super long sword *sucks really bad at stabbing due to blade geometry can we just admit that out east they just made swords to look cool, but in terms of function limited themselves hard
i always layghed in the last samurai movie where tom cruise cuts trough a rifle stock and into the soldiers face that was like yea right that is a sword not a lightsaber xxD
Something that people seem to fail to realize about the effectiveness of polearms at close range is that a polearm is essentially a quarterstaff with a metal bit on the end to make it more deadly, but the metal bit for the most part does not prevent someone from using staff techniques with a polearm. Staves have plenty of ways to deal with opponents at close range, and polearms can use those, people just forget that you can hit with the shaft if necessary, and heavier staff techniques are hard to spar safely with because they are blunt force and tend to bypass armor.
@@scratchthesurface8084 I have sparring experience with it, as I do Kobudo I am also quite skilled with the staff. You can use a spear as a staff, if the lenght is right, and the techniques work as fine as with the staff, in some examples like trusts even better.
funny because wielding the spear is easier than any other weapon, and complete spear novices can destroy trained swordsman by sheer luck more than half the time
@@senseikensei7470 Guandao is an impartically weapon, it was use in more training or ceremonies than actual combat, naginata should be compare to podao.
Would be interesting to see a comparison between the Nodachi against a European Greatsword/Zweihander. Considering they were both Cavalry stoppers and frontline troop weapons.
Jacek N While yes the majority of zweihanders saw use against pike formations binding up 5 or so pikes with long swing alot of Zweihanders were also deployed without Pike units themselves as a reinforcing role. Typically 2 zweihanders for every 60 pikemen/billmen.
Greatswords were not meant for use against cavalry. Sure, they were probably used on occasion, but spears and pikes and other polearms were preferable there. Greatswords were anti-polearm polearms. Specifically, they were used to break up pike formations.
uhm great swords being used as anti cavalry weapons depends on context, asian great swords were mostly used for this purpose, hence why the names for the chinese great swords and earliest japanese great swords translates to horse slaying sword or horse killing sword, sometimes killing is substituted with cutting. and as faar as european great swords go im aware of only two paintings showing the supposed use against pike formations and not one single written account. however they were commonly used as body guard weapons.
I remember seeing one of Skallagrims videos where he tried cutting the shaft of a historocally accurate spear. It took a good couple of whacks on a stationary spear, planted in the ground and he didn't actually "cut" it off, but rather made the wood crack/splinter. I think the reason why a lot of people believe that you can cut the shaft of a polearm or staff is because their experience with wood is usually with thin rods of pine or spruce (usually in the form of broom handles and the like). Now while pine and spruce is perfectly fine for mundane carpentry and as building material, it doesn't come anywhere near ash or oak. It's sort of like comparing aluminium to steel if we were to use metals as an example. A good analogy would be to look at a wood baseball bat. You'd have trouble cutting it even with an axe while it's lying on the ground, let alone someone wielding it, swining it around and in arms that will flex upon impact. That said, I don't know if I would completely discourage the tactic of hitting your opponents spear. Not with the goal of breaking the spear of course, but in order to break his guard. If he has a tight grip on his spear at any one point and you strike it with sufficient force, you could force him off balance. If his grip is too loose, then you might manage to disarm him. Hitting his spear to get the spear tip out of the way while closing the distance would also be beneficial to you since he'll have trouble employing the spear if you're basically in his face and the speartip is far behind you.
Sei un Grande Raph! As a Italo-Swiss with roots in italy and turkey i speak a few languages and i love how you sound! Its interesting to watch and hear. Since i live in switzerland I daily hear people talking other languages. In fact there are 4 languages here and nobody, absolutely nobody that i know or ever heard talks without an accent. And its funny to hear people from Tessin (Ticino) and people from Basel (Basilea) speaking the same language because the ticinese will speak with a huge italien (or Ticinese) accent while the people from Basel will have that typical German Accent. And hearing your pronunciation is absolutly stunning :) Kiip'ap de gudd work! :D
Been watching the channel for a while. Superb content, many thanks for this! Another -point- thing in favor of spears; According to the Civilization series, deploying spear formations on hills can be a cost effective strategy to shoo off tanks. I assume they brace against the ground, improving formation rigidity. : >
you are tuley worthy of more than 150k subs, you are humble in explaining techniques and wise with all forms of educational topics. I love watching your videos because i know that they are filled to the brim with your charm and actual knowledge and not some biased opinion! thank you so much for everything you do and i hope to see the day you hit one million subs.
