[deleted]

Comments

• dodgy_bagel@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Look man, why don’t we talk about spears across cultures?

  It’s a weapon of the people and FAR more useful.

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  • TrundleTheGreat@slrpnk.net ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Swordsman: Noooooo!! You can’t just poke me from all the way over there! No fair!!

    Pikeman: Haha 20 foot pole go brrrr

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  • meyotch@slrpnk.net ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    I keep a pitchfork handy as a wall decoration but I live in an apartment. It is my reminder of the need to fight back in the class war.

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    • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      I live in a house in San Diego. I have a pitchfork, easiest way to spread mulch.

      The crossbow is for defense.

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  • whofearsthenight@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Kaladin?

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    • Kernal64@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      BRIDGE SIX!

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    • Blyfh@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      The Church of the Survivor?

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  • JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Swords look cooler. Almost no one used a sword on the battle field throughout history. Everyone used pole arms of some sort. But swords seem cool, so get much more attention.

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• _haha_oh_wow_@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Historically accurate shitpost

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  • dudinax@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Manga-order accurate shitpost

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• Th4tGuyII@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Exactly. Their swords had to be well-honed simply because they would break otherwise, because the ore they were using was absolute shite.

  These weren't God slaying weapons, heck even after all that labour, they'd still struggle against just about any slash resistant armour. Basically any swordsmith from a country with actually decent ore could trounce these swords with ease.

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  • BruceTwarzen@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Imagine how happy they would've been to just heat up some spring steel and hammer on it for a bit and make a better blade with a fraction of the effort.
    You still have to admire the craftsmanship and the length they went or still go.

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    • Th4tGuyII@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Yeah. When you really think about it, Europe really did start on easy mode in that regard. Continent was chock full of good quality, easily accessible ore of all kinds.

      Meanwhile, Japan had to fight tooth and nail just to get any workable metal. If I remember correctly, most of their "ore" was from iron-rich sand.

      As they say, necessity is the mother of all invention. If you need extremely high quality craftsmen just to make a half-decent weapon, that's what you'll get (as long as money is no object).

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• Diprount_Tomato@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Tbh it’s surprising that Japan is as strong as it is with the shitty spawnpoint they had (basically no or shitty resources)

  In a way, it’s kind of like bri’ain, innit?

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  • Tar_alcaran@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Honestly though, they were kinda shit for most of their history. Japan didn’t really become a major world player until after the late 19th century, when they realised just how far behind they were.

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    • Diprount_Tomato@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Well, they had their presence in the late 16th-early 17th century

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    • DerKanzler@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Japan basically got the chance to be something bc Qing Dynasty refused to work with Imperialists colonists. The americans and portugues would have loved to be on China instead of the shitty Japan. Even thailand would have been mlre interesting to colonialists.

      A major mistake that haunts the entire region to this day.

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  • EphemeralSun@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    There’s this whole anthropological theory that people’s from regions that have less resources resort to pillaging as means to survive; after many generations they become so good at it that they just simply continued to do it.

    On the flip side, you have countries that have it all, in particular Asian and American countries, that never developed such a need because resources were abundant.

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    • Diprount_Tomato@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Oh shit, it’s the “hard times create strong men” thing

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  • CapeWearingAeroplane@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    I think you’re missing a bit here: The Japanese were historically hunter-gatherer societies far longer than their mainland neighbours. The reason appears to be a large abundance of food and resources, to the point that the Japanese hunter-gatherer societies are believed to be some of (if not the) only hunter-gatherer societies that formed year-round stationary settlements, because they had enough resources to not be reliant on wandering, as other, nomadic societies had to.

    Historians believe that the Japanese only converted to agriculture once rice strains and agricultural methods that were suitable for their climate had been developed in Korea for over a thousand years, because thats how long it took to make agriculture able to compete against the hunter-gatherer lifestyle in Japan, due to the vast amount of resources.

    Source: Guns, Germs and Steel (Jared Diamond)

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    • PersnickityPenguin@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      That’s not saying much considering that their neighbors included the Chinese, which had the oldest history of farming in the world. The Loess plateau was farmed 10,000 years ago!

