Reject Modernity; Embrace Tradition: The Type 95 Shin Gunto 

"What can a sword do that a gun can't?" "Parry."

@@IncredibleMD “parry this you filthy casual”

On the other hand it cracks it breaks and it doesn't cut well. Swings and roundabouts

@@IncredibleMD Anyone who's had bayonet training knows you can parry with a gun.

That sounds like an Ahoy quote.

It's called forgotten weapons not forgotten firearms so it fits the bill^^

@@Hokuhikene "today we're going to be taking a look at this trebuchet"

@@Hokuhikene indeed

@@HailHydra27 I would watch!

I think a forgotten weapons style program about laboratory equipment would be neat

Funny how such obvious _vae victis_ occupational measures are still used in the modern era by western militaries even when they spend so much of their time in officer training school and history classes learning about them being a terrible idea.

Seems about right. Good story

@@hinglemccringleberry9389 - You silly man. History is always told from a perspective. A Japanese boy that turned 16 in 1943 and served entirely in the Pacific for the Japanese Navy would know nothing about what the Japanese Army was doing thousands of miles away. Moreover, you are casting YOUR light on something I said in a neutral manner. History is more than just good guys and bad guys.

@@hinglemccringleberry9389 There were definitely a lot of awful things done by the japanese military during the war, but it’s important to recognize how significant the swords were to japanese culture, even during that dark time of human history. I don’t think there’s any pride in the war crimes that were committed, but what happened is history and if the us was demanding the swords to destroy them then that’s erasing history. It’s important to understand what happened and keep the memory of it alive to avoid these kinds of wars from happening again. And if you want to talk about atrocities i guess we could mention the minor details of the united states dropping two atom bombs on cities, but i suppose since we were the ‘good guys’ that doesnt count.

​@@Samwise_01 wtf are you talking about? destroying the weapons of a crazy and brutal enemy that committed atrocities isn't "erasing history". you think destroying, say, a rifle bayonet is gonna make people forget that it was used to stab chinese babies? that's an insane ideology. and the U.S using a nuke to bomb 2 military base cities was literally the ONLY way to get the Japanese military to surrender, because, as we all know, the japanese NEVER surrendered. using those bombs as a last resort is MUCH different than lining up thousands of civilians in front of a river and shooting them in the backs, or using civilians for human experiments, or using civilians as live bayonet practice, or stabbing babies in front of their parents, or raping wives and daughters in front of husbands and fathers. you SERIOUSLY trying to compare the nukes to ACTUAL war crimes and inhuman atrocities? wtf is wrong with you?

Wow! Just think of the difference in between then and now Malmo is the rape capital of Europe because of the "diversity" and migrants. And it's illegal to defend yourself!

Hungarian mounted police still have them, or at least had them in 2006 when they used them against rioters.

“STOP IN THE NAME OF THE LAW! YOU HAVE COMMITTED CRIMES AGAINST SWEDEN AND HER PEOPLE”

That'd do in countries where civilians don't own firearms. But imagine some US cop carrying a sword...

Deflect the bullets with the sword.

I can imagine that a very small number of military kills were achieved with swords, especially in trenchfighting, like in your example if your great uncle had been slower or if his pistol jammed, he likely would have been killed by that sword.

I never understood people who sell or throw out stuff like that... WTF IS WRONG WITH THEM! But seriously, I hear stories like that far too often. Once again, I just can't fathom what goes through their heads.

Honestly, my great-grandfather earned a load of WWII medals (including a George Cross) and said he wished he’d sold them. Instead, they all got stolen and replaced with fakes. He said he didn’t really like what the medals represented, but he would have liked to have gotten some money for them to spoil his kids with.

@@borismuller86 sounds like he was a wise man, even for his age.

@@praevasc4299 Banzai chargers and Infiltration squads operated at night so it did happen more often than. You think

I guess it's rank hath its privileges. Plus, if you've ever seen a sailor in his dress whites with a sword it's undeniably cool.

Yeah, can't forget that extra S3 attack. Would this "count as" a chainsword or powersword?

never underestimate a swords usefullness as a pointing stick.

well when you have millions of civilians to kill, you can't waste a bullet on each one right?

