Do you ever get tired of the samuri sword?

[Exocet]

So,can we all agree that Katanas are dueling weapons,not made for war,but individual fights?
By that logic,it's understandable that so many movies would use them.
As for rapiers,they're fencing weapons and couldn't be used properly against 3 guys wielding any other type of sword.
Lastly,claymores?Yeah,very impressive,only the problem is that it's the opposite of a katana.it's a weapon meant for war and battlefields.Very,very few people in the world are capable of dueling with two-handed swords.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that renaissance era arabic and european swords are the most refined swords out there.Any later,and you only see sabres for cavalry which are too curved to be used on foot.

 

[BanthaFodder]

not only are they cool, they're quite practical as far as bladed weapons go.
that, and it makes sense in context. it's not like there's a movie where a bank teller reaches behind the desk and pulls out a katana (if there is, TELL ME NOW.).
for example, Batman is basically a ninja, and in the Nolanverse, he trained in Asia.
in Left 4 Dead 2, katanas can be found in homes or malls. there could be a store selling such things, there could be collectors who were killed, etc. if you have to choose a melee weapon to fend off zombies with, a katana is a very wise choice.

 

[Torrasque]

I like katanas, and I think they're cool, but I hate how the katana is replacing what people think of when they hear "sword".
Katanas may be neat and awesome, but they were very very very very hard to get unless you were rich as hell.
Zweihanders and Broadswords are better anyways.

 

[nin_ninja]

I agree, we need more swordchucks

Or better yet, dual swordchucks.

 

[Oroboros]

I don't find katanas themselves to be irritating, rather the way they are portrayed in popular culture. Ridiculous anime feats of katana swordsmanship irritate me just as much as the awful lightsaber fight scenes in the Prequel Star Wars movies and oversized european swords with cutouts and spikes. What we need is better representation of fighting styles and the weapons themselves. A katana isn't going to hack through chain or plate, and neither is a hand and a half. Throwing swords is stupid (looking at you, spartacus series). Not every blow has to lop off limbs. Swords are not necessarily the best weapons out there. Samurai used bows, yari, and guns. Knights used weapons besides swords. etc etc.

 

[nitat]

Less katanas
More cowbell!

How many Western swords can you name that can slice a fired bullet in half?

None on the top of my head, but I do know katanas cant do it either, a katana cant even cut through chainmail.

Watch and learn, grasshopper
<youtube=mIDWG9Zn8j8>

Still cant cut through chainmail and it's way too sharp to be of any use against anyone wearing anything more then a shirt. It's a crap sword with way more prestiege then it deserves.

Too Sharp?
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_huL2J7JrWR4/SgSimy6-TMI/AAAAAAAAAYU/quXVyWn0Nm8/s1600/QuestionCat.jpg

I may be wrong but aren't bullets(flying part) made of lead.
I think every half decent sword can cut a piece of lead with enough force( supplied through gun).
I have seen a Fillopino cut strips of metal with a machete(or a cleaver?).
Oh and the too sharp thing probally: the thinner the edge, the faster it get dull(the qaullity of Japanese steel was pretty to begin with so that also a factor for resilience).

P.S.: I prefer the warhammer-pickaxe( easier to master and to forge).
p.s.s: Ah sorry, just saw that a lot people said that the same same things.

 

[robincb]

you do realize that katanas are simply the best sword quality wise right, and that they are the best to fight with?

some facts

While with an european broadsword the metal is simply melted and then pounded into the shape of a sword, the steel of a katana is foded 20 times, making it abnormally durable and sharp. it has been said that the difference is so great that a katana can cut through other swords.

While katanas are long, their thin nature makes them quite light, allowing for fast swings, quick counters, and overall faster swordplay. You dont have to fight much against that pesky inertia that is always getting in your way

 

[nitat]

A martial arts expo decides it is going to have an exhibition with the three greatest swordman in the world. The third best is a Japanese man wielding a katana. Halfway through the demonstration a fly buzzes through the air in front of the swordsman. Without a second glance he quickly unsheathes his katana slices the fly in two and re-sheathes his weapon. The crowd goes wild.

Next the second best swordsman takes the stage. He is a middle eastern man wielding dual scimitars. In the middle of his demonstration another fly buzzes the stage. The man swings horizontally with the right and vertically with the left. The fly falls to the ground in quarters. The crowd goes even crazier and people leap to their feat cheering and hollering.

Finally the best swordsman in the world takes the stage. He is a great big fat Scotsman with big red hair and an even bigger red beard. He is flailing about with a claymore that is taller than he is. Once again a fly whizzes onto the stage and lands near the man. With a great grunt the man slams his sword down onto the floor of the stage, splintering the wood beneath himself. As his is pulling the sword out of the floor the fly takes to the air and buzzes out of the expo.

The audience is stunned. For a full minute everyone is in silence. Finally from the back a man shouts out, "If you are the best swordsman in the world why can't you even kill a fly." The Scotsman looks out into the audience for a second and bursts out laughing, "I might not have killed the fly laddie, but he won't be havin' children any time soon."

I couldn't stop laughing for 2 minutes .

 

[Crazy_Man_42]

I don't see Katanas near as much as lightsabers.

If of any sword like weapon out there that I am sick of seeing is the lightsaber it's EVERYWHERE in Star Wars as of lately and I am sick of it.

Katanas are awesome but I rarely see them as of lately.