I really like Nodachis/Odachis, I think they're really elegant weapons. There were some image of Nodachis I've seen that had such a long hand they were almost like spears, and some with blades so curved they were almost crescents.
Man your knowledge on the medival style.weapons such as the Spear etc are amazing! Really enjoyed.your video man. I am still new to the Spear collecting and learning to properly use one. I look forward to your future videos on the spear. The Spear has become in the past 2 mos my favorite weapon to own and to study.
Some tips from a spear guy. When two-handing, remember that a small movement of your hand makes for a big motion up front. A minute movement of both hands translates to a big movement of the tip, allowing for incredibly fast redirection. You are also going a bit too wide with your swings. Keep the movements tight and the point between you and your foe. When using the spear one-handed with a shield in single combat, do not hang your point out like your friend does. Hold the spear so the point is barely past your shield to deny your opponent control over it (while granting you maximum control). You can't effectively use the spear's reach in single combat with a single hand, thus you must trade that advantage off in exchange for the protection of a shield. When fighting against a spearman passing steps are your greatest ally. If you are using a shield you should stand shield-side forward, and do a passing step as you close to cover the most distance quickly while also putting your weapon-side forward for the biggest effective gain. When you don't have a shield, a similar principle applies. Don't forget that you can grab a spear if the opportunity presents itself.
I prefer underarm myself, but each grip has its merits. With underarm you have more control over the spear (especially when you remember to use your elbow and torso in conjunction with your hand as part of a lever to catch the spear when knocked aside or otherwise manipulate the point), but your attacks are all limited to the opponent's left side (which really sucks when they have a big shield). With overarm you have less control and can't strike low very easily (all your attacks are downward angles) but you can strike the opponent's upper-right side. One technique a lot of people cite regarding this debate is the throwing slide, which is where you basically throw the spear and let it slide through your hand while not letting it slip out fully (Thegnthrand has several videos showing this technique). You can do this with both the overarm and underarm grips (the technique maximizes the range of motion you have to accelerate the spear). However it is like the one-handed reaching thrust with a longsword in that it is fairly situational. In single combat there aren't often situations where the sliding technique is the better choice (though if your foe underestimates your reach you can use it to hit him when he doesn't think you can), at least from my experience. It comes down to what you are more comfortable with and what you are fighting against.
They both have their purposes. Unless in formation with others , spears have a better range but a bit less ability to engage multiple enemies, whereas the nodachi would likely do better with multiple enemies rather than a single spearman. As with all weapons of war its how they are used and how they are supported that generally wins out over blunt force. Great video, thanks!
One additional benefit with a nodachi is probably also that it is easier to retreive than a spear? Imagine if you plunge your spear into an advancing horse. Perhaps you bring the horse down, but if your spear is deep inside a collapsing horse, you might be unarmed. When using a nodachi to cut a horse as it passes, you are free to attack the next opponent.
People forget how effective Polearms are because of videogame nonsense and that swords are just "cooler". Spears and Pikes ruled most ancient battlefields right up until the invention of guns. Swords in most cases were back up weapons in case your enemy closed in on you or your spear broke.
Don't care how superior spears are swords are still better, anybody can use a damn spear just thrust it into someone, Swords actually require legitamate skill to use.
