favorite weapon

[fyrehart]

devilsadvocate said:

PS: 'The Samurai Sword' is a Katana if you are speaking of the longest blade, and a Wakizashi if you are speaking of the shortest. Some sets I have seen have a third, intermediate blade, but I do not recall what it is called.

I thought the Tanto was the shortest and the Wakizashi was the intermediate, and that seems to be confirmed by a few google searches.

www.karatedepot.com/sw-sa-04.html (Look in the "Features:" section)

EDIT: Aha! dracanus beat me to it

[The Devil's Advocate]

Thanks for the correction. I did a little looking myself, but was mainly going off what someone who owned (and knew how to use) them told me. In searching for confirmation I ran into a nifty article that brings up an interesting point: Most classifications by blade length are a modern invention. It's a fun article discussing primarily the wakizashi and the fuedal weapons laws that limited it's length in roughly the 1600's.

And Section IV has the 'legal' lengths from the period under discussion.

www2.una.edu/Takeuchi/DrT_Jpn_Culture_files/Nihon_to_files/Historical_classification_of_wak.htm

~The Devil's Advocate

**Edited to add length note.

[dracanus]

sorry fyre i thought tanto was the smallest, but i wasnt too sure. and it never occured to me to do a google search.

pretty nice article..*rubs forehead in soothing motion* too many words though

[whiteraven]

I hereby request that those centimeters be translated into inches, so that I may have some accurate Idea of the length of each sword

[fyrehart]

and I hereby request that you at least attempt to understand measurements that are used in virtually every country outside of the good 'ol US of A.

1 cm = 0.393700787 inches

You do the math yourself.

EDIT: Guess what. I got that conversion from Google. Big surprise.

[ANKA, Master Psion]

Tantos are traditionally used for ritual suicide (if I rember correctly).

[fyrehart]

I vaguely remember that also.

From wikipedia under seppuku:

"Seppuku ("stomach-cutting") is a Japanese word that means ritual suicide by disembowelment. Seppuku is better known in English as hara-kiri and is written with the same kanji as seppuku but in reverse order with an okurigana. However, in Japanese hara-kiri is considered a colloquial and somewhat vulgar term. The practice of committing seppuku at the death of one's master is known as tsuifuku though the ritual is basically the same."

"Seppuku was a key part of bushido, the code of the samurai warriors; it was used by warriors to avoid falling into enemy hands, and to attenuate shame."

"Given enough time, committing seppuku involved a detailed ritual. Dressed ceremonially, with his sword placed in front of him and sometimes seated on special cloths, the warrior would prepare for death by writing a death poem. With his selected attendant (kaishakunin, his second) standing by, he would open his kimono, take up his wakizashi (short sword) or a tanto (knife) and plunge it into his abdomen, making first a left-to-right cut and then a second slightly upward stroke to spill out the intestines. On the second stroke, the kaishakunin would perform daki-kubi, a cut in which the warrior is all but decapitated (a slight band of flesh is left attaching the head to the body). Because of the precision necessary for such a maneuver, the second was often a skilled swordsman. The principal agrees in advance when the kaishaku makes his cut, usually as soon as the dirk is plunged into the abdomen."

[Ath of Theostru]

Iron capped oak quarter-staff.
for those of you who don't know what that is it's an 8ft long oak rod with iron caps on the ends.
I'm confident I can kill a Black belt in under four seconds (if they use any other weapon but a quarter-staff) well, maby not a black belt, but some one that still knows what they're doing. I'm self taught BTW. I practise for no less than an hour every day, I can move it in very fast unpreditable patterns that render the hardest hits, and I look like I'm dancing. Generally I'm very relaxed and don't even think (very trance-like). When I fight one of my freinds we use certian other elements to throw each other off. Seeing three sticks can be very confusing, exspecialy when you block thin air, Qi-gong is cool.

I fought an experianced swordsman using my pine quarter staff (instead of iron it has duct tape) I disarmed him and knocked him out in four moves (less than two seconds). A block on the sword, a blow to the sword-wrist, a blow to the temple, and a jab to the diaframe. (that was still controlled so I wouldn't serously hurt him, sessions like these make for good healing practice anyway...)

Or I'd take my sword (not a pro with that, just relie on cheap-quick moves).
Or my 6ft long bow (150lbs, home-made, I love it).

Teeth can be pretty effective too...

If you can avoid a real fight then do.