See I at least arm my Sargent with power swords.

true my father was a young US soldier stationed at Yokosuka base right after Japan surrendered.....they were given the choice of a sword or a rifle as a souvenir.....he chose the sword (it is a short ancestral sword in wood "sleeping case") I still have it. I always asked why not take the rifle and his answer "didn't want to carry it".

It's not impossible that some officers had really old swords, but the vast majority of Japanese swords was just mass produced since the late 19th century. And especially these "souvenir swords" were often very cheap and mass produced junk. Not just after WW2, but also dating back to the 1880s, when western people wanted to bring something "authentic" home after visiting Japan. And - to be clear - even the majority of old(er) Japanese swords isn't necessarily good in terms of material quality.

@@daviddestefano5044 might be because I am European and we don't have much in the way of a firearms culture, but my preference would also be the sword. But not for the pragmatic reason your dad had. Correction: as someone pointed out, I overgeneralised when I said European. I should have said Belgian, appearantly we have multiple cultures that do have a firearm culture.

@@Nickname-hier-einfuegen my comment was about the swords that were surrendered at the end of world war 2. But in general the modern ones are probably mass produced as you say. But this is with most "authentic" souvenir things you can buy, unless you buy it literally from a craftsman. I agree that most of the captured swords will just be mass produced. So the chance that somebody took home a real antique sword that was a family heirloom is very small. Still, If I was American and I'd find a Japanese sword my grandfather took as a souvenir from world War 2, I'd have it looked at. Even if it is just one of these mass-produced swords for the war, it is interesting to know.

@@Nickname-hier-einfuegen literally every blade made in Japan pre ww2 was junk, the iron quality in the ground under Japan is literally the worst in the world, the folded 1000 times stuff, was required to bring the iron and steel used up to mass manufacture quality of western contemporaries, Japan during the era of samurai was extremely isolationist and only really stopped being that way in the late 18th century therefore only had domestic junk iron ores to work with, plus their grasp on steel making was far behind the West, they made up this gap with extremely skills swordsmiths

dude you are the forgotton weapons of archery

@@dzejrid Forgotten catapults

@@builder396 theres actually couple uchya (its a cylinder that shoots arrows) stone sling(braided rope Spanish used them to shoot explovies basically makes u into a human trebuchet) Borneo blowgun (spear blowgun) rungi (mace u can throw) rabbit stick (old ass boomerang like weapon) altalt (a leverage handle to shoot long spear like darts) chakram (hoop blade) like 500 different types of darts,tomahawk, spears,axes,knifes hand throwing wepons.....and im pretty sure theres more unique ones im just not aware of

More ballista content pls Ian

He will need to review ROCKS

kakekmu tentara kah ( cuman nanya )

@@bryuhMan Sorry I can't read Indonesian!

@@Nachtdwaler ah sorry, Does your grandfather serve in the military ? ( just asking )

@@Nachtdwaler your grandfather is Indonesian.....what about your parents?... I'm so confused right now...how the hell you don't know Indonesian? Just asking

@@ilhamseptian1604 My father was born in Surabaya, Java. But he moved to the Netherlands whe he was 9. He is the oldest of all his brothers and sisters. Only 3 out of 8 were still born on Java. My mother is from the Netherlands.

The oleander bushes were a far better target than what be the usual civilian or prisoner that would be the target when an Imperial Japanese serviceman would use a sword like this against.

The exact same thing than a British sergeant bellowing "FIX BAYONETS!"

Yeah, that if, the enemy's infantry use mostly bolt-action rilfes Sadly, American adopted semi-automatic for infantry's standard firearm 💀

@@zaholykrusedar1459 and that relates to the above exactly how? (protip: the last time a British sergeant uttered that order in total seriousness, BOTH sides were using fully automatic assault rifles - and it worked)

@@notfeedynotlazy ok, before i explain my point, i want you to tell me which battle are you talking about, please?

@@zaholykrusedar1459 one in Afghanistan I believe. Look up the "last bayonet charge" since up until now that's what it was.

I've seen a photograph purporting to show two Japanese officers who had been in a competition to behead the most Chinese civilians in a day. The two men are smiling at the camera, holding their swords as if they were about to go fishing.

@@bravesniper2174 Yep.

"Kanotomi" meant the 18th year of the sexagenary cycle

Thanks! Very fascinating.

@@ptonpc Absolute Chads

I don't think Ian's dad would have let him chop weeds in the backyard with this, if that is what you are implying. And I do believe that he would have 'fessed up if he had.

