technically a sword, all the sword-worshippers actually feel comfortable with giving it the credit that they refuse to give spears.
Very interesting analysis, my initial thoughts would be in favor of the Samurai sword, but after watching your video, I would be a very close match. Great video! 😎🎸
Great stuff! Can confirm that the katana makes defense against a side sword much more difficult. I am part of a sword fighting club, most of the member have experience only with the katana, while I have less experience with a katana and a little more experience with a rapier and side sword. Fighting with a katana against another katana, I “died” more often. When I switched to a side sword against a katana, my wins vastly outpaced my losses
The picture he showed of the Spanish technique is the basic guard position at 90 degrees or straight out. It emphasizes maximum distance between you and the attacker.
In the end this kind of "duels" would end with the person with the longer weapon having an advatage, it could be a rapier, spear, longsword, katana whatever. Also! That circular motion in 11:40 is actually one of the 4 tretas generales in spanish rapier fencing, that movement with a lateral step and a thrust to the face or vertical cut is what's called "Flaqueza sobre la fuerza" in first spanish systems like Pacheco de Narvaez
LOVED this video. Not to say I don't enjoy the rest of your content, but I really, really had a blast watching this one. By far this is the one I liked the most out of your recent videos.
I think the matchup would likely favor the rapier, because in many ways a katana is just a different version of the weapon the rapier was essentially designed to defeat; The longsword. The rapier excels in manipulating the point of the enemy weapon to get it out of the way, thus clearing the way for a quick stab. It also prefers fighting an opponent using a two-handed sword grip, because a single arm holding a rapier will have better range and present less of the body than a similarly sized longsword being held in a two-handed grip. By contrast, a rapier being used against anyone with a shield and (insert short one-handed weapon here) is going to have a much harder time of things. Likewise, a two-handed polearm would also have an advantage over the rapier, given its better reach and the rapier's lesser mass making it harder to just knock the polearm aside. Frankly, a samurai facing off against a musketeer would be better off pulling out their wakizashi and using its sheath as a club/shield to get in close and start stabbing.
I'd argue the katana is more of a prototypical version of a saber, than an equivalent to a longsword. Amd, well, sabers, while inarguably the more useful general porpouse battlefield sidearm, lose out to rapiers in a duel.
As someone trained in Ken Jutsu I pretty much agree with what you said about the Katana perspective My first thought was to try and displace/deflect a thrust and close in the distance while maintaining as much blade contact as possible to not get caught off guard Two techniques in particular came to mind that are specifically designed to counter thrusts One uses the curvature of the blade to displace the tip just enough to go in for a counter thrust without putting to much force into the bind and the other dodges the thrust while making contact by putting the own blade on top of the opponent's, followed by a horizontal cut that basically tries to slide along the opponent's blade towards the body
I feel like a katana could also catch and control a rapier pretty effectively, rapiers flex and katana don't so if you can bind them you can use that to close distance too.
Sliding along the blade for a cut towards the body could be a problem if you are used to doing it against another katana, you could well get caught on the much better handguard that the rapier has.
@@AnarexicSumo That's why it's not a full commited bind and more just making contact. If they disengage their blade you'll still be in a neutral position for a follow up block
One of the things I think folk almost wholly overlook about the rapier, and thrusting swords broadly (and for that matter, thrusting as a whole) is something you brought up in this video: A wound won't tend to kill someone right away. And a thrust is more likely to get "stuck" (not to say cuts can't also, mind). And to go further, a thrust is also less likely to give wounds that are immediately disabling. I think there's enough historical sources to give us a decent sense that thrusting swords often got their user killed, while also killing the other man. While a thrust will tend to be more directly deadly than a cut (a thrust is more likely to hit internal organs, whereas a cut either has to be very deep or hit areas like the neck to be immediately deadly); a cut is more likely to disable (by outright cutting of muscle or bone, and possibly greater pain from the size of the wound). I think modern folk understandably overlook this as we obviously don't have to deal with a flailing, dying man stuck on the end of our swords. Importantly, most modern fighters, while likely caring about doubles, almost always have a fight end once a hit lands (understandably, as who knows how the real wound would effect the rest of a fight). But that is a really big deal when it comes to judging weapons in their historical context. I'd love to hear you go in depth on this line of thought.
Incidentally, my understanding is that this is the reason behind sport foil fencing's weird right-of-way rules: They're intended to teach people to win bouts in ways that would not get them killed a split second later in a real fight.
Yeah, it reminds me of how the gladius and other swords would sometimes have a fuller in part to guarantee that the sword would have space to slide back out instead of getting stuck. Because, if you get a good thrust into someone's groin or chest, they are likely dead unless immediately sent to surgery and getting blood. But they can still move in the time it takes for them to actually run out of blood. In this time, you want to get your sword out and block them with a shield or something. In the case of the rapier, you have to get the sword out immediately, because otherwise you are risking your head and your swordarm. A good downwards cut into your wrist or head and you are both going down.
@@LuizAlexPhoenix Is this a variation of the "blood groove" myth? As far as I'm aware, there's no evidence that a fuller, on any blade exists do anything but serve as a way of taking weight out of that area of the blade while still allowing for a strong structure
Don't matter much if you are disabled with an arm or leg dangling by a piece of skin from a cutting sword, or if you have a thrust sword sticking out from your liver or lungs, the point is you are done at this point, and will be dispatched shortly.
People tend to underestimate just how OP rapiers could be. Their speed and range tops most other swords and a quick stab is much harder to parry than a cut. They’re not my favorite kind of sword, but my hat goes off to them.
Also they underestimate European Martial arts from that time. What must people doesnt know is that nearly all European Hand to Hand Combat arts or meele Combat arts vanished during the 19th century due to Industrial advancements in society.
With katana, the footwork will be more like moving around you, and/or suddenly pivoting to the other side. Then it will be more difficult to keep the enter line, as the line is moving. Modern fencing is on a track, so there is no such go-around footwork.
Really liked the analysis of this theoretical duel. Would like to see more of this, like an Axe vs a Saber or something like this. Great video Skall, thank you.
I also have a question. If I sub to your Patreon, how would I get the notification for your videos? Would it be like normal through RUclips and such? Mostly asking out of curiousity, cause I plan to become a Patreon but can't afford it right now and need a bit more....let's say encouragment. Anxiety disorder is a b**ch.
Well Portugal armed with rapiers pretty much only didn't take over Japan because the supply line from Portugal was just too much to deal with so. Yeah, advantage rapier. Side note Hammamatsu (sp?) Castle in Japan has a display discussing it. I think it was on the 3rd floor but not positive. It's been a while and they could have also moved it
@@Wolfpak765you are dumb if you think the Japanese fight mainly with katanas and the Portuguese fight mainly with rapiers. The supply thing is real tough.
As a spanish rapier fencer I must say what you said is pretty applicable to spanish rapier fencing as well (Btw don't worry about the spanish rapier being anachronistic in your demonstration, I use an italian style rapier xd I'm the odd one in my club)
I had deep reservations about clicking on this video based on the title alone. I breathed a sigh of relief when the answer was an up-front "it depends".
The "musketeers" are characters in a novel. The great warriors of Europe during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were the Spaniards of the Tercios. And some of these soldiers faced the Japanese, including some ronin samurai in the Philippines, see the battle of Cagayan.
One thing I've never seen mentioned is something I've only noticed as a long time Japanese martial artist and more recently European, the Japanese Katana as the majority of them were in the Edo period so the shorter more portable ones are ALOT like European Sabres. I've also sparred with someone who chose Chinese Wushu who reverted to their version of the Sabre so Dao when they picked up the Katana 🤔 It kind of explains why the Japanese had less trouble doing the same as we did and moved into using what we think of as traditional Sabres/Japanese Gunto 🙂
While reading the comments, it appears that many people don't know that rapiers could not only pierce and stab, but also cut and slash and they are quite good at it too. I'v seen a video of some guys testing a rapier for cutting, and they were quite surprised how efficient it is.
