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posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday October 10 2017, @01:36AM   Printer-friendly
from the swords-are-technology dept.

I have been reading The Japanese Sword Column and thought it may be of niche interest to other Soylentils. It is written by Paul Martin, a noted British expert of Japanese swords. From the introduction:

Along with cherry blossoms and Mount Fuji, the Japanese sword has become one of the enduring symbols of Japan. It has experienced centuries of warfare, evolved through Mongol invasions, survived the introduction of the musket, the end of the samurai era, modernization, and confiscation and destruction by the Allied forces following World War II. They are an anachronism in modern society, yet they continue to be made. They are an integral part of Japanese culture.
Today, I feel very fortunate that we have access to Japanese swords and can observe the artistry of blades that were previously only accessible by Japan's ancient military and social elites.

I particularly enjoyed the July 25th article, The Changes in the Shape of the Japanese Sword. The articles are short, update infrequently and have plenty of pictures of museum-quality swords. A good fit for those with a casual interest in the subject.


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  • (Score: 2) by Arik on Wednesday October 11 2017, @12:42AM (2 children)

    by Arik (4543) on Wednesday October 11 2017, @12:42AM (#580185) Journal
    Well I was trying to give your assertion the benefit of the doubt, and a boar sword is as close as I can get.

    I've never heard of anyone using a sword to hunt bear outside of fantasy rpgs. Nor does it make any sense at all. Swords are typically optimized for use against unarmored or lightly armored humans. Bears are fearsome giants with natural armor tough enough to hold against weaker modern firearms. Slicing through that hide with a typical cut-and-thrust sword would be slow and tiring work, assuming a dead bear. A live one wouldn't stand there and let you try it. There are specialist swords that *could* work, like the boar sword, but it would be even less of a sane choice against a bear than a boar.
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  • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Wednesday October 11 2017, @05:04AM (1 child)

    by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday October 11 2017, @05:04AM (#580294) Journal

    Possibly I'm wrong... I know that that's what the thing I read said, but I don't know how accurate it was. (And I can't check since it just "something I read a decade ago".)

    OTOH, there's all sorts of "recent" history in the US where people ended up fighting a bear with a long knife, which was essentially a sort of sword. I believe both Daniel Boone and David Crockett reported doing so. Of course Davy Crockett was a liar and spinner of tall tales...so you can't really trust what he reports.

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    • (Score: 1) by Arik on Wednesday October 11 2017, @05:27AM

      by Arik (4543) on Wednesday October 11 2017, @05:27AM (#580301) Journal
      Winding up fighting the thing with your bowie after everything else failed? Yes, I could believe that's happened - very rarely. On the other hand it's just a great motif for storytelling so it probably made it's way into lots of tales while happening quite rarely. But as a deliberate plan? Going out with the idea you would use that knife in the 'hunting' phase rather than the later 'butchering' phase would be utter insanity. Simply mounting the bowie knife securely to a nice long spear-shaft would make it orders of magnitude more useful. Your best shot at taking down a bear with a blade like that would be to force it straight through the roof of the mouth, even with a decent spear that would be a feat, doing it with a knife would essentially mean you're already at wrestling distance from him - and most likely already dead or dying - before you're even close enough to try.
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