@@dbmail545 Perhaps he kinda just did fess up and maybe his dad was not asked.

@@johnbreitmeier3268 Ian's own George Washington cherry tree myth is born...

@@dbmail545 I've heard enough stories of soldiers murdering civilians and giving jewelry and toys of the victims to their own family. That's a little creepy, if you ask me...

So, Ian is confessing to having hit his wee brother with this sword?

Hello, would you be interested in a little interview for an article? Pm me if you are interested. Arigato !

Saxophone is originally French but of course that was also an enemy language, i wonder how interchangeably that word and others are used today?

@@InvagPruneI don't think anyone is calling a saxophone that anymore.

What a waste, they could have at least recycled the metal.

@@GazB85 Nah, it would take too much to get them back to where they could be recycled.

What a waste, they could have at least brought them over so I can have Japanese surplus

“I lost all my katanas in a boating accident.”

@@CircaSriYak : Seriously underrated comment! 🤣😂😁👍

You posted grinch on main

@@user-mj7qw6xo1u hello yes what the hell does this mean?

I read all of that in his voice! 🤣

@@gagekieffer772 I'm assuming it's a discord reference, although I dont know what grinch means

@@gagekieffer772 I'm assuming an auto-correct of 'cringe'

My dad bought one of these cut down officer swords.. still insanely sharp to this day. One of my goals was to have the blade inspected and tsuka translated so I can return it to the originating family when I eventually receive it from him.

That is sad. I wonder why he didn't keep it and hide it like so many others did.

@@andrewdonovan219 Like many other Japanese people at the time, especially military, he probably felt immense shame for losing the war and decided he wasn't worthy of carrying it anymore. Can't say for sure though.

@@andrewdonovan219 He was the only officer on the tiny island he was stationed on that spoke English. He managed to negotiate the surrender on their behalf and I believe he handed it over to whoever the commanding officer was in an impromptu ceremony. I honestly wish I knew more about it, but both he and my father have passed. I can only really go on what I remember from them talking of it in my childhood. I've tried learning more about it, but I couldn't find anything as it was one of many inconsequential islands with only like a dozen or so soldiers on it that US forces literally skipped by cause it wasn't worth fighting over. In an equally sad event, he had actually hand written out an autobiography of his time during WW2 and of when he managed the surrender, but... the publishing house he handed over his manuscript to ended up being a scam and it was lost when they just up and disappeared.

@@bayoh777 this is terrible, even his story was taken from him.

I don't have a type 95 sword - all the swords that I have collected over the years were hand forged and most of them signed by the smith who made them. I like to think that all the swords that I do have were carried by Warriors! Even the type 95 swords were carried into War! They all deserve respect!

That’s awesome, thanks for sharing

I was actually going to commission a real, no BS tradional-made Shinken (Katana) for $6500 back in '03, but dress the tang as a US cavalry saber and make it a family/service heirloom to be passed down. My choice was that or a motorcycle. I cheesed out and got the motorcycle. I kinda wish I had just commissioned the sword, it would have broken down a lot less than the Sportster and saved me more in the long term. And if you're going to kill yourself with it, at least you'll go with more style.

@@Jason-fm4my I'm unaware of the exact garrison his brigade disarmed.

as a Korean, I give big thanks to your grandfather.

@@elvenisar That's it. Acknowledge that Japanese swords are cool as f*ck, but give thanks to the people that kicked Japan's ass.

Is that what I'm watching? Damn, can anyone point me to Misremembered Armaments?

@@FoxtrotFleet I dont know much about that, but maybe you're looking for Bygone Ordnances?

They did that to civilians. Very honorable.

There's a video on RU-vid with a marine veteran. He notes that a dead Japanese had a picture of him and his squad. In China, standing next to a cage filled with decapitated heads

In Southeast Asia, the Japanese katana gained a negative reputation among the older generations, especially those who lived through the war. The Japanese would often use these to behead POWs, captured rebels, and civilians. An oft repeated urban legend claims that when a Japanese officer drew his sword in public, it could only be re-sheathed after it had spilt blood.

@@jonathantan2469 that was the legend of when a samurai sword could be resheathed. And originally was meant to _prevent_ that kind of behaviour, i.e., a cautionary "do not draw the sword just to scare people or brag" tale - which OF COURSE was turned into "lookie, I drew my sword for funsies, now I gotta kill someone". Such is life.