Nice video, Skall! You know what? I watch you channel already for many years, and I still do, despite not watching other swords/hema swords that I started watching as the same time as yours. And, yeah, I like the content. I always make sure to like the videos and watch it using YT Premium (that grants a wee bit more money to ya, I hope). But now I just became a member, sorry for the dealy and I really hope that you thrive, mate. Cheers! =]
8:07 I used to do LARP and I love the rapier + buckler/parrying dagger. To practice my parrying, I once fought a buy with a huge two-handed sword and who was stronger than me, I lost most of the fights, specially because of the reach difference, but in all fights I managed to parry or block attacks widout that much problem in terms of strength needed. The difference in length of the lever is a really important factor.
So glad you mention the scenario where the two meet on the street, that's when I would give the katana the edge due to it's ability to be drawn from the sheath quickly. Otherwise in a duel, the reach of the rapier is a massive advantage.
Yes. As someone who has done iai/battoujutsu, I'm glad Skall mentioned that since the (uchi)-gatana seems especially designed for that scenario and would probably be a very strong "EDC" sword if you know what I mean. I've tried doing iai techniques with both longswords and rapiers and I gotta say that the low suspension and wearing angle of the scabbard + long blade + crossguards and complex hilts on those swords are really nice in a duel, but really get in the way of drawing and using the sword from the scabbard which means fewer techniques you can comfortably do in a SHTF sort of scenario. Also probably explains why over time European swords eventually did away with larger crossguards and made swords generally shorter in the early modern period as with sabers and smallswords.
@@Skallagrim That's a trend that has been around for quite a while now, maybe two years or so. I reckon the positivity is less prone to get caught in the filters, compared to posting links or babbling about fake giveaways.
Duncan always was able to take out Richie if he needed to. But... this is probably why he taught him the Rapier. A great sword for a young person thrust into the game.
My bet is on the musketeer. Rapier is a deadly weapon, perfected for 1 on 1 duel. Light, maximises the distance between the enemy and the wielder‘s body, leaves the off-hand free for a second weapon or buckler shield, has a functional bowl or crossguard instead of the pathetic excuse for a useful feature that is tsuba, the list can go on. As there is no such thing as „equally skilled fighters“, I would say this - the musketeer would be at a very strong advantage.
I have heard people on the internet say there is an historical record of Portugese with rapiers duelling samurai in Japan. I would love for someone to do a deep dive on that document, if it exists.
I once was at a very detailed samurai exposition in artillery museum in SPb. They said that samurais had very small winrate, because rapier is faster and has reach advantage. Also they said that duels started with weapons holstered, and in order for samurai to win they'd have to do it in one fast precise swing at the first second of the fight
From what I've heard and seen online was that on the ports, drunk swordsman would pick fights with each other. At first the portugesue would have the advantage due to how different the style was. Soon enough the Japanese learned to counter it and took out many fighters until it was outlawed so people can trade peacefully. I have heard of the Spaniards battling the wokou pirates where people are pushing them as Samurai. Most of them were just criminals, some poor Robin, some Korean, Chinese and Mongol thieves.
I saw that document also and portuguese were successfull, the fencing techniques were somehow better. It was a historical document , can't remember anything else
If anyone wants to say katana would lose because it's fragile, please note that Renaissance dueling accounts are full of rapier breaking against unarmored opponents.
Yeah Dlatrex swords did a decent breakdown of the weapons and their breaking points and came to the natural conclusion that rapier will break more often than a katana would. Although in his video he is using Japanese accounts from the edo period when katana were not made as strong
@@Connor-b3zI assume that swords of Edo Period would be better swords as swordsmith has more time to gather material and make the sword. No need to churn out blades on rapid pace.
@@vksasdgaming9472 you’d think right? Now, I’m really comparing high end to high end for samurai, not really talking about the mass produced types for foot soldiers. The fatal flaw is not in the quality but in the hamon size. Edo period swordsmiths began making swords with wider, more elaborate hamon which lead to them developing deeper cracks and chips and eventually catastrophic failures. Watch the video for yourself. The testers noted that the newer swords with wider hamon broke more often. It was a trend that started and continued throughout the edo period
I feel like in an unarmored duel, the rapier wielder would benefit from attacking the hands of the katana wielder - exposed target and reachable from a safe distance.
Interistingly enough rapier vs katana reminds me of wakizashi or ko katana vs katana. Wherein its often on you to close distance. Also reminded of the back and forth of cavalry thrusting vs slashing swords in more recent military history. Think works similiar to katana vs chinese spear sparring in that footwork is paramount and moving your centerline and moving in while maintaining some defense. Actually a lot of the boken matches won back inthe day were won with thrusts
Haha Interestingly not a fullon reverse grip but a reverse grip with the left hand towards the top of the grip was what I favored with a migrating bottom grip not unlike some polearm techniques but using a smaller lever
Also spear combat was prevalent in Japan, just as most cultures so think they had more knowhow of countering thrusting weapons than probably accounted for.
The rapier is not a French invention. Also all swords will deflect most civilian firearms. No sword can deflect a high caliber rifle. A katana would survive the most poorly too when compared to a Messer or longsword
@@FringeAndFighting High caliber rifle barely compares to the speed of sound. The katana grants its wielder the speed of light. It's just basic science
I wish I could find the video but an Olympic fence and a master of kendo once had such a duel. They both agreed on the rules and strike points. During the duel, the rapier hit the femoral artery of the kendo master and the kendo master hit the top of the head of the fencer a second later. Both masters agreed that the rapier was the superior weapon.
Reminds me of a scene in Fearless where Jet Li and his Samurai opponent get their weapons switched. Li is able to use the katana, but the samurai is not really able to handle the 3 sectional staff.
According to historical records from the port of Nagasaki, approximately 300 fencing encounters between European and Japanese are documented. All but one was won by a European.
In fact, the Spanish and Portuguese soliders always defeated the Japanese in all the battles in which they faced, samurai included... better techniques, better steel, better armor... The problem for Spaniards is that Hollywood hasn't made a film about this. Hollywood always makes absurd movies about ninjas.
Those weren't Samurai, were pirates from different origins: Chinese, some Japanese, Filipinos, etc. Indeed, neither Spanish or Portuguese armies ever faced Samurai armies. Maybe, some Portuguese individual fought against a samurai, but never two armies.
I tend to agree that the rapier has a straight battle advantage in speed and agility. A musketeer would have his rapier and a dagger most likely. The samuri warrior though will be carrying his katana in addition to 2 or more blades as well as a spear or other long weapon. It really makes it difficult to compare the two fairly if all the pieces are not in the fight. Great video. Love it.
Thanks, I enjoyed your video. Also, I like your objective analysis of the 2 weapons' combat capabilities against each other. Often RUclipsrs under the pretense of analyzing the effectiveness of their martial art against another is really trashing the effectiveness of the other. Only a scant few of the content producing RUclipsrs on anything "martial" take your approach.
I heard from the Seiki Sensei video that there actually WAS an account of a rapier fencer coming up against a samurai, which they both died from. The fencer died faster though. The gist was that the fencer threw in a thrust to try and keep the samurai at a distance, but he had such a hard time tracking the tip of the sword with his eyes that he didn't notice and stepped into the blade, being cut in the stomach, but he delivered a slice that cut the fencer shoulder to stomach and the man promptly bled out, meanwhile the samurai died a few days later from the injury he received in the fight. Both are of course fearsome weapons and the fighting styles are so widely different that I think, at least in a historical context, most duels would end in a similar fashion. Fencer makes a move to try to keep distance, that move is not perceived or respected, and both parties end up dead. Maybe with enough duels one side learns enough to get a leg up on the other, but that steps too far into the land of conjecture to provide any true value to the discussion at hand.
The whole who would win comparisons really just depends on the overall skill and physical fitness of the two individuals. Could some samurai beat some musketeers? Yes. Could some musketeers beat some samurai? Yes. Still enjoyed the side by side overview. Keep up the great work!
Nice, i just saw that video where a high school teacher brought these two swords to school and had her students test out which one was more effective in 2 minute classroom duels. I think katana won in that case.
I could see it being a bit even. With the reach advantage, a rapier is gonna be hard to get around for people unfamiliar with swordfighting. If the rapier-user misses with that first thrust and the katana-user manages to get in close, I think it could quickly end in the katana-user's favor since the rapier-user won't know any techniques to deal with a close opponent.
