I recently revisited one of my favorite swashbuckling novels, James Clavell’s “Shogun”, in which several characters meet their demise by being sliced in half with a sword. This reminded me of an old Rutger Hauer action movie called “Blind Fury” in which the bad guy gets sliced in half at the end, and his two halves tumble off a cliff (a la Phantom Menace).
Now, lightsabers aside, I’m sure it’s easy to hack somebody in half in the same manner that a woodsman would hack down a tree, but is it really possible to slice a person cleanly in two with a single stroke of the sword? Would you need superhuman strength to do it? Do any historical records exist to suggest that this can happen?
If you can slice someone’s head off with a single blow, it would seem reasonable that you could cut them through the middle. Aim below the ribcage and above the pelvis, and you’d only have to slice through the spinal column, as with severing the head. I’m not sure if your neck or your abs would provide more of an impediment. But this is all a WAG anyway. Let me go find a volunteer and I’ll let you know.
A while back, the History Channel did a show on Japanese swordmaking. According to that, a katana was expected to be able to cut through a human with one stroke. Swordsmiths in the feudal era used cadavers (from executed criminals) to test their swords, and blades were rated according to how many bodies they could sever with a single stroke. Modern smiths use a specially-constructed bundle of straw as a substitute for human bodies.
Even with a good blade, it still requires a lot of skill from the swordsman. The samurai spent years practicing their technique.
I have also heard that, among the Gurkhas of Nepal, the boyhood-to-manhood ritual requires you to decapitate an ox with a single blow.
My coach holds a black belt and a training license in Samurai swordfighting. We had already asked him lots of questions like this (I myself hold the black belt in 3 martial arts). Following is what he said. I respect my coach, but I’m not completely sure about the authenticity of the info.
He says it’s not only possible, but is considered one the two “clean hits” (the other being cutting the head off). He says that it doesn’t need superhuman strength, it just needs a good blade and superior technique. It’s the way you do it, not the force you put into it.
He told us once that before 1945, bushido swords sold in Japan came with a certificate, saying that they were used in cutting up humans! He said each sword was used to decapitate a convicted criminal, and, yes, following decapitation it was used to cut clean through his torso. That’s when it gets “certified.”
I’m not really sure about this info, but my coach sounded very confident about it. The man is very decorated and can literally kill a man in seconds, so you think twice before challenging his assertions!
With a good blade and the right technique it’s easy. I don’t mean hacking away with a broadsword. A katana (typical curved Japanese “Samauri” sword) won’t cut if you just chop straight on with it–you have to do it right: step back as you swing so that it’s more of a slicing motion (the curve of the blade adds to this effect). If done properly, it’s easy to cut through something soft like a torso or neck in one blow.
The most graphic demonstration I ever saw of this was on an old PBS series called “War” which I believe was by some canadian guy named Dower, it must have been released in the late 1970s. He was discussing the impact of the longsword in Europe.
Longswords are big heavy twohanded weapons, and only a big strong man could battle with it while wearing metal armor. They’re not sharp as razors like a Japanese katana, they do as much damage from impact as cutting. Dower obviously had to exert a lot of effort to swing the heavy blade, it was too big for him. He had arranged a dressed beef carcass (just the meat, skinned with no guts, like you’d buy a whole cattle from a wholesale butcher) as his target. The size and weight density of the carcass were a perfect match to the meat and bone of a human. He took a vigorous blow at the carcass, right in the ribs, to simulate hitting a human torso. The blow was obviously not his hardest blow, and nowhere close to what a trained longswordsman could do. He swung the blade from above, sweeping diagonally into the ribs, and used gravity and the weight of the blade to assist. And the blade tore 3/4 of the way through the beef carcass. He took a light slash of the sword at the other side of the carcass and it was cut entirely through. Then he took a few light blows at the remaining carcass to demonstrate how even a light or glancing blow would do enough damage to kill someone. You didn’t really need much skill, just enough energy to lift and heave the blade, and if you connected, kinetic energy and gravity did the rest. Ouch.
