Katanas, Myth and Reality
Wednesday, 29. September 2010
A lot has been made of the famed Japanese sword - the katana. I think a lot of it is in conjunction with ninjas; hyping the weapon up from the mere improbable into the impossible. As we all know from movies the sword is unbreakable, can cut through nearly anything and periodically enable the user to fly or other oddities. This is of course pure hogwash.
Drawing – The katana itself is efficient shaped for a speedy draw. The weapons curvature enables some of the length to wrap around the body and to use the bodies natural arcs to draw. Typically carried edge up, with considerable training the draw is extremely quick and can be used to deliver an effective cut. Along with this worth noting that this cut likely won’t cleaving anyone in half, as it lacks the mechanical leverage to do so. Despite this, the weapon is still more than capable of removing the operators hand on the draw, or inflicting other serious injury on sheathing (noto) the weapon. Also worth noting is that with the proper draw most westerners can use a considerably longer weapon than the standard lengths.. training with this is obviously required due to the above mention.
Cutting ability – Katanas have a fantastic cleaving ability through tissue and most softer materials. This is again, because of the blades geometry. The natural movement of the arms combined with the blades curve provide and extremely efficient cutting method easily capable of cleaving bodies in half provided that proper leverage is used, 2 hands. The blades tip is quite sturdy and can also deliver an effective thrust. Proper training enables the usage of this to penetrate armor gaps and enter softer targets within the body.
Blade Breakage – Far from being impervious katanas in traditional literature break frequently. The result of this is usually the death of the user in question. This is due to the teardrop shaped blade geometry, it is a minimalist design that is specialized in cleaving. Striking harder materials such as plated armor and other metal objects (swords in particular) remain a significant impediment and can result in blade breakage even in the case that the object is penetrated. The blades are still quite tough in the proper hands and it is worth noting that older blades consist of a more teardrop shape resulting in less overall sharpness but considerably increased resilience over the nice flat modern blades, which are shaped to cut tissue and mats. Some of the more modern complaints about the weapon are due to this.
Overall the weapon is an effecient design that is well matched to the Kenjitsu style of swordsmanship. The blade sacrifices some integrity for weight versus european swords as well as maintains a considerably different balance.
Greg Christopher Says:
This is a really nice post, Grey. Very informative.
Grey Says:
Thanks, it was a bit of a headache day as far as posting. I should note that rereading it, shearing is probably a far more appropriate term for the cutting mechanics than cleaving.
runjikol Says:
Nice post. I hold the same position about katana. They are highly over-rated swords. When it comes to penetrating armour they are no better than a standard yari. The blade’s evolution matched Japanese armour evolution – in that it was static for centuries. Very different environment to European warfare over the same time.
Grey Says:
Hi Runjikol,
Thanks for posting. They have the same mechanical limitations any other piece of steel might. In the right hands they’re really a frightingly effecient weapon, but you also have to be aware of the weapons limitations or it’s going to get yourself killed. I believe they break armor so much as they cut it in a battlefield sense due to the concave blade shape. European weapons of course had the same limitation, odds are however that even if you connected with armor the limb underneath was done due to the torque of the strike and bone breaking that happened as well.
There was actually quite a bit going on as far as blade evolution, from my understanding a lot of the original Tachi were cut down to be used as katanas – an evolution from horseback to fighting on foot. In addition the steel improved and the swords were refined more and more into art objects. All of the items were small, but then it’s hard to improve on what they were looking at from the sword the draw cutting action – one of the most effecient on the planet.
Yari probably deserve an entire discussion to themselves along with spears from other cultures – very scary weapon used in mass and enough weight behind them to penetrate most armor.
runjikol Says:
An interesting article by those who practice with the weapons. It compares the the longsword and the katana.
http://www.thearma.org/essays/longsword-and-katana.html
Grey Says:
Thats a very good breakdown. The only thing I might contend is that a Katana most certainly can be halfsworded although the technique is slightly different. The length arguement varies as well, as the Katanas are mostly sized to fit small japanese guys vs. huge europeans by comparison. You’d have to scale it up to get an accurate working figure.