I saw that clip recently and omg I don’t know how anyone let that happen for so long. The students obviously didn’t know what they were doing and that one looked like he didn’t want to be there. In the end it was the katana that cut open a girls wrist and sent her to the hospital. All around a tragic event.
Only if it is a spanish musketeer, he will . In 1582, in the philippines, took place the combat of cagayan. Just 40 spaniards fought more than 1000 samuráis ronin and chinese pirates, and the spaniards won (as usual)
I really enjoyed this. I'm not experienced with either classical styles. I primarily keep only woodsman tools, but keep both my hatchet and machete sharp and ready if needed. I have practiced informal styles on limbs and vines. Scaring observers primarily as most have no experience with any tools/weapons. I find it strange that so many nowadays couldn't even build a basic fire pit, let alone defend themselves.
Rapier swords are the product of centuries of military technology in old Europe, especially Spain. In Japan they were isolated on their islands and their katanas are nothing more than medieval swords. An experienced warrior with a rapier sword and Biscayan dagger is unbeatable in hand-to-hand combat.
I think another important factor is whether a katana user can stand against someone with a rapier what kind of armor they both wear. If you assume that both wear contemporary armor, the rapier user would have a problem because the armor of a samurai is made of hardwood. With a stabbing weapon like rapier, it’s hard to get through. But however the comparison is quite difficult. On one side you have a slash weapon with the katana and on the other side a stab weapon with the rapier. These are completely different ways to fight.
That last part!! That's exactly it! The Katana is a sidearm and a quickdraw weapon. Depending on the era, a bushi warrior's main weapon is either the bow or the spear.
I've been learning Jujutsu proper(not BJJ) for thirteen years with some Iato and Tameshigiri, your point of getting close is exactly what I have learned to do in unarmed combat and thus I imagine the same would be used with armed combat so the extra length of rapier would be a disadvantage
Funny thing is we all think of musketeers with rapiers, but they are literally called "musketeers" as in musket... Guess what that suggests of their main weapon... 😛😂
The Japanese samurai used fire arms around 1543 so it technically would still be a good argument of who would win in the sword battle. Musketeers were around 1625. So they would both just shoot each other 😂
A well-train Spaniard swordsman with a rapier and a dagger was basically invincible in a duel, except by another better-skilled Spaniard with the same weapons. This is well-documented and there are manuals explaining how to get the most of these two weapons combined.
Sward play then is like drones and video games today , But when big brothers comes and takes all your guns , and then the zombies want to take your stash of food and stuff, it maybe wouldn't hurt to know how to use one of these limb cutters ........after that we use sticks and stones ..............Good video i found it very informative
I like how the historically accurate version of this battle is "Who would win? A samurai with a gun or a musketeer with a gun?"
Eh... That somewhat depends on the Era. Guns weren't super common in Japan during the Edo period due to the shogunate's insistence on isolationism hindering advancement in gun design, mostly used by farmers for scaring off animals. In fact, a large part of what won the Boshin War for the Imperial forces was them trading with Westerners for better guns than the ones that could be made by native gunsmiths. But, yeah, before the Edo period, most samurai would have had a matchlock.
Isshin
@@rayvincyful1 he uses a glock xD
Gun wins
Now the issue is going to be duel on drones, where opponents are a kilometer apart......😲
Haven't watched yet but I'm guessing it depends
i.pinimg.com/originals/19/2e/55/192e55115b3a14f7774b23cdb6f9c0bc.jpg
@@SkallagrimShould've made a meme about Scholagladiatoria instead :P. "CONTEXT!"
@@Skallagrim😂🤣😂
@@runakovacs4759 skall Easton be like:" it depends on the context"
either that or context
Watching the rapier from the front really gave the idea how fearsome this weapon is. You can hardly see the sword. It's like an invisible weapon.
That's what the Japanese sword master said. He felt the thrusts were terrifying.
The samurai sword looks nicer, but I've heard long ago that a rapier is more deadly
@@GTSN38 Maybe in a 1v1 duel where both people start facing each other 10 feet apart and then engage, but Katana is more versatile by virtue of it's design. Thrusting with a thin sword is good in a very specific scenario, Katana is good pretty much anywhere aside from against armour.
@oliver6257 Not really, no. Katanas simply dont beat "long pointy stick". Not that it matters, they were reserves, exactly like any soldiers pistol today
@@elseggs6504 your argument is 'trust me bro'
You also have to remember that Seki Sensei is only familiar with Japanese weapons, so he was using the foil based on what felt natural to him, the fact that some of his movements reflected actual rapier and side sword techniques show that A) Seki Sensei is such a skilled swordsman that he is able to use a weapon effectively even if he's not very familiar with it. And B) Rapier type weapons are so specialized that their purpose comes almost instinctively...
Foil is a practice version of the small sword with a whip technique and flicking the SCA loves, Rapier parallels to Epee.
сенсей с рапирой делает сабельные движения.
@@mikasonche9752 - saber evolved from Rapier, as well as long sword.
@@rogereppich245 сабля пришла из азии. От степных кочевников.
@@mikasonche9752 - well that is what they claim, horse people came from Ukraine before the Black Sea was formed. Saber is used by cavalry, but did not start there or in Asia.
Thanks! Love your videos. God bless you!
I honestly like when you do "weapon vs weapon" videos because your contemplative and thorough approach does justice to both weapons and you consider not just the weapons but the context of the warriors, very satisfying videos.
I also really like Seki-sensei, afaik he's genuine and those clips of him are of him experimenting and learning rather than "demonstrating", they always welcome comments that correct or inform his interpretations of western weapons.
Yeah, I find these videos of his really interesting. I'm actually surprised Matt hasn't commented on the rapier video yet.
Completely agree with the first part of the comment.
Not really with the second part. Seki may be genuine in heritage and years handling weapons but I haven't seen a single video of him sparring or pressure testing. Nor students of his. So...
@@kevinlobos5519 He's supposed to have competed in actual combat tournaments where he won, more akin to like HEMA tournaments than like Kendo and stuff. The main reason I believe it though is these "Seki tries" vids though because he always successfully intuits a lot of *correct* information about how to use these weapons and their pros and cons, so either they've faked it to the point where they have real knowledge anyway, or he actually is genuinely comfortable with martial arts. They also don't talk like fakers, they're knowledgeable about what separates Kendo, Iaido, and stuff apart from "real" combat martial arts but are still respectful and encouraging of those arts and their merits, fakers always detract from others to make themselves look more reliable. I'm happy to be proven wrong that's just why I believe him rn.
@gryphonconnor8233 Right, that's the thing, supposedly, it's all supposedly and we have no hard proof.
The thing is, you can be respectfull and encouraging with other martial arts and still live in your own delusional bubble. I have been to schools like that, spent/wasted years in some of them when I was younger. Sometimes that respect and stuff is just superficial and they really think otherwise, but that's besides the point.
What bothers me the most is that again, there's 0 hard proof. All we have are paired kata and some experimenting in which the sensei ALWAYS wins in a single move or two, it's always right and the student never challenges or pressures beyond that. And I don't mean in a disrespectfull way, it's just that the students always behave more like puppets than actual people when it comes to it.
It's especially egregious when they have already spent months or years training swordplay. They should be able to respond to the very basic responses their sensei always default to. That's also a bad sign. We never see long exchanges, how to come back from screw ups, what if the oponent feints and you fall for it, what if he does a counter technique. You know, everything that can happen if your opponent is not a mindless manequin that will only attack once or twice in a very predictable way and won't attempt to react to anything you do to him.
If they are incapable of that, then their Sensei is not actually teaching. He is scamming them.
In the end I think it has to do with eastern martial arts culture which puts WAY too much emphasis on respect to your elders and your teachers, if you are part of a school, is part of your job to save your teacher's face and make him look good as much as you can.
Or else they have that also eastern thing of "not showing the real good stuff" to outsiders and we only get to see the superficial stuff. But even then, as long as there's no real evidence of actual sparring, I can only assume they don't have the slightest ability to do everything they show in demos and kata when actually pressured in non cooperative practice 🤷🏻♂️.
