Biggest KATANA misconceptions DEBUNKED

The Hoodie is already on it way and I finally got to read your book... And well, I didn't get sleep last night, because I couldn't stop reading.

If I found someone in life who loves me with one-tenth of the passion that this man feels towards swords, I could die happily.

I think you missed a big advantage of the katana above of all other swords - it had the better marketing guys

Being a baker in Japan, my favourite conversation I had was when I was visiting a friend of mine who specialises in kitchen knives and Japanese swords, his response to steel folding was: "Layering Japanese steel is like making a metal croissant."

wait, you're telling me that I can't cut through my enemies to the point where their blood wouldn't spurt out until I've sheathed the katana back in a very cool fashion?!

Shad here just flexing his back scabbard sheathing skills whenever he gets the chance, i approve

Came to learn about Katana's pros and cons in a fight, Left with a degree in blacksmithing

With proper technique it's well known katanas can slice the very concept of time itself in half. Minutes used to be 120 seconds until the first katana was invented.

I actually respect the katana even more now that I know what its realistic advantages are. It may not be the "best sword for everything," but it is certainly a very cool sword.

I imagine in 400 years people would be debating the AK47 and M4...

Wife: our neighbor is playing with swords again in the backyard Husband: what is he saying? Wife: The Katana is not the best sword ever... Husband: NANI?!?!?!

Something that people need to understand is there’s NO SUCH thing a single sword thats the best sword. If there was a single perfect style sword. There literally wouldn’t be any other type of sword made. Each sword style is made the way it is for its style of fighting.

It's funny, because the first thing the Japanese will admit is that their steel is crap --not only is it crap, they don't have much of it. The Japanese islands are relatively poor in natural resources of many kinds, which is why they made a habit of trying to invade other places like China and various Pacific islands trying to obtain more of what they had very little of at home. All those fancy forging techniques (including one you didn't cover, which is actually sandwiching and hammer welding together different grades of metal) are designed to overcome the inherent crappiness in their domestic steel. Their forgemasters had to work ten times harder with vastly more skill and precision to make a quality blade out of material that smiths elsewhere in the world blessed with better materials would throw on the scrap pile. It's the same reason older Japanese automobiles were extremely well built mechanically but the bodies rusted to bits --many a Toyota and Datsun back in the day went to the junkyard with bodies and frames barely in one piece but perfectly running engines because of this. The Japanese, faced with poor materials to work with, made up for it with effort and skill and dedication far in excess of what others put in to the same product. That's why a traditionally made Japanese sword is so immensely expensive, because you're paying for basically an artisan piece with hundreds of hours of work put into it by a master craftsman. With modern alloys, a cheap machine-forged blade can equal or exceed it in performance thanks to the advantages of modern high-tech metallurgy.

“I think we have covered everything about the katana” sheaths swords epicly

"Better than any sword in the world." laughs in shovel

the most recent misconception of the Katana I've heard is that Shad's killed 2 dragons with one. This is patently false. He's killed 3 with a katana, and another 2 with a bec de corbin, because the medieval can opener needed some modern love :P

Given that katana stayed katana and never really changed from medieval times, it would be nice to see you compare later European blades with it. Pattern 1895 & 1906 heavy cav blades for example or Napoleonic era infantry blades. Supposedly the 1906 was the apex of thrusting sword tech

“The katana is not the best sword. The katana is a greatsword.” -Shad 2020

"If you made a sword that was ridiculously top heavy, that you just need to drop it and it'd cut through anything... well there you could say it's the best cutter in the world, but it would be unwieldy and you wouldn't be able to use it." I may have heard of a sword like that, I think it's called an "axe".

An excellent explanation of the physics and metallurgy of edged weapons. All weapons have a trade off, just like all defensive armours have a trade off between protection and weight