To expand slightly on previous points.
Native Japanese Iron ore was usually terrible. Riddled with impurities.
All the famous folding etc was to end up with a blade that was strong enough to be usable.
Smiths in the rest of the world didn’t generally use these techniques not because they weren’t privy to the mystical secrets but because they had access to better raw materials which didn’t require it.
Yes, but only if you exclaim “pocket sand!” before throwing it.
At the end of the day, you got a Bear, armed with a sword.
Which will then just raise the question of which would win - enraged hippo or Kodiak bear with a katana?
Hippo - the Kodiak likely doesn’t have ‘grip’ strength to work with the katana, so drops it on his foot.
A skilled swordsman with a Samurai sword vs a charging Kodiak Bear…
Dies a glorious but fast death.
Sure, neither Musashi nor any sane man would not fight the bear (or men) for bet or fun, but I assume the case when there NO other options (and has to be fight or death). Brute force doesn’t necessarily always wins, and cold focus trumps rage (“Moon in a cold stream. Like a Mirror”. by Musashi). Master samurai posses more than physical strength. Mass Oyama killed 50 bulls in arena with bare hands, and there are know records of swordsmen killing tigers (which are not teddy bears either). Regarding the sword quality - whatever it works, light saber would be best 
This is rather tough for me to believe.
O yeah, Oyama fought against bulls in arena (actually 52) demonstrating his Karate skills, which was filmed and in many papers at the time. Maybe is forgotten today as other things that do not fit mainstream beliefs, but evidence is around, e.g.: http://www.badassoftheweek.com/oyama.html
Ki and feats of its masters are not the fantasy, even though most of the people do not care about it. A number of masters described this. Story of Musashi fighting dozens of opponents is not invented either. In his Book of Five rings he described the perspective - not paying attention to physical detail of the enemies - only seeing them as a mass of energy. Evade its focus and administer stream of attack where is a gap. I bet master samurai fight tigers the same way too. Life of death doesn’t matter, what matters is energy flow.
Ki and ancient masters is also what inspired the Star Wars…
Wikipedia actually confirms this, with a cite.
Yahoo Answers, on the other hand, says it happened, sorta kinda but not quite that way.
This guy’s account sounds more plausible: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oXh_NpgQjU
I like the youtube comment to that story: “What Masutatsu Oyama KyoKusin?..guy claims he studies bullshit; so he’s insane?”
We should probably put case constraint on “doesn’t matter how good a sword” - I bet even Jedi youngling could kill any bear with light saber
Actually, in real life people killed brown bears (not recorded for Kodiaks though) with much less than good katana. Indians with “Bear” in their name mostly did it only with the knife. This guy actually strangled the brown bear, which attacked him with his ship, with bare hands: Shepherd 'kills bear with his bare hands after squeezing its throat' | Metro News
So, if 200 pound man killed 500 pound brown bear with bare hands, it could be concluded that 400 pound man, at some probability, could kill 1000 pound Kodiak
Statistically I would still estimate: population of all samurai vs population of grizzlies: 5% : 95%; true masters vs. grizzlies: 100% : 0%
I think you’re very mistaken.
You realize it takes a special license to make a katana in Japan, and another to polish (sharpen) one. ETA, I think the polishing apprenticeship is a 5 years minimum program.
A lot of opinions here. Go watch a 5th Dan or higher Kendo match and marvel at how blistering fast a sword (Shinai) strike is in the hands of an expert. The swordsman may not win, but the bear would be eviscerated before he saw any movement at all.
But much of this is the Japanese reverent approach to mastering things that are part of their heritage. A sushi chef trainee goes through 5 years of learning before being allowed to make rice in the restaurant. Come on.
15 years ago if you wanted sushi in northern Ohio you went to a real sushi house. A chef stood in front of you and made each piece, placed it on a square plate and offered it to you with a bow. Every serving was $4 to $6.
Since then there has been a sushi revolution. Nearly every Chinese buffet has a small selection of sushi, although nothing to write about.
Not long ago I was at a sushi buffet. Dozens of kinds of sushi on ice in a glass display. Several nice young chefs in full white outfits with little hats making sushi to your order. $12, all you can eat. Is there a difference - probably. But not to me.
Dennis
Is the resurrection of this thread going to become a SDMB holiday tradition?
Good idea, feed the bear sushi instead.
In addition
Bears are are predators and about 100x as smart as a bull.
I sure hope so. Bears, samurai swords…how do you not equate those things with Christmas? I hope there’s a samurai sword under my tree right now. I got bears to kill and shit…yo.
WTF? am I being wooshed here - just how many fit and able 400lb humans are there in this world? All the ones I’ve come across are blobs who struggle to make it off their sofas.
I must be being wooshed, your statements so far have been utterly meaningless, your estimates of non-evidenced statistics that you have simply pulled out of your ass mean completely nothing whatsoever.
We also are well aware of the logic errors you are making in the ‘true masters’ argument this is a very well known logical fallacy.