Last boss of the internet Metatron in the white cape wielding Nodachi, i know you prefer the spear but the looks are badass. I am watching this late 80's to late 90's sci-fi anime Legend of the galactic heroes,there is war between empire and alliance and the leader of the empire is called Kaiser. Empire's main protagonist has white cape, and wants to conquer the universe
Congrats for reaching the 150 K! You TOTALLY deserve it; I myself subscribed when you had like 12 K subs and did watch almost every vid since then. Greetings from your neighbour-country (to Italy) Austria!
I think most stories or depictions of "cutting an opponents weapon in half" were simply the weapon failing from overuse or lack of maintenance. Eventually, even the best made things wear out.
plus I would add that (I skallagrim pointed out once) effective use of a sword tends to need more practice of effective use of a speer (effective, not proper). Specially (but I'm not sure about it) if you think of a unit of swordmen against a unit of spearmen.
But... you didn't draw your gladius first :( P.S. Have you played Total war: Rome 2? If you ever do a let's play of one game, this one is probably worth the time
Let me put forth the following for your consideration. 1) Chinese sources do record spear heads being cut off by the nodachi carried by the Japanese raiders. Granted they used softer ash to make spear shafts in the South and Northern spears were stiffer, but that was indeed done historically. 2) The blade doesn't have to cut off spears head in order to be effective. Just binding the spears with the blade would give the swordman a temporary advantage to close in. The blade is there to make it stick and knock the spearman off balance for that split second. 3) The Chinese did adopted the nodachi to be some kind of standard weapons, but they were infantry weapons not for counter cavalry.
Metatron, great video - as ever, but I must contradict you about one point. You did not cut your friend's staff. You broke it. I am not a swordsman but I am pretty good with a woodcutter's axe. In my experience it is very, very unlikely, if not downright impossible to cut something even as thin as that staff, let alone a pole arm shaft, with one blow, if it is being held in someone's hands. There is just too much give in the system. Put it on a solid surface, say a chopping block, and a good sharp axe will cut something as thick as a spear shaft, no worries. This is not to say that pole arms did not break in battle but I suspect that they would have to sustain repeated blows, or suffer some other mishap.
kanabo dont really have that much length, and they ranged heavily in size and weight. infact the older ones ive seen all appear to be thinner and lighter then the more modern examples.
bmxriderforlife1234 I see your point, but i dont think Metatron would have a problem covering that, given the comparison he did between Roman armour and Japanese armour despite the many variations of both:)
mryupjup Yep, but I am still very interested for Metatron to talk about Kanabo more in depth. Like the cases where it was used and whatnot. For example, Scutum + Gladius is pretty bad in isolated combat(1v1) but great in formation fighting. so i wanna see what situations can take away a Kanabo's weaknesses and capitalise on it's strengths:)
the kanabo was mostly a shock tactic weapon from my understanding, wasnt really used for its advantages but more to strike fear into the enemy. id like to hear more about the kanabo as well but honestly i think a comparison to polearms is pretty pointless.
In my honest opinion, an odachi is a better anti-horseman weapon, spear is a better anti-cavalry weapon. I mean, if you are fighting out from a formation, you can possibly make a massacre of mounted fighters using an odachi, but only when the fight is on and cavalry has lost the momentum of attack. Against charging cavalry, nothing is better then a wall of spears, except pikes. I can't immagine an effective "wall of odachis" instead.
we were using two wooden sticks same thickness as the one you show to represend swords in our theater play, during the dual scene one of the shafts actaully broke the other in half. So it doesnt matter that your sword was blunt, it has to do with the material the shaft is made of.
Minor point perhaps, but it does not look as if the sword is cutting through the staff. The staff breaks, which is because it hasn't been cut parallel to the grain of the wood. I have a jo that I've owned for fourty years and it's stil in one piece because the grain runs all the way through. I've seen quite a few broken, sometimes by mine, because they were improperly made. Same principle applies when you're looking for timber for construction, buying a wooden baseball bat etc. As to cutting through wood with a sharp blade: For obvious reasons one would not use a very soft kind of wood for the shaft. Cutting through, for example, oak is impossible even with the relatively thin jo. That being said you will see jo versus katana kata where the katana is met at an oblique angle. This way the diameter of the wood is much larger and the nick won't weaken the jo too much.
