TooMuchBaijiu wrote:I think it makes sense. European men-at-arms walked around with those enormous zweihanders and claymores for a reason-what else was going to penetrate iron plate? The Japanese were more about speed, and the katana was designed for a warrior to draw his weapon quickly and make rapid slashes. The same applies for the scimitar, except the Arabs designed it primarily as a cavalry weapon. The Chinese used both. The Dao is curved, whereas the Jian is straight. However, the Dao was more commonly wielded by the rank-and-file due to the difficulty involved in learning how to wield the Jian, though I understand the latter was a more effective weapon in the hands of a skilled warrior/martial artist.
Here's the thing, though-when the Europeans and Arabs fought each other with their respective weapons, how did either side attempt to adapt?
^ This.
The Japanese were living in an environment where metal was very scarce; armour was made from lacquered leather and usually wouldn't survive more than one direct hit from a
katana or a
wakizashi - though it would give the wearer a second shot at survival. As a result, sabres were the mark of a nobility which could afford the amount of metal ore needed to make one, and were wielded by the least-expendable troops. (The rest had to make do with spears - if they were lucky - or farm implements if they weren't.) Japanese swordsmanship, also (劍道, or
kendou) focusses on long strides and powerful forward and downward sweeps.
Those forms of 'hard' Chinese martial arts focusing on the sabre are likewise simple, straightforward, and focussed on long strides and powerful sweeps... but sabre use is fairly easy to learn. I practiced a form of 苗刀術
miaodaoshu when I was in college; it didn't require that many special techniques that varied overmuch from bare-handed
wushu. I believe the Chinese expression is 百日練刀、千日練槍、萬日練劍 (practice 100 days with the sabre, 1000 days with the spear and 10000 days with the [two-edged] sword)... and yes, it was generally regarded in the Qing and Republican eras as the weapon you could put in the hands of your run-of-the-mill grunt before you toss him onto the battlefield two days later.