I recieved an email from an unregistered member. There is a great deal of information here and while I am a greedy SOB - I feel other TFL members could glean some good info here as well:
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Dear Mr. Hill; I discovered The Firing Line a few days ago. I've been reading the posts on it and since I am traveling now I did not wish to register just yet. However I wanted to add bring a few things to the attention of the people commenting on the European vs Japanese sword forum. Since you are an administrator I wished to bring it to your attention; whether you choose to act on it or not in any form is of course your choice entirely. (1) I find it strange that the discussion drifted off to "formation warfare" and insistence on a European pedigree for it. Japanese armies had over 40 formations to choose from (I have with me military manuals of the Warring States period) and use them they did ... considering the backbone of the feudal armies was non-samurai ashigaru (lit. "light-foots") the argument for Japanese formations as mobs of skilled warriors is unsupported. The Takeda clan used a 4-line manipular formation consisting of infantry and cavalry that was tightly packed, for which they suffered at the hands of Oda clan musketeers at the Battle of Nagashino in 1575. Most troops by far were not "expert warriors" with the katana ... they were spearmen and musketeers. (2) In response to your "pirates had more fun" post ... after the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 large numbers of samurai within the defeated Army of the West fled Japan and became pirates. These battle-hardened ronin (lit. "wolf-warriors") even took over ports in Southeast Asia and fought pitched battles with Thai and Chinese pirates ... it's a rather exciting part of history that doesn't get much play in the Western world, probably due to the lack of translated accounts. (3) The Japanese ronin pirates called wako ("wa bandits" in which wa is the Chinese term for Japan) established a reputation for ferocity in combat, and their katana, renowned in Chinese accounts for their ability to cut through armor and torsos, were by imperial order captured, replicated, and a gung-fu weapon style for the watoh (lit. "Japan-blade") was developed. It is still taught today, albeit rare in comparison to the traditional forms. (4) The polearm used by the police to restrain katana-armed samurai is called a sode-garami (lit. "sleeve-entangler") ... as the name implies it was meant to catch the sword-arm of samurai and drag them to the ground. jutte (lit. "ten-hands") are brutally effective tools for bringing a katana down ... they are not taught in Japanese police academies because either kendo or judo are required. Police by the way were not at all commoners; in the Tokugawa era, samurai were assigned from their han (province) to local security; in the Meiji era the National Police was founded on a cadre of demobilized samurai. Hence, they did carry swords ... right up to the end of WW2. (5) By the way the full traditional form of jutte is taught, to the best of my knowledge, by one elderly gentleman in the Edogawa ward of Tokyo ... he only takes students who have multiple dan in their chosen martial art. At the moment by last count he has less than a dozen students. (6) Finally ... as for the katana ... they were built to stronge tolerances, tested on convicts for good measure, and prized for lightness, resilience, and above all, sharpness ... but the problem with katana is that used in a slashing role they tended to fracture without constant, extended care. The problem is called ha-koboreh (lit. "teeth falling out") and that term might give you an insight on the extent of it ... hence, kendo's emphasis on thrusts. hence, the wakizashi (lit. "side-insert") to back up the katana. The nodachi, also known as zanbatoh (lit. "horse-chopper") required less constant maintenance due to its larger dimensions; but compared to say a Roman gladius, edge-retention is a much more serious issue with katana. My recommendation for anyone interested in a katana is to understand that the weapon itself requires quite a bit of maintenance. Several styles exist throughout Northeast Asia for combat with the weapon, and they are not easy to master. If you insist on a cheap factory-made weapon you might as well not carry one; it takes an expert swordsmith to bring out the proper balance characteristics and tensile strength. I've seen too many crappy weapons out there that ring like tuning forks and handle like logs. For staff aficionados, shortened variants of the naginata halbred exist, such as the kwan. They offer 2-handed control, a substantial blade as well as the handling characteristics of a short polearm. Having 2-piece screw-on versions or foldout variants a la ASP baton solve much of the mobility problem. My choice for everyday personal defense would be a straight-edge katana hidden in a walking stick. (I grew up on the story of Zatoichi, the blind swordsman
it's easier to carry it around in public, sheathed it serves as a short staff, and the blade offers all the armor-punching advantages of the "toothed" point most commonly called a "tanto edge" (tanto means "short-blade" so it's kind of a misnomer") ... kris blades can also be set in hollowed staffs. If I had to walk in nature at all or I didn't have to worry about concealment I'd ask for a dao or barong. Great turning speed, stable in the hand, and works for anyone who's done escrima training. In a pinch a machete will do. I don't think rapiers are good for engaging multiple targets; I'd want something with a short turning radius ... of course I'll have to discuss this with a fencer but from my observation and from talking to friends, this is what I've found. As for a katana? There's too much mystique associated with the weapon. It's effective. It's beautiful. It's also hell to maintain and really expensive. I was born in Japan, and if I had to live outside of the country I'd never try to maintain one for everyday use. It's just not realistic.
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You might laugh in the face of FEAR... but unless your armed, its a nervous, unconvincing, little laugh.