Depends on the angle of the cut. A 45 degree angle might do it, a 90 degree angle will never do it, and A 30 degree angle will do it most of the time (If your blade is sharp). I can cut a good 2 inches into a small tree for every single cut I make with my axe, and it should take me about two minutes to cut down a tree that is a foot in diameter depending on the hardness of the wood. however I am using a razor sharp axe with a 2lb head on it with a Scandinavian grind. Also, using a Japanese sword on that staff, it looks like it’d be harder to cut in half than that staff you had before. It looks like a hard, well seasoned piece of wood you have there.
Have you looked at the 1st and 2nd Miaodao forms? Each is an anti spear form. One using more binds and grabs, the other using rapid angled stepping and covering to close. The 1st is from the Ming Changdao, the second is from the Late Qing/Early Republic period. If you're interested I can provide links.
Are you going to get better lighting for your videos? (The small light bulb makes for weird shading and black/white balance) Though still interesting videos, hope you reach that 200k soon
How about spear vs. Naginata? I am curious mostly because I don't know a whole lot about how Naginata's are used and I'd be interested in how they compare as a polearm to a more traditional spear.
xD 0:12 Damn, dude! I was just saying that black on black (or blue!) is hard to see, especially when you're trying to show that thing to the camera. It was still a good video, much like this one!
Grats on the subs! Btw I think you you will like NIOH of course but it's like dark souls so I know u did a rant on that lol enjoy it it's a very fun aggressive game but if u didn't like the high risk high reward mechanics of dark souls, you might have a nasty time with this game.
I would love to see you expand on what you were saying about the tanto being a fine choice for defeating an armored opponent. Maybe a vid focused on knife combat with respect to Japanese history.
Zhanmadao was more useful against armored cavalry, because though the horse is armored, its legs are not. The "horse cutting cleaver" was known to be put to effective use by Yue Fei against heavy Jurchen armored cavalry. And what you said at the end of the video is a very good guess. General QiJiGuang actually preferred to use pikes against infantry, rather than using them against cavalry. He says this on the basis that pikes could break their shafts when used against cavalry. This might not sound so important in European battlefields in which pikemen almost always outnumber cavalry by a large margin. But when fighting the Mongols/Manchus, whose superior mobility allow local superiority in numbers, but also have multiple horses per soldier, broken pike shafts becomes a problem. Against these enemies, pike block may not be able to afford to exchange one of their pikes for one enemy horse (early Manchu and Jurchen cavalry had heavily armored horses). Quote from QiJiGuang: 中原之地，兼防内盗贼，可用长枪与敌战，则长枪难用何也？敌马万众齐冲，势如风雨而来，枪身细长惟有一戳， 彼众马一拥，枪便断折，是一枪仅可伤一马，则不复可用矣。惟有双手长刀藤牌，但北方无藤，而以轻便木为之，重不过十斤，亦可用。以牌蔽身牌内，单 刀滚去，只是低头砍马足，此步兵最利者也。 Transation: Within the Central Plains, when countering bandits, we can use long pikes to battle the enemy, then how is the long pike difficult to use? It is when 10,000 enemy cavalry are charging with a power like that of a rainstorm. A pike's long thin body can only be used to stab, and upon contact with a horse, the pike will break. This is having one pike only injuring one horse, hence the pike is not reusable. We have ChangDao and rattan shields wielded by a pair of hands, but the north have no rattan, but light wood that weighs no more than 10 jin. These can also be used. When the body is concealed behind the shield, and with head downcast [the soldiers] roll forward with the Changdao to cut the horse's leg, this is how infantry becomes victorious. Also don't let Qing battle art full you. These artists, like Reinassance painters, paint Manchu cavalry of THEIR time, even though the battle took place a hundred years or more before. When the Manchus were fighting the Ming, Manchu battle horses were armored. The following is a Korean description of Manchu armies during that time. 