[The Devil's Advocate]

The only person to ever beat Miyamoto Musashi (and he only did so once) was a staff man. A swordsman of sufficient skill and practice can defeat a staffman, but for the most part, you'd be right Ath. I still personally like swords better or morning stars... or... honestly I'm not picky.

~The Devil's Advocate

[whiteraven]

Swords are the coolest. Gun's are generally boring, so I really don't care for them(could you tell?). Guns are strong and all, but people who fight with the old weapons train harder, which makes them stronger, and, provided the gun is not a machine gun or stronger, they could probably win.

[The Devil's Advocate]

Having trained the weapons you're denigrating, I can say that to properly use ANYTHING you have to practice. Just because it is a different set of disciplines does not mean it is better or worse. And it would depend on the circumstances. At 50 ft? My money's on the pistol. Even at 15 feet. In arms reach less so. Then again the point of a gun is to keep the enemy /out/ of arms reach. This is also one of the reasons that the Glaive was so popular and the 12 ft spear and... you get the general idea. Alot of the weapons that require people to 'train harder' are actually old fassioned /tools/ that they just used the same way they used them for other things. The Flail /morning star set were threshing tools. The Glaive was origionally used to chop limbs off of trees, until someone went 'hey this would work on a knight!' People have always tried to find a way to hit their enemy from a distance from which the enemy could not retaliate.

Btw, Machine guns are painfully hard to fire /accurately/ their strength lies in making led density exceed air density. More people's lives depend on being able to shoot accurately than depend on knowing how to use 36 inches of patern welded steel properly.

~The Devil's Advocate

[Hech]

DA: A few things:

1.) I know katanas are differen't than korean swords. Sadly so many people DON'T know that, so because they're so similar I just grouped them in the same catagory. Korean swords are generally shorter I believe, and have more curvature? I can't fully remember, but I've used both. Both swords were about the same quality and were priced at approx. 2,500 US Dollars.

2.) Stab and hit? I'm sure you must have been joking, seeing that you appear to know more than the average jane about the topic. I mean, it can take years to learn even the Jung Med Ned E Beg EE (I think my Korean spelling is way out of wack, aka Straight Cut, Vertical). The sword blade wavers in the air as you strike. This can cause many problems, for example, striking one guy and having the sword stop halfway through, getting stuck for a split second, and getting cut in half from behind due to your blade getting stuck. Or, in the case of armor, the sword does not penetrate at all. If you, or your friend, has ever cut straw or bamboo, you know all these things. In the case of rolled straw mats, with a REAL sword and the WRONG angle, the straw will act as if it was hit with a basball bat. But at the perfect angle the straw gets cut and does not even move. I've seen both.

3.) I've researched Miyamoto Musashi, read and own the book "Musashi", and read and own the book Miyamoto Musashi wrote at his old age "The Book of Five Rings/Spheres". I do not remember him ever getting defeted. I remember the guy with the staff, but it seemed more like a draw. It all depends on the angle you look at it from, on one side Musashi won, on another viewpoint, he won. *Shrug* Not sure. The closest thing to full defeat was when he was sent to war as a little boy, and somehow survived the battle. Ever since, the little savage never lost.

4.) Though the Tanto IS the shortest, the Wakizashi is the middle length, and the Katana is the longest, you (DA) still might have been correct with your original statement. Though Samurias carried two swords (generally), the Wakizashi and Katana (Musashi being known to fight with both at once), there are other subcatagories. For example, a sword longer and with more curvature than the katana is used while on horseback. And it is actually carried blade DOWN, parrallel to the ground. So DA, you might be remembering what your friend told you correctly. It all depends on how technical you get.


WR: Please stop talking about stuff you don't understand. I beleive it was you who said guns were easy to fire, which DA already said for me that they are NOT. And your statement "swords are the coolest!" is just...gah.


Other people: I feel like I had a lot more to say but I forget . Sorry for the LATE response with everything, I totally lost track of the topic.



~Frozen

[The Devil's Advocate]

I was talking the basic, crude, unrefined sword strikes on the exact same level of 'point and shoot'. It was intended to be humorous yes. But just as 'all' their is to a gun is point and pull the trigger, 'all' there is to a sword is applying the cutting or piercing edge to sensitive points of the enemy. The point WAS that it takes more than that to be in any way effective whether the weapon be a 50 calibre sniper rifle or an antique sword.

~The Devil's Advocate

[Hech]

Ohhhh, well in that case I congratulate you for making your point so nicely and adequately. Sorry for misinterpreting it the first time around.