@@kevinlobos5519 This serves your point more than mine but I don't think Seki has ever intended to show us actual sparring, that I've seen anyway, the kata are rehearsed in order to practice movements in a granular way, so afaik we've never actually seen anyone try seriously to beat Seki, and when something puts him on the backfoot in these videos they tend to just stop, like how rather than recieving a thrust from the rapier, he stopped to talk about how he really didn't want to and why lol. I see your point though, I looked it up and apparently the accolades he has are reliable, he shouldn't have been able to fake grades and his Ryu is nationally recognized, so he is a genuine descendant of Samurai if I'm understanding the Ryu correctly, not that that means his combat skills are "real" but his techniques shouldn't be fraudulent at the very least. I understand though the issues with that system and its culture on a surface level at least, I'm not gonna say something like "well surely he'd perform just as well in a HEMA tournament because his Ryu is real", there's a lot of issues with that, but I'm still under the impression that information from him is good if you take it with a grain of salt, given like I said how the conclusions he drew when applying his Kata to western weapons coincide well with how HEMA practioners understand those weapons. Unless of course it's staged and he does research beforehand to go through the motions, no way to know really.
As a knuckle dragging lonsgsworder, I’ve been clowned on by rapier fencers my entire life. Even if I’m using a really big longsword the rapierist will consistently outreach me and nail me with a thrust to the shoulder or face. The very few times I’ve managed to land hits against them were by very aggressively closing to grabbin distance and either striking with the pommel (gently) or push/pull slices in halfsword; and even then sometimes they’ll just retreat and annihilate my fingers with a cut. Rapiers are honestly terrifying.
Yeah, it's humbling to remember why rapiers became the go-to sidearm for unarmored fighting and duels instead of longswords. I also find longswords more fun, but I can't deny the effectiveness of rapiers.
Surely the word isn't Rapierist? Sus lol
@@neilkirkley1500 Funnily enough, it is. When I first saw it, I went "huh".
This. I totally felt that
Go bigger. Montante.
I really like this video. Clearly is a " reaction" to Seki senssei's video, but it isnt just a guy looking at something and making small comentary, it tries to expand on the subject, it is researched prior recording and is formatted beyond just Skalagrim sitting in front of monitor. Really cool.
Granted, but who else could he react to?
Seki sensei has trained in katana for decades, and I find it remarkable how intuitively he falls into reasonable stances and maneuvers using weapons he hasn’t trained on.
This bears on the “what happens if they swap weapons” question. Not every samurai is going to be as good at using an unfamiliar weapon especially in the heat of battle against a resisting opponent. Still, the European might have the bad luck to run into a samurai with that kind of ability, and I’m wondering how many Europeans who trained on the rapier would also be able to switch to a two handed side sword style or whatever.
Yeah, it depends.
Agreed
Universal principles. Both Skal and Seki Sensei get it.
it'd be interesting if they did a crossover video. two experts each in their own sword sparring and then going over it
Too bad the smart money seems to be in grinding out daily reactions with minimal effort. :o
The stance you showed holding the katana upright like a baseball bat is called "hasso" in Japanese. It is almost never used in competitive play because of the reach issue you identified; however, it was apparently more useful in real-world combat. Because a katana is less tiring to hold upright than sideways, the stance allows the user to stay combat-ready for longer, which is particularly important when one does not know in advance how long the battle will last, e.g. when one suspects an ambush. The compactness of the stance is also helpful in close quarters, like indoor brawls or many-to-many battles. Finally, if the user is wearing Japanese armor, the arm guard would block the throat and heart from enemy thrusts.
Hasso was also pretty commonly used in armored combat since doing Jodan no kamae (high guard) was pretty difficult when you had a helmet in the way, especially if that helmet also had a maedate (crest/ornament)
Trained with both years ago. In 1 on 1 settings when we played around with rapier types vs katana types, the rapier and fighting styles that come with it provided enough of an advantage that relative novices with rapiers were beating experienced bushido.
Several vs several though the cutting prowess of katanas really showed once the groups got past holding a solid line. People would spread out in an attempt to keep some distance, and when there's several people doing that, it was easier for the bushido to swing and hit someone who wasn't facing them directly.
We weren't collectively trained for military formations though, so can't really say either side was effectively using their weapons for that scenario.
Perhaps you were using KENDO, which is more linear.
Definitely rapier is a one on one weapon whereas katana was an army weapon
I have some doubts your "trained in both" statement given you refer to *people* as "bushido". Now, it could just be that you're American and like everything else American you were misinformed or simply too lazy to learn/use the correct terminology. Or maybe you aren't American and you're just making things up. No way to tell, but either way, "bushido" is simply the wrong term. It's like not knowing the word "soldier" and using the word "Geneva Conventions" instead. Dunno, but as I say, I have doubts. :)
Beyond that, rapier vs katana is almost always going to end badly for the katana user *unless* they get lucky. That said, rapier vs Odachi or Nodachi would be a more interesting contest because the rapier's reach is negated. I suspect Odachi is a bad idea because that's just too big and slow, but nodachi is about the same size.
What counted as beating someone? Only good, life/fight ending, clean hits are counted in kendo. I almost never see the same for most rapier fencing. So if we are just judging on contact couting as a win then yea rapier is gonna come out on top every time.
Ive never heard of a katana beating ANYTHING but its so cool looking 😂
What people think would happen if a samurai and musketeer dueled: "cool sword fight"
What would actually happen: "the good, the bad and the ugly soundtrack starts playing for a gun showdown".
There is no need for a "what would happen"...It happened. The Portuguese duelled againts Samurai and we have sources
@@allmachtsdaggl5109 could you tell me the source sounds interesting af
@@guywhodid9113when bro doesn’t cite sources 😢
Not really, the few documented cases ended in a one-sided bloodbath and the one that was in a civilian context ended with the rapiers banned because some drunken Portuguese sailors killed a bunch of ronins in a pub brawl that went wrong. The trashing was so one sided that the blacksmiths had to adjusted the geometry of the katanas to be a slightly better match against the rapiers.
The biggest documented encounter was the 1582 Cagayan battles, and of course it wasn't just sword vs sword, so there are other factors involved in the death to kill ratio (better armor, better ships, possibly better training, etc.). Still, the main combat force was a 60 men Spanish tercio, so at least 20 swordmen (a tercio is 1/3 arquebusiers, 1/3 pikemen, 1/3 swordsmen). And the numbers are not pretty... it was a 60 men tercio + 20 sailors vs 1000+ pirates, including ronin and ended in an embarrassing one-side trashing, with a Spanish victory. Check the wikipedia article for more details.
@@Imman1sthe last case is speculated to be false, there is no reliable source that confirm that the events of that squirmish happend in that way, also comparing a mix national pirates to samurai is kinda dumb.
The tercios where an elite well trained and well equiped profesional military force, the pirates they fought where mere bandits and brigands, not only that, but the number 1000 is only mentioned in a letter sent by an officer asking for rienforcment, in witch it describes a force of 11 ships of witch kind you can't put more that 15 men each.
the story of 60 european soldier beationg 1000 samurai reads like propaganda to me.
Rapiers are incredible for out spacing an opponent for what they are. A proficient rapier duelist isn’t gonna get himself hit by any other sword user unless they clearly outmatch him in skill. Rapiers became THE duelling sword for very good reason, they’re pretty much designed for the purpose of having the most advantage in reach and defence of any contemporary sword. In an unarmored match though, I imagine the katana would do a much nastier blow if it’s user were to find a way through or around the rapier user’s guards and maneuverability.
Only if KATANA will miss this tiny sharp sword, if it was hit by a really big sword it will break it or bend it that is why it was never used against someone with a shield and a proper sword, if the person had no shield and he could avoid his own sword been hit by a bigger sword then yes it was very deadly actually but one strike on the sword itself from katan it will bend...It was light fast and deadly as long as it was not hit by a big sword....
@@DailymailnewzRapier won't break that easily though. A Samurai found it hard way when he duel a Portuguese duelist, don't remember how it really went since it was long time ago I've read that book but samurai was humiliated in that duel so bad that he end his own life afterward.