一哨之中，别抄百，长甲百，短甲百，两重甲百，别抄着水银甲，万军之中，表表易认，行则在后，阵则居内，专 用于决战 Rough Translation For every one Shao (military unit of 400 troops), there's one hundred Bayara (Jurchen elite guard), one hundred that wear long armor, one hundred that wear short armor, and one hundred that wear two armors. Bayara wear quicksilver armor, even in an army of ten thousand they are easily recognizable. They stay at the back during march, and in the middle during battle, and specialized in decisive battle. Ming account again: 編五牛彔為一隊,行則一路,止則一處,依次而下,戰則攻一處。披長厚甲者,執長矛及長柄大刀戰於前,披輕網 甲者持弓箭從後射之。所選精兵騎馬立於他處觀之,見有不勝,相機助戰。故每戰皆能取勝。 Rough Translation (Jurchen) organize five Niru (Jurchen military unit based on their hunting custom/party, originally 10 people, but gradually expanded) intoone unit, they marched on one road, and stopped at one place. They dismounted one by one, and during battle they attacked the same target. Those who wore long and thick armor and wielded long spear and long-handled glaive fought at the front, those who wore "light web armor" (probably chainmail?) wielded bows and arrows and shoot from behind. Picked elite troops mounted on their horse and stood at other place to observe, if they saw the battle was not won, they would wait for the chance to reinforce the line. That's why Jurchen won every battle they fought.
I think the battlefield advantage of nodachi was making more damage against masses of ashigaru - unarmored spearmen. Say you have a line of ashigaru against a line of ashigaru. Hawing a samurai with a nodachi could likely make more difference than hawing one with a yari.. The curved blade would not stop so easily but slice trough and keep it's momentum. A samurai with a yari could of course drop it and draw his katana after the initial impact to start cutting up people but a guy with nodachi would have better range and could be able to do considerably more damage and also keep the enemy at bay. Of course the spearmen would have range advantage but unskilled spearmen might not have that good change against an armored samurai. And of course there's the fear factor - the spearmen would likely not want to be in reach of of a samurai with sharp cutting weapon - bleeding to death is no fun and a nodachi would extend the area they want to avoid.
Buonasera Metatron, scrivo in italiano, di cui credo anche lei sia madrelingua, anziché in inglese, perché non sono molto confidente di poter tradurre adeguatamente in inglese quanto intendo dire (a parte gli inglesismi, sì: meglio andare sul sicuri). Vorrei esporre alcuni punti che mi sono venuti in mente guardando questi video sulle nodachi (secondo un uso forse discutibile, renderò il termine nodachi femminile): 1) la prima cosa che mi viene da pensare guardando la "nodachi monster" in questi video (alludendo anche ai precedenti), è che forse il giudizio per quest'arma sia eccessivamente legata al l'esemplare proposto: non intendo dire che non sia storicamente accurato, ma mi viene il dubbio che sia storicamente accurato per alcune situazioni e basta - quel che intendo dire è che, guardando un mostro del genere, essa sia una ricostruzione accurata di un arma effettivamente usata in battaglia, nello specifico per tagliare le zampe dei cavalli, dove sono più fini. A guardare un massa del genere, spessore e lunghezza, un'arma del genere potrebbe essere stata usata storicamente in un campo di battaglia, anche efficacemente, facendo dei semplici ma quanto efficaci fendenti verso le zampe dei cavalli: se il colpo arrivava è davvero possibile, mi viene da credere, o tagliare di netto le zampe oppure sperare che l'animale, per autoconservazione, non obbedisca più al cavaliere; 2) Ma cosa succederebbe se prendessimo una nodachi di dimensioni minori? Lei stesso ha affermato, nei precedenti video, che le spade giapponesi, e le nodachi non fanno eccezione, sono definite non dalla lunghezza, ma dal rapporto in proporzione fra elsa e lama: quindi sarebbe possibile avere una nodachi di dimensioni più contenute, la quale, mi viene da credere, riequilibrerebbe le carte in tavola, forse consistentemente, nella valutazione dell'arma (mi pare di ricordare che nei video di alcune dimostrazioni fatte da spadaccini giapponesi da lei addotti le nodachi fossero meno "monster-like", a riprova della mia affermazione); 3) In alcuni video precedenti aveva accennato al problema dell'estrazione della "nodachi monster": con una nodachi più piccola, la tecnica da Lei inventata di estrazione dalla schiena sarebbe praticabilissima, ed abbastanza efficace, a mio parere, visto la lunghezza della lama; ma forse qualcosa si può fare anche con la "nodachi monster", applicando lo stesso principio, ovvero abbinando contemporaneamente