@@user-oc1tf7oz6y Uh, indeed you are 100% correct in the "Japanese steel was utter shit" (mad skills their smiths had, being able to make serviceable tools and weapons out of that crap, I tell you) and in the "sword was ceremonial and cherished and the very symbl of being above a commoner, but the prefered battlefield weapon was something else with the sword being just a backup" (hilariously, _exactly_ like a knight's sword), but you are actually wrong about something: for most of their story it was, in fact, forbidden by law for commoners to own or carry katanas. Originally it was just the prohibition of carrying the fanous "long/short" pairing (the very symbol of samuraihood), but later on the laws strengthened and the katana itself was forbidden. _Of course,_ that didn't stop commoners from carrying swords that technically were not katanas, or yakuza clans (which, hilariously, were the actual government of many a town during centuries due to deals with the shogunate in exchange of support) to openly carry actual katanas. Then carrying swords, period, was forbidden by law. And as you can bet, that marks the point in history when you start finding tantōs with a length of one inch less than the legal definition of sword. Japan: shitposting IRL since the Middle Ages. Edit, just in case someone actually reads again that wall of text🙂: And the latter thing of the post is why the word tantō used to mean a short sword and now means a knife, to the desperation of translators worldwide. Never change, Japan.

@@nickaschenbecker9882 There's also the fact that traditional Bushido called for showing compassion towards a defeated enemy. I think we can all see how the Imperial Japanese treated that little tidbit.

@@pieceofschmidtgamer Very true. Even the very idea of Bushido as we know it was not the original stuff, but the late XIX - very early XX century romantized retelling of it - which is what was "sold" to soldiers and civilians alike, etc. It was a very deliberate use of traditional bushido as a propaganda tool, and I agree with the original poster that this kind of swords are, amusingly, the single object that bests represents such just by its very existence.

Then true bushido would be represented by the bow. It was the samurai's original weapon. Shinto doesn't consider swords innately holy, but they do consider bows innately holy.

@@allengordon6929 Ah, a man of culture...

The *word* Bushido was invented in, I believe, the 19th century by someone who never fought a battle in their life. Samurai weren't generous ascetics, like western knights they were little better than bandits seizing whatever they could from the peasantry. "Bushido" and similar western concepts exist because more modern descendents of these real pieces of shit wanted to romanticise their past, trying to pass off their ancestors as truly noble. It's almost entirely bunkum.

Iaido, You meant, fellow swordsman?

I lived in Osaka for 8 years..and that place stole my heart...I wish I never came "home"

@@projektkobra2247 5 years in Osaka for me. If it were not for the impossibility to assimilate culturally, even with fluent Japanese, I would've stayed.

@@thomasdawe1837 Is it actually necessary to assimilate? I'm here going on ten years and while I may never be assimilated into the culture, that's not such a bad thing at the end of the day. I mean my in laws, coworkers and friends accept me and I don't really need much more than that. Besides that, the trains run on time and the food and healthcare are better here.

@@Bagledog5000 Hey if you're not bothering anybody and you're comfortable I think you're good.

The spinner has met its match

He did took it to a match! (Type 94 Nambu at the Backup Gun Match) He used the sword as the "backup" backup weapon... The sword worked batter than the nambu at that match lol

This is only applicable to the version that Ian has, the Early War versions are actually built more like a real/historic Katana and can be field stripped.

@@dogwoodhillbilly nonsense.Why on earth would you take one apart?

@@d.pierce.6820 Nonsense? I own one of the Type 94 NCO Shin Guntos that are meant to be taken apart when necessary, the Type 94 version is built like a traditional Katana so it is meant to be taken apart and field stripped when needed. In case you still don't know what I am talking about, the one I own is the kind that has the forger's name underneath the handle, has a bamboo peg, has the Nagoya Arsenal mark under the handle as well.

@@dogwoodhillbilly what you aparrently have is one made with an ancestral blade, not a factory built one.

@@DH-xw6jp How is it ancestral when it has the Nagoya arsenal mark on the blade?

I'd love to read up on this, do you by chance have some material regarding it?

