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Originally Posted by Roland_M
We can check the flexibility of the blade. If it's flexible, it is very sure not from Japan. Is it soft and easily to bend, it could come from Japan.
The reputation of japanese swords in western culture is much better than their value from the technical point of view, thanks to Hollywood. Very difficult to fight with, much more exigent than european swords, too soft and too slow. The european longsword or the Ottoman Kilij are worlds better than the famous Katana. The Europeans copied the Ottoman Kilij and Persian Shamshir but they never adopted the Katana.
As far as I know, the first japanese swords in the ~7th century were copys of chinese swords. The typical shape of a Katana is a chinese invention.
Roland
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Hey Roland,
Nice to hear from you!
I agree with some of your points but disagree with others.
It is true the reputation of Japanese Katana is significantly exagerated, however they are formidable weapons that can compete with the best European or otherwise blades and in most cases outperform them. It is only that they are particularly designed for a specific fighting style that may give the impression they are not as good as their competitors. More preciesely as they are relatively light and even more so with a very light tip (in comparison with the Dao), they are not suitable for hacking strokes. However, they perform exceptionally well with slashing strokes. I have even seen a documentary where a Katana was put to a test aginst an European Longsword (you may find it on YouTube, just type "katana vs longsword") and won in most of the particulat tests (like cutting or stabbing test, were it outperformed the European Longsword).
As with regards to the flexibility test you propose, that can be extremely misleading and dangerous as you can end up with a bent blade or injury without reaching any conclusion. I have about six Katanas and their flexibility varies significantly but within the normal expected range for a steel blade with the respective proportions. And this won't be by any discernable means significantly different from a san-mai Chinese sword of the same proportions.
True that early Japanese swords were copied from Chinese, and mostly from Korean swords, but then we can also say that European swords were also copied from... say Roman swords (with the European longsword being nothing but a longer wversion of a Roman Gladius and a bigger crossguard). However, Japanese swords are certainly a class of their own and definitely very diferent from the early Korean swords they were modelled after.
PS: Coming back to this sword, I believe that another point favourig the Japanese origin is its general shape with a fairly long and narrow blade and a rather thin and light tip. Chinese fighting style with the Dao is very much based on hacking strokes (hence the hilt bent towards the edge) that would require a heavier blade, with more of the weight distributed towards the tip.