al movimento di estrazione dal fodero della lama (con la destra, supponendo che Lei sia destro di mano) uno di movimento del fodero dalla parte contraria (nel caso, con la sinistra) - un po' come ci ha fatto vedere per la tecnica di estrazione dalle spalle, solo che, invece che essere fatta per verticale è fatta per orizzontale; 4) In questo video Lei ha accennato al problema degli affondi con la "nodachi monster": a me personalmente è venuto un modo per poterli fare, e per risolvere il problema dello sbilanciamento: perché non appoggiare la parte non affilata della lama sul gomito e far slittare la lama avanti ed indietro? Forse un po' pericoloso, ma forse fattibile: potrebbe provare e valutare Lei di persona, se la cosa La incuriosisce? In armatura potrebbero esserci meno problemi? Utilizzando una nodachi più piccola, il discorso si ripeterebbe, solo molto più facile: abbinandola con la tecnica di estrazione dalla schiena potrebbe essere utilizzabile in una combo interessante, di fendente più affondo come detto qui, visto che la lunghezza della lama obbligherebbe l'avversario ad una certa distanza, dovendo evitare il fendente. Per ricapitolare, forse, per questi interessanti video di comparazione e valutazione della nodachi, potrebbe essere più utile avere a che fare con una nodachi più piccola, ovvero meno specializzata nell'uso per i cavalli e più versatile con gli esseri umani. Scusi il proverbiale muro di testo: spero solo di non aver detto troppe sciocchezze. Per qualsiasi chiarimento di quanto ho inteso dire, nei limiti possibili della scrittura, sono qui a risolvere le mie (non improbabili) oscurità. Distinti saluti Alexis Honlon
One disadvantage a spear has over a sword or other bladed weapons, which mainly applies to unit on unit combat, such as a battlefield, is that a spear is hard to turn around to a new facing due to it's length. If an army is able to get a flank attack on a unit using spears, or a 2 pronged attack where they can have a unit repeatedly threatening the flanks, forcing the spearmen to have to keep turning around, it can actually tire out the spear users and leave them vulnerable. From what I understand, that's how the Romans defeated the famous Spartan Phalanxes, is by getting units to keep attacking them from the sides, so the Spartans would have to keep turning around with their spears which would wear them down, then the Romans would go in for the kill once they'd sufficiently worn the Spartans down, or managed to get a successful flank engagement in. The Romans used their short Gladius and the Spartans used their spears as their respective primary weapons, of course.
Along with Miyamoto Musashi, my favorite historical samurai/ninja is Hattori Hanzō (服部 半蔵, ~1542[1] - November 4, 1596). A native of Iga, Mikawa Province - one of the most famous historical home areas of ninja in Japan - Hattori was renowned for his sōjutsu (槍術), or fighting with the Japanese spear, or yari (槍). Hattori's greatest feat was rescuing Tokugawa Ieyasu (徳川 家康, January 31, 1543 - June 1, 1616) - the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate (1603-1868), which ruled Japan for over 260 years - to safety in Mikawa Province with the help of the remnants of the Iga ninja clans, as well as with their one-time rivals, the ninja in Koga. As an American of Japanese descent, while I admire samurai and ninja and such, if I were a samurai living during the Sengoku period, or any time when the samurai class existed in Japan, I think I too would prefer Japanese polearms in general, and Japanese spears in particular, including those with more than one blade per shaft, to Japanese swords as my primary weapon: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-R_g2s_33Y1I.html; ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-uj1Fv07wvlw.html; ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-CMGndnqlpz4.html; ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-fLSGgTr-b_8.html; ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-4fZO9PhOoTU.html; ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-0-ZHHKU1DPc.html; ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-fCXJGKvdy1g.html; ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-fCXJGKvdy1g.html.
if you think a nodachi is huge try wraping your hand arround a european great sword, those blades where longer than shoulder hight, and in some cases even longer than the user was tall, and this is without the hilt.