Yeah, 'billet steel' isn't such a bad thing. The whole sandwiching, welding, folding and differential hardening was done because the raw material wasn't great. I have a book on Japanese Swords somewhere that has an entire section giving names to flaws that arise due to the traditional forging process. Swords could be identified by, or earned names because of these flaws. Billet steel might not be as romantic, but it's pretty consistent.

I find these blades endlessly fascinating from an industrial design perspective. Taking what was once a highly rarefied status symbol and making it suitable for mass-production.

@@dreadnought8363 the Man At Arms YT channel has an episode where they show how it was done. Pretty slick setup, honestly, they took a chunk of hard round stock and machined a hole in the center, then turned a chunk of soft steel round and just a tiny bit bigger than that hole. Put the soft steel into the freezer while the hard steel is heating up, and if you got the sizes right you can just drop the soft steel into the hole. Let the two come to room temperature before you reheat the block and forge weld them.

@@dreadnought8363 Ian also has the new book he's selling but I'll second Man At Arms YT. Great stuff.

Correct, experience in Manchuria proved the need for a two handed grip. Nationalism and the spirit of the samurai did the rest.

actual combat against civilian resistance forces lmao

Makes sense, plus that there'd be close combat in China considering the heavily developed population centers, lots of buildings.

To be fair, one handed saber only be popular in the west when firearms were widely used, therefore western that time would rather wear good-protection armour or clothes that providing no protection but places to store bullets and gunpowder than thick-layers clothes Since most places in asian still doin medieval things, that's not a bad idea after all

Weather requested by Japanese soldiers invading Manchuria and China or because of nationalist and militaristic governments at home, swords like this and the officer's model killed far more civilians than any armed combatant ( Ally or "retreating" Japanese ).

You mean a gendaito, funny enough arent some guntos today illegal un japan?

@@panoctic japan has a weapons law that among other things bans swords over a certain length. this would apply to all katana theoretically however there is an exception for swords made in the "traditional Japanese art" obviously factory mass produced swords from ww2 is not traditional Japanese art so they are illegal.

These shin guntos were a few inches shorter than a katana for convenient single hand cuts because the imperial army sword training were heavy based on sabre fencing. Some officers didn't even know how to use the sword properly. It's also more curved compared to the katana.

There’s a push in recent years to see ancestral blades returned to their owners. If you know someone who can read Japanese script they might be able to tell you which family the sword belonged to. If they’re still alive I’m positive that family will be grateful you returned a heirloom to them

Restore it, keep it, or give it a decent museum. Forget about returning a combat weapon to a nation that disavowed ever using it again because they dishonored the "military tradition".

Rebuild your sword. Colors and paints are readily available. Your sword has little value..so restore it as best you can. Like refinishing an old Win 94 beater.

Try to restore it/ find someone to restore it if you can. Im sure the sword is begging to feel shiny again

In his book "Quartered Safe Out Here". George MacDonald Frazier talks about fighting against hand to hand with Japanese soldiers armed with swords in Burma.

Imagine being a civilian women or child at Nanking in 1937. Then, a bunch of people wielding these show up and r*p3 you and your family. Actually happened unlike your made up little fairy tale.

For amusement value, the reason the European armies stopped using swords was NOT (as often mis-stated) their obsolescence as weapons; it was that in WWI they marked the wielder as a bullet magnet -err, officer. But swords are actually quite a dangerous thing to go against in close combat. In those weird, uncommon, anecdotal ocasions where a modern gunfight develops into a modern swordfight (like the aforementioned Burma), the "oh shit" factor _certainly_ can NOT be overstated.

Not to mention he would screaming TENNO HAIKA BANZAI!!!! at the top of his lungs.

Its especially jarring because you've gotten no training to defend against that. Knives and bayonets for sure but what the fuck do you do against a sword?

I remember reading somewhere that the large-ish number of foldings that Japanese swordsmiths put their blades through was not to make the resulting steel a better quality than what the cultures of Europe and Middle-east had. It was done because Japanese iron ore was (is?) on average of inferior quality compared to what Europe and Middle-east have. So maybe they had to fold *some* extra times to weed out the impurities, but not too many times so as to avoid pockets or impurities between layers? I'm not a smith or a metallurgist, so any confirmation regarding Japanese iron ore quality and the ways they had to take it into account in the forging process would be appreciated.

