Why katanas are the coolest sword in the world

[billy victory]

Ugh.

Japanese sword technology was way more advanced than gladius or claymores.

Short answer: NO.
The katana wasn't advanced in anything but metallurgy (depending on how you look at it) over European weapons, and Damascus steel beat it anyway. KATANAS ARE MEANT TO BE USED AGAINST UNARMORED OPPONENTS. You cannot compare a focused-impact weapon, such as a claymore, to a draw-cut weapon like a katana, or to a piercing weapon like the gladius. (Actually, some comparisons can be made between the gladius and the claymore, as both were used against hard armor). Katanas were not used for the same things, so you can't say they were better. Samurai armor, by comparison to contemporary European armor, was much less protective, and much more ceremonial than the much more functional and defense-focused European styles, and so the katanas were able to function reasonably well against them. This is a cultural thing more than a "this one is better" thing. Why make a weapon for defeating hard armor if nobody has it? Why make hard armor if soft armor works? The two weapon/ armor systems are incompatible, and therefore incomperable.

 

[3vlNomad]

My point? It isn't that impressive, it can cut through skin oooooh, so can a sharpened rock.

sharpened rocks cannot cut through bone, muscle and skin in a single slash. You don't give the Katana much credit.

National Geographic: Fight Science

^compares martial arts and martial weapons using ballistics gel and crash test dummies to find out which one is the most lethal.

here is the Katana segment.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQRFuBeRAi4[/ame]

You should really buy the dvd and watch it, it's a very interesting documentary.

 

[Grimm911]

^ would beat a katana

i win.

 

[Carmine]

sharpened rocks cannot cut through bone, muscle and skin in a single slash. You don't give the Katana much credit.

National Geographic: Fight Science

^compares martial arts and martial weapons using ballistics gel and crash test dummies to find out which one is the most lethal.

here is the Katana segment.

You should really buy the dvd and watch it, it's a very interesting documentary.

And?

Yes, I was over exaggerating on the sharpened rock point. I know the damage a katana can do to an unarmored foe, that hardly makes it an ultimate weapon.

I'm sure a Saif or Shamshir, curved blades similarly used for cutting down unarmored opponents would do just as well in those tests. That doesn't make the Katana an ultimate sword, sure its entertaining to watch but many swords could do what the katana did in that video.

My whole point is that while the katana is a good sword, it is often over glorified to the point of it being called the ultimate sword, an ultimate sword would have to be useful against an armored opponent as well as an unarmored one.