@@inquisitorsteele8397 Yes in one to one situation it is a good sword but as long as the opponent has no shield it is a one to one sort of stuff...You can imagine someone stopping is with a shield and then striking it with those big swords from old times ha ha it will bend...a very narrow light sharp long spear was the same, it did not allow anyone come nearer and it was easily movable now if the opponent has that long very light spear which is the same as this kind of sword but it is just on a wooden stuff and it is long it can get anyone but again only in one to one , that kind of spears were so narrow and light you could throw them straight at anyone from a couple of meters and they were dead on the spot as long as they had no sheild so those spears would be the ultimate winners against this narrow sword...They were also used as swords too because they could be struck like a sword while the oppenent was at least three or four meter away, it was deadly but they were outdone by galatine or the robe kind of dagers they were the most deadly of all weapons if they threw the rope it and hit that was it and if it went around the sword or around the person that was it, the opponent eather threw a dagger or just kept on pulling the robe until he got so nearer that he could kill with anything, that was one of the most deadly weapons in one to one combot but they all went out of market because deadly pistol of the old times replaced them all....There was the hand arrow that was hidden so if someone struck and left enought space that arrow could be thrown very very fast with hand and the person was dead meat, but these all came to an end because of old powder pistols and some were like shot guns as well...
@democracyforall the thing about a rapier is its 1 handed sword and you can use pretty much anything in your other hand a pistol a shield used for parry and this idea you have that you can bend the rapier easier is misguided if your trying to bend the rapier to beat your opponent in a duel your already dead the entire fighting style is optimized for countering this.
@@Dailymailnewz I wouldn’t call rapiers tiny. They were longer than a katana. They didn’t weigh that much less than a katana either and considering that most of the weight is concentrated in the hilt which were usually quite sturdily built, a rapier is probably the best equipped sword to block and parry a strike from another sword. The blades weren’t flimsy either, they were reinforced to resist bending or breaking as thrusting is one of the most stressful things a sword can do especially against armor, which historically rapiers have been known to puncture.
Don’t get me wrong, katanas are really cool and like any two handed longsword they can deal devastating cuts to an unarmored opponent, but rapiers basically replaced all swords except sabres in Europe. After centuries of people duelling each other, everyone came to the same conclusion that a one handed thrusting sword was just the way to fight 1v1. The katana in comparison came to be in peacetime, the tachi was the sword of choice for the warring samurai and the katana didn’t catch on until the edo period. It’s not a fighting sword, it’s a ceremonial weapon. A really kickass ceremonial weapon and samurai in peacetime still duelled each other with it, but the katana faced none of the competition the rapier did in Europe to come on top as the sword of choice.
I do think though the question in which would win in a fight entirely depends who the fighters are and how skilled they are. Swords are just tools after all, two completely unskilled fighters using either weapon could result in either winning
I believe that Matt Easton made a video where he read historical letters/documents describing how each side viewed this exact match up. If I recall correctly the European side's biggest comment was that once a thrust was landed back up quick because the Samurai will run down the blade to land a cut. Whereas the Japanese side talked about how to bind the Rapier too close in safely or the Raperist will just stab the Samurai to death.
so esstially if samurai binds the blade or closes distance they win if they don't they lose
@@clintonbehrends4659 basically, though it isn't a guarantee as there are counters.
Rapier: Dance around your enemy, thrust and fall back
Katana: *Bushido dignified! It's the last stand of the samurai!*
The japanese lost aomost every duel/sword fight against the Portuguese if that helps any in this situation....its documented.
@@elvisrodriguez9351Where the portugese not a foot taller like Steven Segal, come on that aint a fair fight. Give a samurai sword to a portugese guy.
I personally think that the rapier has the advantage in an unarmored duel because it was designed specifically for that.. its longer range, precise and super quick thrusts ( face, heart, liver, throat, lungs, piercing through that just once is a death sentence more often than not, either instantly or through internal hemorrhage or simply paralyzes you on hit for a follow up ) and the full hand protection are a very significant advantage IMHO.
Whereas the Katana is more of an all rounder, a weapon better suited to deal with a variety of situations ( can deal with surprise attacks with its fast draws especially in confined spaces, more versatile if faced with more than one opponent because it can deliver deep cuts very quickly and has a lower chance to stay stuck as the opponent grabs the rapier blade that just pierced his body while his friend finishes you off, it can also be carried at all times without being too cumbersome, can cut/pierce through slightly better protections than plain clothes over human flesh and has more authority/use at very close range when almost grappling).
I think the katana should be compared to a medieval short bastard sword or a longsword because the Japanese equivalent for a specialized duel weapon like the rapier would probably be the kusarigama but it is not a sword type of weapon even though it has a bladed element.
Great break down of each weapon and their pros/cons. That ending point about the muskets cracked me up
Your videos are always amazing, Skall! You're confident and knowledgeable, but also humble and honest enough to admit when you're out of your area of expertise. It'd be great if you could discuss a topic like this by bringing over someone with Kenjutsu training.
It would be awesome to make a video with an experienced Kenjutsu practitioner in person, but I don't know anyone with that background locally.
The Metatron has humiliated himself within the kenjutsu community and overall shown a severe amount of disrespect to the school he trained in. He taught many techniques publicly on his RUclips channel that he wasn't approved to teach and sparred within weeks of learning katori shinto ryu without getting the school's approval. It's not 100% confirmed, but I suspect he was kicked out of his school since he stopped making kenjutsu videos only after a couple of months of joining Katori Shinto ryu and was told by the soke himself to stop recording videos. Bringing the Metatron in to represent kenjutsu would open up a lot of old wounds and overall not be healthy for Skallagrim's community or the kenjutsu community as a whole.
@@josephlucas4024Ouch, I had no idea. Thank you for the correction, I was completely unaware of the situation. As a kenjutsu practitioner myself, it really hurts me to hear about such news.
@@SkallagrimAre you Celtic, Germanic or both?
@@josephlucas4024, was it that Metatron mentioned the school’s name in his videos, or he just posted videos without mentioning Katori Shinto Ryu? My guess is that they wouldn’t care as long as he didn’t mention the school’s name. I could be wrong though.
As a medium level fencer(really only did about two years each of foil and epee) it's interesting to see how someone who's not my coach explain rapier combat
I believe epee and foil are equivalent to small swords and not rapiers, although I could be wrong
@@wallace5081 Foil is the training weapon for the smallsword, and epee was a "less-lethal" evolution of the smallsword for 19th-century honor duels (Note: There's still record of deaths in epee duels, because it's still a pointy blade you're stabbing each other with, even if it is "less-lethal" than a traditional smallsword.)
That being said, smallsword fencing is a descendant art of rapier fencing, and while it's not the same weapon there are general principles that still translate between both weapons. There's a reason most high-level rapier competitors also have foil or epee backgrounds; good fundamentals are good fundamentals.
I think matt eastons take was the best,the katana is good as a close range battle sword that can cover lots of space and defend well against multiple opponents but the rapier is a pure duelist weapon pretty much unmatched in 1 on 1 but in a battle it's going to lack
In which video was this?
multiple@@carrot2556
This is pretty much how my Chivalry game works
The reason why the rapier is so overpowered is because it's the closest thing to a spear that a sword can be -- but because it's still technically a sword, all the sword-worshippers actually feel comfortable with giving it the credit that they refuse to give spears.
Yeah. There’s a reason small swords fell out of favor and sabers came to dominate when actual warfare ensued in Europe.
Thanks
Very interesting analysis, my initial thoughts would be in favor of the Samurai sword, but after watching your video, I would be a very close match. Great video! 😎🎸
If I time travel to ancient Japan with a rapier, I'll know what to do now
rapier beats katana back in the time on duels with coloonistators
If you're in *ancient* Japan, you wouldn't even be facing Katanas. Now Feudal Japan...
you'd probably get an arrow or a spear first unfortunately
This is probably my favorite video of skall, and maybe hema youtube in general.
I like your analysis overall and especially the bump into each other on the street scenario.
Great stuff! Can confirm that the katana makes defense against a side sword much more difficult.
I am part of a sword fighting club, most of the member have experience only with the katana, while I have less experience with a katana and a little more experience with a rapier and side sword. Fighting with a katana against another katana, I “died” more often. When I switched to a side sword against a katana, my wins vastly outpaced my losses
The picture he showed of the Spanish technique is the basic guard position at 90 degrees or straight out. It emphasizes maximum distance between you and the attacker.
