Most melee weapons experts consider the katana to be one of the finest long blades ever made by man.
Since ancient times, the sword has been considered a symbol of a man. Millennia of war have turned the murder weapon into an object of worship. It is not surprising that in our time, interest in bladed weapons does not fade away. The most famous weapon is undoubtedly the katana, a Japanese sword that has been around for over 1,500 years. Most melee weapons experts consider the katana to be one of the finest long blades ever made by man.
For Japan, the katana is a symbol of the samurai who have made the country's history for centuries. The katana is closely related to the spirit of the nation: the code of "bushido" and "spirit of Yamato" are the path of the sword, and therefore the path of the katana.
Katana is a two-handed curved Japanese sword with a blade length of 60 to 75 cm. The standard blade width is 3 cm. Thickness is 0.5 cm near the tsubo guard and tapers towards the point. The mass of the katana ranges from 0, 9-1, 2 kg. The katana is characterized by a one-sided blade sharpening and is suitable for both foot and equestrian combat.
In the European classification, according to the length of the blade, the katana refers to long or one-and-a-half swords. According to the technique of use - to one-and-a-half, since when fencing with a katana, it is possible to grip with both one hand and two.
The secrets of forging
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| Samurai from the Satsuma clan. |
Desperate, the authorities decided to make indulgences, and allowed to try swords on criminals sentenced to death, or the bodies of those executed. The process of "quality checking" on the corpses looked something like this: the bodies were tied to a pole and chopped diagonally. The mark on the blade served as a sign of the quality of the weapon, indicating the number of bodies cut with one blow. In the case of those sentenced to death, the executioner cut off the convict's head with a katana.
The Meiji bourgeois revolution, in 1868, dealt a powerful blow to the Japanese sword cult. Samurai were forbidden to carry swords.
The last time a katana was used in battle was during the Second World War. Japanese soldiers tested the katana fortress on thousands of civilians in Burma, China, and Vietnam. In the battles for the Pacific Islands, the American Marines experienced the lethality of such a seemingly archaic weapon as a sword in their own skin. The katanas of the warriors of the Land of the Rising Sun were easily cut off at the beginning of the rifle, and then, and the marines themselves.