@@GorgeousRandyFlamethrower- from what I understand (and I'm no expert myself) the folding was also to distribute the carbon content equally. What surprised me, was to find out some sword makers often laminated the blades with different types of steel (in addition to the folding etc.).

@@theoriginalmikaveli yes, they were blending hard steel (high carbon, sharp but brittle, used in razors) and soft steel (lower carbon, not sharp but resilient, used in hammers). This offset their limited capacity for iron on the islands of Japan throughout their premodern history, which also effected the use of swords in combat, they primarily used archery not swordsmanship in battle Even after industrialization, they had a limited capacity to produce iron/steel products and subsequently relied on other metals and even carpentry to realize modern production until ultimately invading other countries and stealing their resources, thus stimulating their war machine further

@@GorgeousRandyFlamethrower- In layman's termns (since you admit not being an expert), yes, that is more or less the situation. Is a simplification, but not TOO much of it. The Japanese even have a word (which I learned 30 years ago and forgot in my old age, gomen) for steel that has been folded too many times and is no longer good swordmaking material.

You fold it 20 times and you'll have 2^20 layers, which is more than a million

Well, the handle and guard can be removed.

They are meant to be taken apart. You just pop out the pin in the handle and pull it off.

Teardown parts: Screws, Suba, Blade,

there's no reason to take an NCO sword apart. There's nothing written on the sword tang, and you will likely never get it back together as tightly as original, so it will just rattle and be loose.

The US Military still uses swords, though for purely ceremonial purposes.

I'm not surprised. Plus these got a modern heat treat.

Here is a 1943 Newsreel of the 2nd Filipino Regiment. At the end of the video you will see them being issued their bolo swords. The two Regiments requested, and were allowed to undergo short sword training in lieu of the standard US Army bayonet training: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Imq6XDzjSIo.html

They must have been some fierce, motivated fighters!

The bolo is a mean tool. It's not even really a sword. More like if a bowie knife and a hatchet had a baby. All the weight is in the blade so it's ability to chop dense material requires little effort outside of maintaining blade alignment with the target.

@@Khan.WrathOf Some bolos are knives, some are utilitarian tools (machetes), and some are swords. It all depends on the length, weight and most importantly, the grind on the blade. Some grinds are optimized for cutting vegetation, others for flesh and some take a middle of the road approach. As for balance, there are MANY different styles of bolo blades. Point of balance will differ from style to style. If you watch the newsreel, notice the length of the blades, relative to the height and body size of the Soldiers. Most of those men appear to be between 5'3 and 5'8. For people of their size, those are definitely short swords.

@@zxggwrt Ferdinand Magellan, the explorer, met his demise on These fierce , sword wielding Filipino ancient warriors in 1521 a.d. He was literally chopped up.. recorded by his expedition chronicler who managed to escape the carnage.. leaving Magellan's body behind.

I can imagine a number of things that could cause PTSD in that period, I mean, the fact he brought back arms like these makes me feel he didn’t exactly have a desk job

@@jonathany1240 that's my thoughts exactly. we don't know much about him. the man was an Enigma. He did go to Yale, I've got his class ring. he was a very smart man, and his wife, my grandma was an Aerospace engineer and advanced mathematics teacher. I really wonder what he saw over there that would drive him to that. plus all the "booty" he brought back (as my late father so eloquently put it). everyone on that side of the family has passed, and as I was the only son, along with being basically adopted, I really didn't know much more than that. my father once suggested that he was stationed at Nagasaki. I've got a paper from the DOD saying he was there circa 1955. that still doesn't add up either. who knows? maybe he was an OSS agent. that would have been cool.

@@tankacebo9128 there was a lot of 'disciplining' carried out through the postwar period all the way into the 60s. Plenty of former soldiers and 'inspired' Yakuza were not happy with the American presence (for good reason too). Given that, and the tendency of Japanese police to turn their eyes away from authoritarian abuse of power (a lot of police do that, not just Japan).. It's never too surprising to hear of some abuses leading to 'procured material' leaving in the hands of civilians

There was some pretty horrific sexual violence during the occupation and it happened on quite the scale, if he were to have encountered or had to deal with that then it would make sense for him to be deeply affected, especially as very few perpetrators were ever brought to justice.

Tank ,thank you for your story. Sad that swords like these were more likely to be used against civilians or unarmed prisoners than in all but the most desperate of battles against Allied soldiers.