In the end this kind of "duels" would end with the person with the longer weapon having an advatage, it could be a rapier, spear, longsword, katana whatever.
Also! That circular motion in 11:40 is actually one of the 4 tretas generales in spanish rapier fencing, that movement with a lateral step and a thrust to the face or vertical cut is what's called "Flaqueza sobre la fuerza" in first spanish systems like Pacheco de Narvaez
well in actual combat I would give it to the war veteran, not the rapier that duels once in a blue moon.
Love this scenario and how you break it down bit by bit, really good work Skall
LOVED this video. Not to say I don't enjoy the rest of your content, but I really, really had a blast watching this one. By far this is the one I liked the most out of your recent videos.
I think the matchup would likely favor the rapier, because in many ways a katana is just a different version of the weapon the rapier was essentially designed to defeat; The longsword.
The rapier excels in manipulating the point of the enemy weapon to get it out of the way, thus clearing the way for a quick stab. It also prefers fighting an opponent using a two-handed sword grip, because a single arm holding a rapier will have better range and present less of the body than a similarly sized longsword being held in a two-handed grip.
By contrast, a rapier being used against anyone with a shield and (insert short one-handed weapon here) is going to have a much harder time of things. Likewise, a two-handed polearm would also have an advantage over the rapier, given its better reach and the rapier's lesser mass making it harder to just knock the polearm aside.
Frankly, a samurai facing off against a musketeer would be better off pulling out their wakizashi and using its sheath as a club/shield to get in close and start stabbing.
I'd argue the katana is more of a prototypical version of a saber, than an equivalent to a longsword. Amd, well, sabers, while inarguably the more useful general porpouse battlefield sidearm, lose out to rapiers in a duel.
0:18 "It depends primarily on the user's skill." That's why the person with the rapier would usually win.
How so?
@@splatterfrog4606 to be fair, neither of them are primarily swordsmen. And calling either a "master" is a stretch
@@skitariiranger4346 I believe the European style of fighting was more practical; all about terminating the other person.
@matthewbrown8679 fair enough. I was curious about the reasoning since neither uses a sword as a primary weapon
As someone trained in Ken Jutsu I pretty much agree with what you said about the Katana perspective
My first thought was to try and displace/deflect a thrust and close in the distance while maintaining as much blade contact as possible to not get caught off guard
Two techniques in particular came to mind that are specifically designed to counter thrusts
One uses the curvature of the blade to displace the tip just enough to go in for a counter thrust without putting to much force into the bind and the other dodges the thrust while making contact by putting the own blade on top of the opponent's, followed by a horizontal cut that basically tries to slide along the opponent's blade towards the body
I feel like a katana could also catch and control a rapier pretty effectively, rapiers flex and katana don't so if you can bind them you can use that to close distance too.
The Korean ARMA guys tried this
@kidthorazine If you bind they can just flex down and around. Skall covers this in the video
Sliding along the blade for a cut towards the body could be a problem if you are used to doing it against another katana, you could well get caught on the much better handguard that the rapier has.
@@AnarexicSumo That's why it's not a full commited bind and more just making contact. If they disengage their blade you'll still be in a neutral position for a follow up block
One of the things I think folk almost wholly overlook about the rapier, and thrusting swords broadly (and for that matter, thrusting as a whole) is something you brought up in this video: A wound won't tend to kill someone right away. And a thrust is more likely to get "stuck" (not to say cuts can't also, mind). And to go further, a thrust is also less likely to give wounds that are immediately disabling. I think there's enough historical sources to give us a decent sense that thrusting swords often got their user killed, while also killing the other man. While a thrust will tend to be more directly deadly than a cut (a thrust is more likely to hit internal organs, whereas a cut either has to be very deep or hit areas like the neck to be immediately deadly); a cut is more likely to disable (by outright cutting of muscle or bone, and possibly greater pain from the size of the wound).
I think modern folk understandably overlook this as we obviously don't have to deal with a flailing, dying man stuck on the end of our swords. Importantly, most modern fighters, while likely caring about doubles, almost always have a fight end once a hit lands (understandably, as who knows how the real wound would effect the rest of a fight). But that is a really big deal when it comes to judging weapons in their historical context.
I'd love to hear you go in depth on this line of thought.
Incidentally, my understanding is that this is the reason behind sport foil fencing's weird right-of-way rules: They're intended to teach people to win bouts in ways that would not get them killed a split second later in a real fight.
If you also take the lack of stopping power into account, this really is a lot like striking vs grappling in unarmed martial arts
Yeah, it reminds me of how the gladius and other swords would sometimes have a fuller in part to guarantee that the sword would have space to slide back out instead of getting stuck. Because, if you get a good thrust into someone's groin or chest, they are likely dead unless immediately sent to surgery and getting blood. But they can still move in the time it takes for them to actually run out of blood. In this time, you want to get your sword out and block them with a shield or something. In the case of the rapier, you have to get the sword out immediately, because otherwise you are risking your head and your swordarm. A good downwards cut into your wrist or head and you are both going down.
@@LuizAlexPhoenix Is this a variation of the "blood groove" myth? As far as I'm aware, there's no evidence that a fuller, on any blade exists do anything but serve as a way of taking weight out of that area of the blade while still allowing for a strong structure
Don't matter much if you are disabled with an arm or leg dangling by a piece of skin from a cutting sword, or if you have a thrust sword sticking out from your liver or lungs, the point is you are done at this point, and will be dispatched shortly.
Awesome video Skall! When I saw the subject I immediately thought of the movie Rob Roy. Backsword vs Rapier.
All youtube videos have taught me that odds favor the longer pointier thing, all things being equal and a gun is the "longest" pointier thing.
Swordsman vr actually taught me rapier has better odds of survival in max difficulty.
This was fun.
Also, thanks for talking about the sidesword. It's my interest and I don't see enough content about it
Wow, I love that you brought up the drawing scenario near the end. That's something that most people seem to fail to consider.
People tend to underestimate just how OP rapiers could be. Their speed and range tops most other swords and a quick stab is much harder to parry than a cut.
They’re not my favorite kind of sword, but my hat goes off to them.
Also they underestimate European Martial arts from that time. What must people doesnt know is that nearly all European Hand to Hand Combat arts or meele Combat arts vanished during the 19th century due to Industrial advancements in society.
just saying, degenbrecher is so hot
@@seegurke-bd3yr For the cost of training one master swordsman I could train dozens of decent crossbowmen.
There's a reason why medeval swords evolved into the rapier, it's because the rapier is better than anything else.
@@jegr3398 So do you just go around pretending that katanas do not exist?
With katana, the footwork will be more like moving around you, and/or suddenly pivoting to the other side. Then it will be more difficult to keep the enter line, as the line is moving.
Modern fencing is on a track, so there is no such go-around footwork.
I'm probably late to the party but having a musketeer and a samurai swap weapons would be a funny fight to see.
Really liked the analysis of this theoretical duel.
Would like to see more of this, like an Axe vs a Saber or something like this.
Great video Skall, thank you.
I also have a question.
If I sub to your Patreon, how would I get the notification for your videos?
Would it be like normal through RUclips and such?
Mostly asking out of curiousity, cause I plan to become a Patreon but can't afford it right now and need a bit more....let's say encouragment.
Anxiety disorder is a b**ch.
I'm biased to the Rapier, but I'll be curious to see your take on the two.
Well Portugal armed with rapiers pretty much only didn't take over Japan because the supply line from Portugal was just too much to deal with so. Yeah, advantage rapier. Side note Hammamatsu (sp?) Castle in Japan has a display discussing it. I think it was on the 3rd floor but not positive. It's been a while and they could have also moved it
All I know is I'd never want to be on the pointy end of a rapier.
@@Wolfpak765you are dumb if you think the Japanese fight mainly with katanas and the Portuguese fight mainly with rapiers.
The supply thing is real tough.
@@Wolfpak765what? Samurai primary fight with spears. Katana is a side weapon. 😂😂😂😂😂
@@Wolfpak765 Samurai were archers and mainly used types of spears and glaive when forced to melee
As a spanish rapier fencer I must say what you said is pretty applicable to spanish rapier fencing as well
(Btw don't worry about the spanish rapier being anachronistic in your demonstration, I use an italian style rapier xd I'm the odd one in my club)
I had deep reservations about clicking on this video based on the title alone. I breathed a sigh of relief when the answer was an up-front "it depends".