 

[FalloutJack]

Sorry, but I dunno what you guys mean. I see all kinds of swords. If it's in an Eastern sort of film, it makes sense. If it's not, it's Rule of Cool. Frankly, all swords are Rule of Cool at this stage of the game.

 

[Lectori Salutem]

I agree, we need more swordchucks

Or better yet, dual swordchucks.

We have a winner

 

[Nickolai77]

Yeah, the popularity of katana's does annoy me. In certain situations they are bloody good[footnote]Those situations being when you are against lightly armoured opponents in an open space. I would however hate to have a katana in a tight-packed sword fight against well armoured enemies. A cohort of Roman legionaries would give katana-users a run for their money.[/footnote] but in others they are not. They are not the "ultimate" weapon in all situations, because frankly no weapon can ever can be.

The L96A2 may be an excellent sniper rifle, but if you bump into someone with an MP5 in a narrow corridoor, your fucked. Same with all weapons, if i had to go against a shield-wall, i'd take a gladius over the Katana any day.

Aesthetically, i can think of many weapons which look as good as the Katana.

Falcion:

Spoiler

Pattern 1796 Light Cavalry Saber: Much more versitile than the katana


The Spartha- the grand-daddy of European medieval swords. (Beauty through simplicity in my view)

Spoiler

 

[PinkiePyro]

katanas are bad ass but personally I prefure a halberd
the power of an axe combined with the reach of a pike

also
WTF sword chucks? way to cut your own hand/head off

 

[KaosuHamoni]

Katanas are just better [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/KatanasAreJustBetter].

Oh my god, you bastard. I just wasted half an hour trawling through that website until I realised!

 

[Hero in a half shell]

you do realize that katanas are simply the best sword quality wise right, and that they are the best to fight with?

some facts

While with an european broadsword the metal is simply melted and then pounded into the shape of a sword, the steel of a katana is foded 20 times, making it abnormally durable and sharp. it has been said that the difference is so great that a katana can cut through other swords.

While katanas are long, their thin nature makes them quite light, allowing for fast swings, quick counters, and overall faster swordplay. You dont have to fight much against that pesky inertia that is always getting in your way

This sounds like a bit of a troll post, but I'm not sure so I'll respond anyway. Your facts are a bit squewed.
Firstly, there is no best sword, every sword has been made for a different specific threat, its like saying a 50 cal. baretta sniper is the best gun, there are multiple circumstances in war, and each sword is designed to be the best in a very specific set of criteria. ARMA agrees with me on this: http://www.thearma.org/essays/nobest.htm
Secondly, yes the way a katana was forged was a phenomenally complex art, and it involved folding the blade around 10-20 times, to create hundreds of thousands of layers in an individual blade, but this was necessary, because japanese iron ore was a very poor quality. The Vikings actually did a very similar process with their swords to rid their poor iron ore deposits of impurities, called pattern welding. The Europeans did not simply melt iron ore, and pound it into a sword shape, there were very complex forging methods with their metal as well, although because their iron ore was a better quality, they had less to do with it to make it battle ready. (The strongest steel, known as Damascus steel, was created in India and the middle east, we may never know how it was made, but it had carbon nanotubes running through it)
Finally the Katana is actually an average sword size, and smaller that most European Broadswords, certainly the 2 handed or hand and a half swords, it also is heavier pound for pound of metal because of the blade cross section. Broadswords were double edged, with a fuller in the middle, giving them a thin diamond shaped cross-section. Katanas had one sharp edge, and one thick edge, with no fuller, so they were heavier.
The katana was perfect for its job, single combat against another lightly armoured oppent with another katana, but it is not a 'supersword'.

 

[Brandon237]

Well...I'm not sure, but I think a katana is very good for cutting bits off an unarmoured opponent. As most sword fights in action movies don't involve armour, it sort of makes sense.

On the other hand, IIRC, a katana doesn't have much of a hilt, because the user would be wearing armoured gauntlets, to that'd seem to make them less suitable.

Though, I'm not an expert, I might have gotten that completely wrong.

All the katanas I have seen at my karate dojos have had hand guards that were at least 8cm in diameter. And the hilts are easily held with two hands. I have actually watched professionals use them, the hilt is not that small, you can easily grip it with a gauntlet, two hands et cetera.

OP: The Katana is very well designed, seen as a weapon for the skilled, and takes a master Sword-smith many hours to craft. It has earned its place.

 

[Slycne]

Bear in mind a master samurai could (by historical record) fire all 24 arrows from a bow while running accross a half dismantled bridge and hit 23 targets, killing (think it was) 13 and wounding the rest, before reaching the other side and still land fighting with their Yari (spear-like weapon). That is from a historical account from a war during the 1400's and was not a rare engagement for a master samurai. Historically, Katana were weapon of last choice in battle (bow or Yari being prefered and also mastered).

I have done a bit of reading on the topic, wish I could reference the source but I cannot recall the book that it came from (was a historical one dealing with Japanese history from it's beginings to the end of world war 2)

Those exploits are associated to Tsutsui no J&#333;my&#333; Meish&#363; who was a sohei(warrior monk) not actually a samurai. Of coarse these accounts, The Tale of the Heike, also say that water cast on an feverish man's body turned to fire and black smoke, so its accuracy might not exactly be reliable.

 

[Plurralbles]

they should use gunswords more often.

 

[Slycne]

katanas are what is called cold-folded over 2000 times.

Over 2000 layers, a katana is only folded around 8 to 16 times.