One small point. I would argue that the nodachi would be, on avg, less durable than a pole arm, on avg. I say this because Nodachi, like all japanese swords, have brittle edges that, when broken, lead to severely compromised structural integrity and thus a weapon prone to catastrophic failure. The pole arm, on the other hand, has no such problem. We must remember that, although wood is easy to chop through in the right conditions, it is relatively hard to cut through wood that is not well supported and which absorbs much of the energy from the strike by moving with the energy. This is what happens when a person holds a long pole and it is struck- it moves a good amount. Pair this with the hazard that chopping at such poles would cause to the integrity of the nodachi blade, and the fact that this proneness to damage would probably make such intentional strikes to the pole arm undesirable, and we can see that, more often than not, the pole arm could be considered the more durable weapon. Also, spears are thrust-centric while the nodachi is cut-centric. Thus, the pole arm, if looked in this light, should be considered far far more durable. This is because the nodachi is utilizing a tactic that is inherently more violent to the construction of any elongated weapon, while the spear uses a tactic that is particularly easy on a pole. Think Eiffel Tower-esque steel structure vs crane arm...we know what can support more weight.
It's simple guys Polearm is Assault Rifle - Two Handed is Submachine Gun. Assault Rifle is better than Submachine Gun same thing with the Polearm vs Two handed.
Quite an interesting video, and cool to see someone who actually prefers a spear in battle over the sword. Though bringing up the mention of cost, it does make me wonder as someone who has started to take an interest in possibly collecting weapons. Does a spear cost significantly less than a sword? One would assume so, considering so much less metal is used and you only have to grind an edge and point onto a much smaller amount of material; then merely fasten it to a pole. And repair is also more simple, I know Skallagrim did a video a month or so ago demonstrating how easy it is to re-haft an axe.
I've heard spears are also best for those with little to no combat experience. Thrusting is a lot easier than cutting or striking, and the reach suits a beginner perfectly. Add to that easy recovery and range control of a spear...and it seems like the best weapon for anyone but a specialist of some kind.
If you got cutted the shaft of a bo you just gave him an even more deadly weapon, So you dont want to do that :D yari was around same thickness as a bo, because the teaching of bo is in case you lost the head of the yari or naginata. The nodachi was only in use for 75 years or so, then it really just disappeared from the battlefield.
I haven't got a chance to try on real or replica nodachi and spears yet (Only SCA weapon, but I have a feeling those can't be used to represent the real ones). But from what I heard of its function and for the asthetic preference, I would take a long (and a bit wide) bladed spear over nodachi. It is a still spear, and it can be used as a lance, and it can still cut/chop as well.
The trick for using a sword against a spear is to wield it backwards, so that the hilt faces up. Took me a while to realize this, but the way a spear is used--honestly, the only way it can effectively be used--is to go for the legs and core. When using a sword the normal way, this means your always chasing the spear around and it more or less controls the fight, but turn your blade downward and you negate its advantage. Attempting to Grapple it aside with a free hand is another tactic, but you're fighting against greater leverage and likely as not to get poked as you step in. Anyway, that's the trick for sword vs spear. The Samurai eventually figured out that the most effective tactic against any weapon is to use a gun.
Reversed is a perfectly viable way to wield a sword, and there are, in fact, various historical examples of them being used in this manner, just as they can be half-handed and used as a makeshift pick (for ice, armor or whatever tickles your fancy) or even like a hammer via gripping the blade with both hands and attacking with the quillons. It's quite a versatile, if archaic tool, and there are nearly limitless ways you can use the thing to skin your average cat, or even slay the token PETA activists afterwards.
