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As we all know, katana is the inner soul of the world-famous samurai spirit of the Yamato nation, whether in film and television drama or anime, as long as the appearance of the Japanese samurai, there must be katana. in history there have been a lot of praise for the katana literary poetry, etc., in the movie, katana is invincible and omnipotent, the protagonist of the Kill Bill in the hands of the In Kill Bill, the katana in the hands of the protagonist cuts all the gangsters, and in The Matrix, katana has even started to be used to cut cars. Naturally, these are all artistic renderings, but the world is full of rumors about katana's sharpness and chopping ability. So, what is the true performance of katana in combat?
Are katanas effective in combat?
There is a school of Japanese historians who believe that katana was only a secondary weapon used on the battlefields of the Warring States period. The reason for this is that as warfare changed to group fighting, the opportunity for individual fighting with swords and knives became less frequent. From this point of view, the katana was not suitable for the fierce battlefield. According to statistics, in the Warring States period, the weapon that caused the most damage on the battlefield was caused by arrows, accounting for 38.6% of the total damage, followed closely by the damage caused by muskets, accounting for 22.2% of the total damage, and then the melee weapon, lances, accounting for 20.8% of the total damage, followed by the lances is not katana, but even stones, accounting for 11.3% of the total damage. And the damage done by katana is only 4.5%. It should be noted that these men were predominantly Toshi, or walking samurai, with far better armor and equipment than the average foot soldier.
Is A katana good for self-defense?
Nonetheless, there is no doubt that katana is very sharp indeed when not fighting against armor under the battlefield. This is why it is a cold weapon perfect for self-defense.
Japan has long had a tradition of chopping rolled up straw mats to test the sharpness of katana and chopping techniques, because the Japanese believe that the density and feel of rolled up straw mats are very close to human limbs, so they use straw mats to simulate chopping the human body as a test piece. This result also reveals that the katana's primary role was as a weapon for everyday self-defense and armament, and made the katana a status symbol for the samurai, whose social status could be judged by the quality of the katana.
