The ultimate KATANA vs LONGSWORD analysis

greetings I'm Chad and out of all the debates that rage on the internet that are about swords because there's just I wanted to base the range on the internet and I mean we're going to but about swords specifically one of the most popular is katana vers longsword you see this again and again you see videos trying to prove and settle the debate once and for all and then you see video is the making those videos trying to settle the bait once and for all it's a very very popular discussion and some of these videos I reckon do a decent analysis or fair balancing up and of course some I do it very poorly where the situation or the tests are very rigged and it just doesn't reflect the truth of the matter and so here is my take on the subject another one another video to go amongst the thousands of videos on this debate but I would like to think I can bring to the table some thoughts and perspectives that haven't been acknowledged addressed or discussed as of yet that might help us get a better understanding of this debate one of the first things people will raise in this discussion katana versus longsword is how the swords are made and they'll point towards the katana using an ingenious method of metal folding and differential hardening that makes it far superior to any other type of sword ok I've actually dedicated you know four whole videos to that subject well you can just count the first I'd say three its my katana series five videos all up but video two three and four address that whole topic the funny thing about it it actually means very little as soon as the sword is made to a high enough level of quality that all function adequately if for as use there is not much difference in how swords are made in that regard if they just is it good enough you won't find too much difference until the sword gets put under a huge amount of stress that is where how the sword is made becomes a far more significant topic but if you use a sword right okay they will rarely be put under such huge amounts of stress and for those of you who are thinking well what about those who demand success because of course they do happen swords did breaking history and you might be thinking that because the katana is made in the superior way it is therefore superior to any other type of sword including one sword well that is actually a massive assumption a katana is not made in the superior way to other swords it's made in an ingenious way for the materials that existed in the time but that does not render a sword or create a sword that is inherently superior in terms of its quality of Steel and its internal structure then other means of manufacture including those means that did exist in Europe for more information please do go and watch the three parts in my katana series part two three and four to get a full breakdown of what's happening in regards to manufacturing of katanas Springs feel spring steel is awesome okay but no the real thing that we need to compare when comparing katanas and long shaundra's not actually how they made is how they are designed one of the things that nearly all these comparisons don't acknowledge is one of the most significant things to consider which is why so many of these comparisons just are not reality okay and that is this simple question what type of katana and what type of long sword now the latter part is I feel a bit more significant what is what type of longsword because the katana has a far more standardized design when I say that though you need to understand that there is still decent variation within that design those variations are significant but what we need to realize is that all those variations don't change the katana for what it is primarily supposed to do which is to cut effectively and that makes its design far more standardized then many other types of swords were all of them I mean for instance the rapier is a very standardized design if you understand the right context and definition of what a rapier is I'd need that condition anti-party but when we come through the longsword and arming sword there you know the one and she handed most common medieval sword those swords allow for far more variations than does the katana I have had people try and call me out on that fact and say no no the katana actually has just as many variations as the longsword and obstacle on so don't worry about because everything I think it along solidifies themselves as well and I'll say just as much I disagree with that and I will share with you why and when I say that I'm not saying that there is no variation on the katana I'm saying those variations that do exist on the katana don't change the katana from what it is the most primarily meant to be used for which is cutting right and in contrast the long sword the low sword it can have design features that totally emphasize it to classical or totally emphasize it to thrust or have a nice balance in between when looking at the katana I can find five points of significant variation later the handle length of the blade the depth of the blade it's distal taper and it's rate of curve five points of significant variation now you might be seeing well there's other parts that the katana in its design can have variations in like the size of the tsuba the width of the blade the profile taper and the lengths of the taenia tell me if I've missed anything I don't think I have now the reason why I don't include those last four parts because the standard variations on those elements i've just mentioned won't have a significant impact in how that sword functions subin's stay within a very standard kind of size there's not significant variation in supers at all apart from aesthetic design the width of the blade varies in very small increments okay not significantly large increments and in my mind that wouldn't have a