If you need to fight many unarmed opponents at once the nodachi could be the best choice. you can only stab one person at a stroke the others could rush at you. Nodachi could create a death zone. maybe?
You swing in big strokes and hit an opponent. Your big sword gets stuck in their chest and you get swarmed by his friends. Yes there is an intimidation factor to a sword flourish, but there is also an intimidation factor to a spear pointing at your face. The spear can stab faster then any swung weapon can cut/smash.
Could you please talk about counter armor strategies and techniques? I only found your half swording video about this topic from which seemed to be most about using it as a tool to get them unarmed or on the ground. Are there any ways to fight it with more "swordlike" actions? Or how spears, blunt weapons could works. Like anything they used against heavy infantry. Love your videos btw (but you need white hair too for visibility reasons :)
Nem Denemam I'm not nearly as knowledgeable as metatron about this but grappling was very useful, along with daggers. The Persians during the middle ages used a shamshir with a buckler while holding a dagger in an icepick grip.
Not sure the bo was cut as much as split. I looks like the break followed the wood grain in a diagonal, meaning it could have broken the same place if it hit anything hard. Had the woodgrain gone lengthwise it would likely have held. Modern methods of making wooden shafts via sawing and sanding, creates straight shafts but not durable. Medieval method of splitting the wood lengthwise means the grain follows the shaft. Just my thought on this :)
The question why a nodachi could be more effective against cavalery is recovery. If you once hit a horse with your spear the weapon will dive deep in to the running animal and be ripped from your hands. There is nearly no way to pull the spear out in time for the next rider racing at you. On the other hand cutting into the legs of a horse with a swing (even not cutting throug bone but ripping the flesh) and a sideways step compined with a pivot leaves the sword in your hand and ready for the next swing. Therefore I suppose that the nodachy is more effective on the battlefield when facing more then one riding opponent. The effectiveness of polearms depend on extremely tight formation with a fence of spears and a high heavy shield. This wall must not break until enough dead enemies pile up to hinder further movement. However if this cannot be achieved (and we do not see to many phalanx shield walls in samurai warefare) I would go for more flexible movement, doging the rider's attacks, cutting down the horse and be ready for the next. Does this make sense to you?
On cutting a spear shaft, in the example you show there was "car crash physics" - both weapons were moving towards each other. This means all of his force, and all of your force impacted the wood. If someone swings a spear at you in an arc, instead of thrusting, you can use their own power behind the swing, plus your power to help cut it. But I think most spear shafts broke on their second or third opponent, not from a lucky cut.
Would you look into something modern? Given your focus on Japanese swords I'd like to see you review some variations on tactical wakizashi, particularly ones with an ito wrap like the hisshou.
I love how I found this channel only a few weeks ago and you are easily one of my favorite channels.Your right there with Skall. I do appreciate how you do post more but Skall may not have the time. Anyways, congratulations on 150k subs you deserve it and much more.
have you found scholagladitoria yet? he might be up your alley. there is also swordsage if you have any interest in chinese martial arts and sword play, and if you just want to see sword reviews then check out Matthew Jensen, he does reviews and other videos on some pretty friggin sweet swords. from customs made in america to actual nihonto.
If you go against an armored oponent the nodachi has a point. A strike from above with such a long and heavy sword will have a lot of weight on it (weapon + weielder + kinetic energy), so it could harm even if the foe is in full plate armour. Thrusting, on the other hand, don't have much weight (it doesn't add the weight of the wielder, and it doesn't add all the weight of the weapon), so unless you get to the skin, you will never do anythin serious
I slowed down the footage and saw that you didn't actually cut through the weapon. The bo was actually shivered apart. if you pause at the moment of contact, you can see that the opposite side of the bo staff is where the split actually began. you hit the bo at the perfect spot to shiver it apart.
