But take into consideration the forces we’re tlaking about. A finely crafted sword is already very unlikely to brake during combat in the hands of a skilled medieval swordsman. If you make a sword that can withstand the weight of a truck, what does it matter? Since we ar enot delaing with trucks both weapons would function equally on the battlefield.
And that’s my point. With today’s technology we can make a neat and interesting sword. Sort of like a novelty item. But in combat it would offer no significant advantage to the swordsman.
So I hear. I’ve yet to pick up the book of the five rings, mainly because Kenjitsu doesn’t interest me much, and partly because there no good schools that approach it as a martial art (rather than purely a sport -Kendo) around my area.
As a hijack (like I need to state this! ) how much of the five rings is fiction and how much is history? I’m not sure if the book is an autobiography, a manuscript on Kenjitsu, or both?
I don’t buy it. Sounds like something from Chariots of the Gods or some such tripe. Next thing you know people will be saying that food could be prepared before it was intermeshed with industrial waste, put into little easy to heat trays, and sold frozen.
Read the links already posted about Damascus blades. So-called modern damascus knife blades and old shotgun barrels are laminated as are samurai swords. True Damascus is not. The surface patterns are a result of the carbide and vanadium inclusions reacting to the forging process. The Scientific American article showed how some very exotic patterns were achieved but none by laminating.
Put that on pay-per-view and not only could we eliminate the national debt, we could pay for the rebuilding of Iraqi, buy NASA about 30 fleets of whatever the next generation spacecraft will be and still have money left over!
-And back in the real world, we’re not talking about magical blades that can stop, nor support, a truck.
Both modern and well-crafted ancient blades can be very good, but they are, after all, still just long, slender bars of steel. A yard-long lever, if you will, and that gives a great deal of mechanical advantage.
And in swordfighting- especially mideval European hack-and-slash (as opposed to a more elegant thrust-and-parry like the later Japanese or Renaissance-era fencing) the combatants are necessarily swinging them with a great deal of force.
Sword-on-sword strike-and-parry combat causes edge-on-edge contact. The edges chip, the notch in the blade becomes a weak point, and another hard blow bends or breaks the blade at that point. This happened disturbingly often, and tended to be fatal to the one with the freshly truncated blade.
Yes, it happened with the best blades the Japanese 'smiths could muster, and it happened with the best Damascus blades.
Moderns steels and manufacturing simply make better blades- yes they can still break, but they’re considerably less likely to. Again, that is a significant advantage.
-A good question. I’m not sure. It’s been many years since I read it (and it was a fairly simple volume, illustrated with some of his paintings) and I honestly don’t recall much.
I’d say it’s a little of each. The era is far enough back that memory and records are spotty, but I doubt it’s all made up from whole cloth.
The only part I recall from the book- and, now that I think about it, it may have been a different book entirely- was the story of two master swordsmen that met for a duel. Both drew and struck a ready stance, but neither attacked. Neither combatant could sense the least opening or weakness in the other, so they stood there, primed, ready, prepared, for perhaps a couple of hours.
Eventually both lowered their blades and sheathed them. The duel ended with no blows struck.
The way I recall it, Musashi was declared the winner. His style tended towards allowing his opponent to make the attack, which he would then counter. His opponent in this duel, was known for his tendency to try to strike the first blow.
So Musashi awaited the attack but gave no opening, while his opponent made no attack. Ergo, Musahi won.
Assuming, of course, I recall it correctly. It’s been many years.
I agree with you there. Some posters though appear to attribute powers to modern steel that are just not realistic. That was my point
Hmm, ok, I agree here too.
Ok here is where you open a while cna of worms. Let me guess, your a japanimation fan? Wow, this is just silly, and very innacurate assesment of Medieval European swordsmanship. If you don’t know anythign about the subject, please do not make sweeping generalizations. Atleast say something like “With my limited knowledge on the subject I would think ______”.
Your comparison of kenjitsu and european swordplay is simply erroneous.
Kenjitsu, thrust and parry? The Katana (the main samurai sword) is not a thrusting weapon. The Samurai’s primary weapon isn’t even his sword, it’s his spear and bow.
Did you even bother to read ANY of what I wrote so far in this thread. Mind you I’m not the most articulate guy you’ll meet, but I think I made a couple of points back there on just this very topic.
What you claim here is UTTERLY FALSE. This type of combat is seen in movies and on stage. This is NOT how european swordsmen fought with swords. There is no edge to edge smashing of swords. As you point out, this would cause terrible damage to a blade.
Again not really, not int he hands of a superior swordsman.
Wow. This goes to show how different Kenjitsu must be. In a match, even against someone who is a better swordsman I would logically try and CREATE an opening. I wouldn’t just stand there hoping for one to show up.
I’m gonna stop and barnes and noble tonight see if they have a copy, sound slike a good read.
ralph and Tuckerfan, the varnish hypothesis is almost certainly a myth. From the article I linked to earlier:
Regarding wood selection, you do not simply hit a tree and listen to the sound it produces! The best strength to weight ratio is yielded by slow growing spruce near the tree line at the top of a mountain - this is where the Cremonese masters got their wood from, and where violin makers get their best wood today. This wood must then be sawn precisely perpendicularly to the grain.
Well, I remember reading years ago a theory that the “real” secret to Stadavarius violins was the fact that they were quenched by running them through the belly of a handy slave, which just happened to be at the optimal temperature for that sort of thing…
And several people agreed heartily with you and sent him lots of mails so he wrote about the topic again in the next weekly column: http://www.randi.org/jr/112202.html
Some of these balls are natural, others have been created by hand, and although the exact method isn’t known it’s not considered a ‘mystery that these primitives could create…’.
We seem to be focusing pretty tightly on what steel is better for swords. Why must a sword be made of steel? If we are talking about making the best possible sword, I would bet every single penny I have that todays metallurgists would come up with a material that kicks the snot out of damascus steel.
Maybe we couldn’t come up with a superior bronze sword either, but what swordsman would bother with one when superior materials are available?
) how much of the five rings is fiction and how much is history? I’m not sure if the book is an autobiography, a manuscript on Kenjitsu, or both?