significant impact on this function now the profile taper I'll talk about distal taper I'm talking about profile taper that's one of the things that stay most standard within the katana now katanas could have some profile taper all right and sometimes it's not at all but they don't have full profile tapering not nothing compared to what we see on European swords and the length of the tank this is an interesting one the length of the tank does vary sometimes halfway down the handle sometimes it looks like it goes all the way but when I've looked at it when I've looked at you know historical katanas just by themselves I find that the length of the tank seems to correlate very directly to the length of the blade what that means is that I haven't found in any case that for the same length of blade I they do not make a larger Tang to alter its point of balance and those are all the possible elements the katana that can have variation and out of all of them five of them can have enough variation in my mind to have significant effect in function well there you go and you might be saying well there you go I've proven that they can be different types of katana but you need to remember that all these variations do not alter the katana enough to the point that you will need to fight with it in a different way so when people say katana first longsword they are generally referring to the standard katana design and even with the variations that I pointed out we can infer that all those katanas and all those variations will still perform decently the same but when we come to the longsword we have a completely different situation the longsword can be varied in its design to a far greater degree than the katana can in fact the longsword has up to ten significant variations that it can have in its design to make it different as opposed to the katana is five as I see it anyway and they are these later the handle type of cross card type of pummel length of the blade the width of the blade the depth of the blade the profile taper the distal taper the multiple cross sectional geometries that long swords can have and also the tip acuity ten and in regard to the longsword some of its points of variation that it shares with the katana for instance length it allows for far more variations than what the katana does before you will consider the katana a different sword looking at length specifically the katana is length in comparison is actually about as long as a standard arms on a one-handed sword but if we were to push it okay it will say bastard side because buster sword is a type of longsword now you can find katanas with blades that are a bit longer through about the length of a standard longsword but the issue is the longsword blade can I even go further to the point that you would almost consider it a great sword but there's a new kind of classification that is being shared around the flawed enthusiast community and that is war sword and war sword being the longest and biggest variation of longsword that you can get now a katana with a blade as long war sword wouldn't be considered a katana anymore it would be considered atashi touchy-touchy I can't pronounce arrived but you can still consider war sword long thought there and in my definition I do I consider war sword to be the longest variation of long sword so by analyzing the possible variations that each type of sword can have we actually come through a very clear and very definitive conclusion because the long sword has so much more variation in what it can be by that very nature it can always have a specific kind of design that can match or even excel equality in which a katana has whether this is in cutting point of balance ease of use how easy it is to redirect the blade or thrusting just through the simple math of crunching the numbers by combining every possible longsword design you could make by based on this variation and every type of katana that you can make based on its main variations there's always going to be more types of longsword variations in their half katana therefore you can always find a longsword that is capable of at least matching if not exceeding a quality that the katana possesses so hands down the longsword can win whether you're trying to compare speed cutting capacity reach weight leverage point of balance thrusting hand protection the longsword has more potential to win because it has more options in its design what we have to acknowledge here and again this is the thing that is so often missed in all these comparisons is that it's actually an unfair comparison and why so much confusion is being created through this if you were to compare a katana in its cutting capacity against a longsword that wasn't built to be a beastie cutter well then clearly the longsword is going to fall short in that regard wouldn't it if it's not good at cutting if there's less mass in the blade this sword was probably meant to be quicker in the hand also to have better reach meaning it was meant for jeweling primarily and then testing that sword in circumstances in which it is not meant to excel at of course is not going to perform well the problems that then happens is that after people do these tests they assume that the long-sought they are testing is representative of all longshore design in the way that they assume that the katana they're testing is representative of all other katanas the issue is that both swords have variation but the longsword has more variation than the katana so the tests done with the katana are more likely to be representative of other types of katanas then the tests are for the longsword to be representative of the other types of long swords and so you simply can't take the tests of one type of longsword and say this is how all types of long swords would then behave that's impossible the category of long sword is simply