Cool

If you don't already, you should check out the Scholagladiatoria channel, it's a HEMA related channel but Matt, who runs the channel, is also an antique sword dealer and will of ten do reviews of his latest acquisitions or parts of his collection as well as modern reproductions.

@@Riceball01 Scholagladiatoria* (with a letter "g" not "b")

@@paleoph6168 nvm ... It sounds way more gory

A forgotten weapons scholagladiatoria collab would be absolutely amazing.

Do you have a source? I'm interested, though I don't think he's necessarily looking over their use, it's just that these blades while probably used for cramped fighting, were also a tool to kill prisoners / civilians.

@@gaymansupreme Wikipedia sais that twenty assaults were launched on a portion of the great Wall and the underequiped Chinese repelled those twenty assaults with swords

China is a much underappricated war, the phase leading up to the sinno Japanese war to. Read into the dogmeat General. What we would today define as a crackhead (in the way he acted, smoked a ton of opium instead of crack) who was actually a really good general with alot of crazy stories around him. It's also up for discussion if he produced the first Chinese tank in his realm. Its unclear if studdebacker just helped with the design and it was made locally or if studdebacker actually made it

@@MyILoveMinecraft Ian just published a book on Chinese pistols. It's a bit forgotten now but Japanese atrocities were a major influence in the US at the time.

They issued swords because they didn't have rifles. Frankly, I'm only surprised that they weren't spears.

@@FurnishedIgloo Thx for the heads up, didn't even noticed

Such is the nature of losing a war.

If one does not want to be destroyed, don't start a war.

It is not like modern japan is a freedom to own weaponry area...

destroyed or ''destroyed'' (this cutie is for daddy)

@Hunter6213 It is still a fascist country like most countrys,banning owning a piece of metal.

Really depends, the late war examples were said to have been made from mild steel.

Crucible steel isn't anything modern, think the oldest sword made from that material is from 6th century CE, and even the Norse had acces to that steel for a short period(probably before the trade route got closed of with Northern Iran in the 10th century CE), there is a documentary about the Norse swords, Ulfberth.

@@andreasfjellborg1810 Indeed it's not modern. It was invented probably in Southern India or Sri Lanka in the first centuries BC, and spread to the Middle East, from where ingots were traded as far as Northern Europe. They had a better quality iron ore down there, also containing some micro-elements such as tungsten and vanadium which gave it special properties. Crucible steel fully melts during manufacturing and has a predictable and uniform content of carbon and other elements, so it doesn't require pattern welding and repeated wrapping to for a good blade. But in East Asia that technology didn't spread for various reasons. The Japanese only had access to the tatara which is basically an open furnace that can't achieve very high temperatures and the iron is slowly carburated to steel over 3-5 days of slow burning. Then the resulting tamahagane, which is similar to bloomery steel is extracted, broken up, sorted and re-mixed to create a sword or other weapon or tool as I described above.

Japan was always out of touch with the outside world throughout known history, especially with Europe, so much so that "gun" meant copies of matchlocks brought to the country in late 15th century, until only few decades before WWI. It would not be a huge stretch to call a cutting edge 6th-10th century metallurgy a modern technology in that kind of context.

@@andreasfjellborg1810 Although if memory serves, any Norse blade actually made in Scandinavia also used pattern welding, because they were working with bog steel. Of course, an awful lot of their sword blades were made in Germany.

@@davydatwood3158 Pretty much everyone in the world did fold the steel/iron over and over, the Norse did pattern welding much from astetics too. wrought iron as a core with wolf tooh or some twisted pattern and steel on the edges. A sword back then was a status symbol, so why not make it pretty?. :)

That is the scenario I always envisioned while looking at the Type 95 I acquired from my grandfather(too old to serve in WW2, who got it from a younger USN captain friend...medical doctor... serving in the Pacific). I usually describe it to people as a GI helmet denter...given the complete lack of useful cutting edge.

Best part was he kept the dented helmet and sword with him through the rest of the battle (think it was Guadalcanal tho I could be wrong) The guy's name was USMC Captain Walter Stauffer McIlhenny btw if anyone was wondering

As far as I know samurai had to be right handed. There were probably left handed sword fighters back then but right handed was the norm every one hat to live by

Chrysanthemum with was a common motif in the army and navy regulation swords is the symbol of the Imperial house, if it was a cherry blossom then those are usually associated with the nation by the Japanese, a bit like how they think black eyes and black hair mark them out (it doesn't, it's literally the most common and widespread colours), when referring to the country it will inevitably be either with reference to being an eastern island or as the land of cherry blossoms.