The "musketeers" are characters in a novel. The great warriors of Europe during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were the Spaniards of the Tercios. And some of these soldiers faced the Japanese, including some ronin samurai in the Philippines, see the battle of Cagayan.
Great video. Chevalier d’Andrieux vs Miyamoto Musashi. That would be an interesting battle.
One thing I've never seen mentioned is something I've only noticed as a long time Japanese martial artist and more recently European, the Japanese Katana as the majority of them were in the Edo period so the shorter more portable ones are ALOT like European Sabres. I've also sparred with someone who chose Chinese Wushu who reverted to their version of the Sabre so Dao when they picked up the Katana 🤔
It kind of explains why the Japanese had less trouble doing the same as we did and moved into using what we think of as traditional Sabres/Japanese Gunto 🙂
Very nice breakdown of this matchup.
Think people don't realize how fast and the range of a rapier. A great movie about these type ofweapons is Alatriste with Viggo Mortensen.
While reading the comments, it appears that many people don't know that rapiers could not only pierce and stab, but also cut and slash and they are quite good at it too. I'v seen a video of some guys testing a rapier for cutting, and they were quite surprised how efficient it is.
god damn, those swords are gorgeous
ikr? I kept getting distracted by the shiny
@@Tokorai the bamboo like katana got me completely mesmerized
That Pappenheimer and Spanish Cup Hilt are really pretty.
0:09 He's been practicing his draws 🤩
Nice video, Skall!
You know what? I watch you channel already for many years, and I still do, despite not watching other swords/hema swords that I started watching as the same time as yours. And, yeah, I like the content. I always make sure to like the videos and watch it using YT Premium (that grants a wee bit more money to ya, I hope). But now I just became a member, sorry for the dealy and I really hope that you thrive, mate. Cheers! =]
Watched a video where an Old Japanese sword master was shown a rapier and was scared to death of fighting against it. That should say a lot.
Reminds him of getting a vaccine shot.
_Kowai-degozaru_
8:07
I used to do LARP and I love the rapier + buckler/parrying dagger.
To practice my parrying, I once fought a buy with a huge two-handed sword and who was stronger than me, I lost most of the fights, specially because of the reach difference, but in all fights I managed to parry or block attacks widout that much problem in terms of strength needed.
The difference in length of the lever is a really important factor.
So glad you mention the scenario where the two meet on the street, that's when I would give the katana the edge due to it's ability to be drawn from the sheath quickly. Otherwise in a duel, the reach of the rapier is a massive advantage.
Yes. As someone who has done iai/battoujutsu, I'm glad Skall mentioned that since the (uchi)-gatana seems especially designed for that scenario and would probably be a very strong "EDC" sword if you know what I mean. I've tried doing iai techniques with both longswords and rapiers and I gotta say that the low suspension and wearing angle of the scabbard + long blade + crossguards and complex hilts on those swords are really nice in a duel, but really get in the way of drawing and using the sword from the scabbard which means fewer techniques you can comfortably do in a SHTF sort of scenario. Also probably explains why over time European swords eventually did away with larger crossguards and made swords generally shorter in the early modern period as with sabers and smallswords.
provided you meet on the street right in front of one another, and decide only then its time to fight, yeah
OMG, you have not watched how fast Japanese draw katana out of saya... I am so sorry... You would be dead.
Dang skall got bots infecting his channel rip u got good vids tho man i been subscribed for a few years
Yeah, the thot bots are everywhere now. Odd to see positivity spam... I guess it's nicer than toxic spam, but more likely to scam gullible people.
Facts man
Its on every channel 😢
@@Skallagrim That's a trend that has been around for quite a while now, maybe two years or so. I reckon the positivity is less prone to get caught in the filters, compared to posting links or babbling about fake giveaways.
Its everywhere, that adult media bots .
Duncan always was able to take out Richie if he needed to. But... this is probably why he taught him the Rapier. A great sword for a young person thrust into the game.
My bet is on the musketeer. Rapier is a deadly weapon, perfected for 1 on 1 duel. Light, maximises the distance between the enemy and the wielder‘s body, leaves the off-hand free for a second weapon or buckler shield, has a functional bowl or crossguard instead of the pathetic excuse for a useful feature that is tsuba, the list can go on.
As there is no such thing as „equally skilled fighters“, I would say this - the musketeer would be at a very strong advantage.
Thoroughly enjoyed that thanks!
This was lovely and detail-ful.
As an aside, my eyes kept trying to refocus on your pixellated shirt logo to resolve it into higher resolution.
I have heard people on the internet say there is an historical record of Portugese with rapiers duelling samurai in Japan. I would love for someone to do a deep dive on that document, if it exists.
There's a spanish video on the topic, but long story short, the japanese felt really out of place, facing a type of fencing that was alien to them
I once was at a very detailed samurai exposition in artillery museum in SPb. They said that samurais had very small winrate, because rapier is faster and has reach advantage. Also they said that duels started with weapons holstered, and in order for samurai to win they'd have to do it in one fast precise swing at the first second of the fight
From what I've heard and seen online was that on the ports, drunk swordsman would pick fights with each other. At first the portugesue would have the advantage due to how different the style was. Soon enough the Japanese learned to counter it and took out many fighters until it was outlawed so people can trade peacefully.
I have heard of the Spaniards battling the wokou pirates where people are pushing them as Samurai. Most of them were just criminals, some poor Robin, some Korean, Chinese and Mongol thieves.
I saw that document also and portuguese were successfull, the fencing techniques were somehow better. It was a historical document , can't remember anything else
If anyone wants to say katana would lose because it's fragile, please note that Renaissance dueling accounts are full of rapier breaking against unarmored opponents.
Yeah Dlatrex swords did a decent breakdown of the weapons and their breaking points and came to the natural conclusion that rapier will break more often than a katana would. Although in his video he is using Japanese accounts from the edo period when katana were not made as strong
@@Connor-b3zI assume that swords of Edo Period would be better swords as swordsmith has more time to gather material and make the sword. No need to churn out blades on rapid pace.
@@vksasdgaming9472 you’d think right? Now, I’m really comparing high end to high end for samurai, not really talking about the mass produced types for foot soldiers.
The fatal flaw is not in the quality but in the hamon size. Edo period swordsmiths began making swords with wider, more elaborate hamon which lead to them developing deeper cracks and chips and eventually catastrophic failures.
Watch the video for yourself. The testers noted that the newer swords with wider hamon broke more often. It was a trend that started and continued throughout the edo period
@@Connor-b3z It was layman's guess based on demand and supply. Demand dropped so supply had to adapt with better quality.
@@vksasdgaming9472 that makes sense but even period smiths acknowledged the inferiority of edo period blades
I love the matched up muskets, that was unusually delightful.
I feel like in an unarmored duel, the rapier wielder would benefit from attacking the hands of the katana wielder - exposed target and reachable from a safe distance.
Interistingly enough rapier vs katana reminds me of wakizashi or ko katana vs katana. Wherein its often on you to close distance.
Also reminded of the back and forth of cavalry thrusting vs slashing swords in more recent military history.
Think works similiar to katana vs chinese spear sparring in that footwork is paramount and moving your centerline and moving in while maintaining some defense.
Actually a lot of the boken matches won back inthe day were won with thrusts
Haha
Interestingly not a fullon reverse grip but a reverse grip with the left hand towards the top of the grip was what I favored with a migrating bottom grip not unlike some polearm techniques but using a smaller lever
Also spear combat was prevalent in Japan, just as most cultures so think they had more knowhow of countering thrusting weapons than probably accounted for.
Katana deflects bullets and shoots Rasengans. The rapier is French. The math's not adding up here!
Yeah, French would destroy the weaboo with their weird energy.
Jesus Christ...grow up...and a weapon being French, if you have read something, not memes, is normally quite good, at least during centuries...
The rapier is not a French invention. Also all swords will deflect most civilian firearms. No sword can deflect a high caliber rifle. A katana would survive the most poorly too when compared to a Messer or longsword
@@Balrog2005it's a joke, you did know that right?