too diverse the issues that exist in trying to compare Katara's and long swords are about the same type of issues that exist if you were to try and compare Playstations to PC in regards to the PlayStation there are only four models of Playstations that have ever been built each with a different amount of variation between the other but all meant to fulfill the exact same purpose whereas the PC has so many more options for its variation in configuration you can always build a PC to at least match or exceed one or more qualities at the PlayStation tab now this isn't a perfect analogy so please don't take it too literal or too far but it's a good comparison now having said all this there are some qualities sword qualities that one type of sword has the other doesn't for instance the katana is single edged long sword double-edged now I have done a whole video comparing the qualities of single edged and double-edged swords nothing else just single verse double and in that video I found that single edged swords had the potential to be more superior than double-edged swords please go watch the video if you would like to see my comparison the thing is even though I found that single edged swords had the potential to be twice as rigid or twice as light or have twice as acute an edge angle when the design of a double edged sword is focused to excel at one of those qualities the differences between the single and double-edged swords are very small even though found single edged swords to have the advantage it won't be that much of an advantage still in the end I would pick a single edged sword over a double-edged sword if there were no other disadvantages in a direct comparison of katanas and long swords I do find some disadvantages specifically qualities that the longsword design has that are mutually exclusive what am I talking about the cross guard and lengths of blade the cross card yet side rings which offer all the advantages that the katana Zuber can offer and then it has the extended quillin's this type of God is in every objective way superior to the katanas true bar and to go even further the longsword eventually developed a full swept hilt orders of magnitude better than a small disc guard and then to the next point the longsword blade is always longer than the katana specifically because when the katanas blade gets past a certain length it stops bringing a katana longsword verse tashi or longsword verse no dad she might be a bit of a different comparison but that's not the comparison that everyone makes it's long sword versus katana this advantage in reach that the longsword possesses is incredibly significant anyone who has ever used two sword of differing lengths against an opponent who has also differing lengths will know the profound advantage that reach gives the only other quality that is mutually exclusive to the katana in such a way that would make it more beneficial is the curve and there is an assumption that the curve increases cutting capacity to a very significant level I do not believe this in fact after testing it with my own practical experience having used the different types of swords and having measured the difference in cutting ratio between a katanas curve and a straight blade I have found that the advantage is so my new that it's not even worth acknowledging or bothering to consider please go watch part 5 in my katana series and my video why the katana has a curve to here my detailed thoughts on this but ultimately this means that the long sword has mutually exclusive qualities that add advantages to its design more so than the katana dance so with these specific and mutually exclusive qualities considered combined with the fact that the longsword can have so many different variations to match or exceed the katanas cutting capacity even those advantages it receives for being single edged because the longsword allows for a much larger blade profile in the katana it can receive additional cutting capacity due to mass that will overcome its disadvantage all the advantages that the katana can inherit Lee receive for being single edged so again with these exclusive qualities of having a longer blade better cross guard and being able to match every other quality that the katana can excel at because of its more open design allowances the longsword is clearly a superior sword but this shouldn't be held up as a great winner because it's a very unfair comparison you're essentially comparing multiple types of swords through a much more singular type of sword this mean that all long swords are better than the katana at cutting of course it doesn't but also in respect to that doesn't mean all katanas are better than all long sword cutting no well we can say in a general sense is that the standard katana is more focused and emphasized towards cutting then the scared of long sword because it's far harder to try and define what the standard longsword is so a far better comparison isn't necessarily our katanas better than long swords but is this specific katana better at this specific task than this specific longsword I hope I've given you some food for thought thank you for watching and until next time farewell

Channel: Shadiversity

Views: 1,417,692

Keywords: katana, longsword, sword, longs, japanese, japan, europe, european, medieval, middle ages, great, arming, blade, samuria, samurai, knight, knight's, lock n load, rpg, role, playing, game, video, roleplaying, role-playing, game of thrones, skyrim, lord of the rings, mmorpg, comparison, vs, weapon, fight, warrior, fantasy, shad, asia, asian, anime, kenshin, naruto, full metal alchemist, For Honor

Id: eY8oMD0KCE4

Length: 17min 28sec (1048 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 20 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/Azekh]

Please not again. That dead horse has been reduced to a pulp for a while.