@@vorynrosethorn903 Chrysanthenum and Sakura. That's what I was looking for. Thank you. Didn't the various noble houses also have their own emblems that were used in this way?

@@CaptApple yes,it depended from the clan though

@@CaptApple The chrysanthemum is the symbol of the emperor's family, displaying it, means more or less "honour to serve the emperor". AFAIK, the police still uses it. Also, the cast is called "目貫" (menuki), it helps adding grip to the handle and embellishes the sword.

Ya ever try #8 out on a chunk of meat? Or is that bad form?

@@PoundItNailIt With a Brush Hook, on a badly injured (punctured lung from a cat), stoat. Worked. Clean off in one blow.

As far as steel goes modern is far superior to any they did use when swords was standard equipment.

Also, there's this misconception that the number of "folds" is the amount if times it's been folded. Fold once = 2 layers. Fold twice = 4, fold thrice = 8. 16, 32, 64, 128, etc. When you hear someone say "This katana was folded 1000 times!" they really mean it was folded 10 times (1024 layers) Fold it more than... I think it's like 12 times or something? and the steel becomes really brittle and starts to delaminate.

Both sides used "sword and lance" horse mounted cavalry till the end, you can see / find soviet produced "shashka" sabers produced in 1940, 1945, etc

The Marine Corps also still has a officers and nco sword the officers sword pattern traces its lineage all the way back to the battle of Tripoli

Tradition is often underestimated in decision making. The Marines ordered officers and NCOs to carry the m4 instead of a handgun to fit the tradition of every marine being a rifleman.

hey that's interesting

Also the Katana, as with most short or mid length swords, was alwyas a secondary weapon. A last defense on the Battlefield and a daily carry in peace.

The Type 95 is an interesting model, as the real thing looks like a knock off.

Collab with scholagladitoria

Imagine him reviewing a Caveman club

Matt Easton of Scholagladiatoria has a video on the kyu-gunto ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Pz-YSuC7oHY.html

" these sorts of things are often approached too lightly in our society." What do you mean?

@@vampirecount3880 Too lightly as in "Oh wow these swords are so cool, this is so much better than [this] specific sword! I couldnt care less where this is from, how it was made, why this was made, but this is perfect example of Japanese craftmanship!!"

@@DrSabot-A Sometimes a cool sword is just a cool sword. Not everything needs to devolve into some socio-economical tirade.

@@CThyran Yes, a sword is just a sword

Facts

Yea, more like "Forgotten which weapons this channel is about"

New-manufacture blades can be bought in Japan -- there's a little shop in a town I visit (when I can) near Hiroshima that has been owned by a family of bladesmiths for about a hundred years or so. Their window display includes new-manufacture swords, fitted with simple wooden hilts as the purchaser will probably fit them with more elaborate hilts and furniture after purchase. Prices start at about 25 man yen (ca. 2500 dollars US) and go rapidly upwards for katanas and short-sword taichis are not much cheaper.

@@robertsneddon731Simple wooden "hilt" is a Shira saya the "proper" way to store blades. 25 will buy a pretty nice antique, looked at a rather ordinary wak in a very cool ebi (shrimp) themed saya in Ginza. Missed out on a VG slight touch up polish needed Kai hei gunto by 2.5 sold for 30. Interesting 30-50 'entry level' blades moves pretty fast. Got a friend trying to unload a very nice custom shinto from a famous smith that he's got 1000 into... not having much luck. The super high-end unexportable juyo or cultural asset level stuff usually only trades behind closed doors. I'm currently hunting for a Naval dirk.

A handful of 95s are papered in Japan. They shouldn't technically be, but they exist. And of course sell at a premium.

Skulgrim or shadoversity would be a great idea

@@bigblockman11 Skall would be fun since he likes guns, too.

@@Dover78 he does? He doesn't seems to show much, but than again maybe it's the regulations?

@@bigblockman11 Yeah, he hasn't done much gun content on his channel but it is there. Mostly 4+ years ago.