@@FringeAndFighting High caliber rifle barely compares to the speed of sound. The katana grants its wielder the speed of light. It's just basic science
An excellent and fair analysis of the two sword styles. Good work mate.
She was amazed by the large chunks of ice washing up on the beach.
I wish I could find the video but an Olympic fence and a master of kendo once had such a duel. They both agreed on the rules and strike points. During the duel, the rapier hit the femoral artery of the kendo master and the kendo master hit the top of the head of the fencer a second later. Both masters agreed that the rapier was the superior weapon.
Reminds me of a scene in Fearless where Jet Li and his Samurai opponent get their weapons switched.
Li is able to use the katana, but the samurai is not really able to handle the 3 sectional staff.
That was an awesome fight scene. The samurai didn’t have 3 section staff experience while Li’s character knew how to use swords already.
I love your videos! They're always so interesting. Keep up the good work from Minnesota!
According to historical records from the port of Nagasaki, approximately 300 fencing encounters between European and Japanese are documented. All but one was won by a European.
I REALLY wanna see those.
@@1stCallipostlethis guy is 100% European that can’t accept Asians can beat Europeans
Source?
The skill of the wielder is everything.
I once sat at a table with a professional sword smith and ex-fencer and he confirmed that a Rapier is his weapon of choice for almost all encounters.
Keep in mind: Katanas give you a protagonist power up.
And all cutting abilities, steel, heaven, earth, body, soul...
What about swashbuckler fiction?
Just like Vtech stickers on a Honda.
@@Ptaaruonn space and time
@@marocat4749 Damn, i forgot that one...
**gasp** ...because space and time was cut.
Musashi with his katanas could defeat any European swordsman, guaranteed. Source: trust me bro.
Nah, d'Artagnan would win cuz he had three budies.
musashi would show up late and do something incredibly funny
@@jaxirraywhisper741 D'Who? Never head of him lol
@@kaiserruhsam "A Musashi is never late... he arrives precisely when he means to!"
You forgot that he would cast some galaxy level genjutsu on his opponent
In fact, the Spanish and Portuguese soliders always defeated the Japanese in all the battles in which they faced, samurai included... better techniques, better steel, better armor... The problem for Spaniards is that Hollywood hasn't made a film about this. Hollywood always makes absurd movies about ninjas.
Indeed. Vastly outnumbered Spaniard Tercios defeated Japaneses Samourais: See: Battle of Manila (1574). See: 1582 Cagayan battles.
It would be best not to do that. At that time, Japan had more guns than all of Europe. Spain only brought the virus. 😶
Those weren't Samurai, were pirates from different origins: Chinese, some Japanese, Filipinos, etc. Indeed, neither Spanish or Portuguese armies ever faced Samurai armies. Maybe, some Portuguese individual fought against a samurai, but never two armies.
I tend to agree that the rapier has a straight battle advantage in speed and agility. A musketeer would have his rapier and a dagger most likely. The samuri warrior though will be carrying his katana in addition to 2 or more blades as well as a spear or other long weapon. It really makes it difficult to compare the two fairly if all the pieces are not in the fight. Great video. Love it.
Thanks, I enjoyed your video. Also, I like your objective analysis of the 2 weapons' combat capabilities against each other. Often RUclipsrs under the pretense of analyzing the effectiveness of their martial art against another is really trashing the effectiveness of the other.
Only a scant few of the content producing RUclipsrs on anything "martial" take your approach.
I heard from the Seiki Sensei video that there actually WAS an account of a rapier fencer coming up against a samurai, which they both died from. The fencer died faster though.
The gist was that the fencer threw in a thrust to try and keep the samurai at a distance, but he had such a hard time tracking the tip of the sword with his eyes that he didn't notice and stepped into the blade, being cut in the stomach, but he delivered a slice that cut the fencer shoulder to stomach and the man promptly bled out, meanwhile the samurai died a few days later from the injury he received in the fight.
Both are of course fearsome weapons and the fighting styles are so widely different that I think, at least in a historical context, most duels would end in a similar fashion. Fencer makes a move to try to keep distance, that move is not perceived or respected, and both parties end up dead. Maybe with enough duels one side learns enough to get a leg up on the other, but that steps too far into the land of conjecture to provide any true value to the discussion at hand.
Excellent video and I totally agree with the fact that is not only the weapon but the swordman skills that can give more advantage in a fight ⚔
Didnt a school teacher made her students do this? Rapier vs katana
The whole who would win comparisons really just depends on the overall skill and physical fitness of the two individuals. Could some samurai beat some musketeers? Yes. Could some musketeers beat some samurai? Yes. Still enjoyed the side by side overview. Keep up the great work!
Fascinating as always.
Nice, i just saw that video where a high school teacher brought these two swords to school and had her students test out which one was more effective in 2 minute classroom duels. I think katana won in that case.
I could see it being a bit even. With the reach advantage, a rapier is gonna be hard to get around for people unfamiliar with swordfighting. If the rapier-user misses with that first thrust and the katana-user manages to get in close, I think it could quickly end in the katana-user's favor since the rapier-user won't know any techniques to deal with a close opponent.
I saw that clip recently and omg I don’t know how anyone let that happen for so long. The students obviously didn’t know what they were doing and that one looked like he didn’t want to be there. In the end it was the katana that cut open a girls wrist and sent her to the hospital. All around a tragic event.
Yet most fencing gold medalists are from Asia. Thus, in techniques, Asia had an upper hand.
Only if it is a spanish musketeer, he will . In 1582, in the philippines, took place the combat of cagayan. Just 40 spaniards fought more than 1000 samuráis ronin and chinese pirates, and the spaniards won (as usual)
Musketeer plunges the blade into Samurai's chest and whispers in his ear 'Ima Rapier'.
I really enjoyed this. I'm not experienced with either classical styles. I primarily keep only woodsman tools, but keep both my hatchet and machete sharp and ready if needed. I have practiced informal styles on limbs and vines. Scaring observers primarily as most have no experience with any tools/weapons. I find it strange that so many nowadays couldn't even build a basic fire pit, let alone defend themselves.
Rapier swords are the product of centuries of military technology in old Europe, especially Spain. In Japan they were isolated on their islands and their katanas are nothing more than medieval swords. An experienced warrior with a rapier sword and Biscayan dagger is unbeatable in hand-to-hand combat.
My money on the Rapier if they're both equal fighters.
I think another important factor is whether a katana user can stand against someone with a rapier what kind of armor they both wear. If you assume that both wear contemporary armor, the rapier user would have a problem because the armor of a samurai is made of hardwood. With a stabbing weapon like rapier, it’s hard to get through.
But however the comparison is quite difficult. On one side you have a slash weapon with the katana and on the other side a stab weapon with the rapier. These are completely different ways to fight.
That last part!! That's exactly it! The Katana is a sidearm and a quickdraw weapon. Depending on the era, a bushi warrior's main weapon is either the bow or the spear.
I've been learning Jujutsu proper(not BJJ) for thirteen years with some Iato and Tameshigiri, your point of getting close is exactly what I have learned to do in unarmed combat and thus I imagine the same would be used with armed combat so the extra length of rapier would be a disadvantage
The algorithm requires engagement and wtf is going on with these bots?
They're out of control... Signs of the impending AI age, I guess. xD
The musketeer would just shoot the samurai
Funny thing is we all think of musketeers with rapiers, but they are literally called "musketeers" as in musket... Guess what that suggests of their main weapon... 😛😂
The Japanese samurai used fire arms around 1543 so it technically would still be a good argument of who would win in the sword battle. Musketeers were around 1625. So they would both just shoot each other 😂
@@davewevansvery true
A well-train Spaniard swordsman with a rapier and a dagger was basically invincible in a duel, except by another better-skilled Spaniard with the same weapons. This is well-documented and there are manuals explaining how to get the most of these two weapons combined.
Really good video here. Obviously a rapier guy, and gave the katana a fair shot. I love katanas, but I came to the same conclusion as you did.
Sward play then is like drones and video games today , But when big brothers comes and takes all your guns , and then the zombies want to take your stash of food and stuff,
it maybe wouldn't hurt to know how to use one of these limb cutters ........after that we use sticks and stones ..............Good video i found it very informative