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    • Diprount_Tomato@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Was this before or after the yayoi period?

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  • EmoDuck@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    They’re min-maxing for an island nation playstyle. High focus of fishery, invasion defense +10, special perks to survive natural disasters…

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• zephr_c@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  I mean, arguing over the best sword is a silly thing to do anyway. Swords are sidearms. People carried them around in case their actual useful weapon broke, or for some reason they ended up fighting in a melee unexpectedly. Could be you were ambushed, could be you’re an archer that got caught in the fighting. Point is, if you’re in a sword fight something has already gone very wrong. Spending a bunch of money on a fancy high quality sword is a thing only rich people did, not soldiers, which is why fancy swords became associated with status in the first place.

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  • RobertOwnageJunior@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Too many One Piece fans are going to get shot in the stomach by crossbows if we ever go back in time. Just running in with Katanas in their mouth.

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    • Quill7513@slrpnk.net ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Responding the muskets with punching

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  • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    well swords were also used for personal defence, i would argue that’s the main use-case historically.

    A short sword and a buckler hung on your belt is very portable and extremely useful to have if you need to suddenly defend yourself while out on a road. Compare this to a polearm, which while better at keeping the nasty man away so he can’t poke you with his sharp stick, is also a big clunky thing that you have to lug around.

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    • zephr_c@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      That’s one of the things I meant by ending up in a melee unexpectedly. Presumably most people aren’t going around doing things they know will end up with them needing a weapon for self defense. It happens, but it’s not usually plan A. You are right though. That was a reason to have a sword. The theme is that swords were good when you needed something you could carry without it getting too much in the way. That’s what they’re good for. If you expected to be fighting you’d bring something better.

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    • uniqueid198x@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Swords were a personal defense status symbol. They were fairly expensive, required training, and were often legally restricted deoending when and where we are talking about. This is why they continue to have sich mystique.

      Most peope who needed self defense used a stick

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  • Spendrill@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    if you’re in a sword fight something has already gone very wrong

    That’s always my first thought.

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  • UnknownQuantity@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Oh my g.o.d! Do you think a swordsman main weapon was a bazooka? I’m not an expert on Japan, but in Europe the side arm was a dagger, which was very commonly used alongside with certain types of swords such as rapiers. Arches did not carry swords at all, though they could have had knives. A sword was a nobleman’s weapon and a peasant would forfeit their life if in possession of one (archers included). The same applied I Japan.

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    • zephr_c@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Depends on the place and time. Everything before the invention of modern firearms didn’t all have the same rules and norms. Spears are just a dramatically better battlefield weapon than swords though, while also being cheaper, and bows are better than spears. There were times and places where it was illegal for most peasants to own a sword, and it did even occasionally happen that they were levied without being allowed to carry one, but that was pretty rare. In fact, in some places men were required by law to own one in case they were levied. By the time swords were widely outlawed professional armies and mercenaries were starting to be more common, and those were absolutely allowed to have swords.

      It did happen more in Japan, but even a halfway functional sword was crazy expensive in Japan. Their iron just isn’t good for making cheap swords.

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• Agamemnon@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Ah… the endless plight of the Katanaplonkers…

  Listen: The more you defend the Katana, the more fun it is to troll you by pretending anyone actually cares.

  It’s a sharp metal stick, alright. Stick 'em with the pointy end.

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  • DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    BUT IT’S PRIMARILY A SLASHING WEAPON REEEEEEE

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  • ICastFist@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Stick 'em with the pointy end.

    Instructions unclear, got my dick stuck in the pointy end

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    • _haha_oh_wow_@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      In?

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    • Agamemnon@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      (User named ‘pointy_end’ enters the chat)

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• Chickenstalker@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  That’s it. I’m sick of all this “Masterwork Bastard Sword” bullshit that’s going on in the d20 system right now. Katanas deserve much better than that. Much, much better than that. I should know what I’m talking about. I myself commissioned a genuine katana in Japan for 2,400,000 Yen (that’s about $20,000) and have been practicing with it for almost 2 years now. I can even cut slabs of solid steel with my katana. Japanese smiths spend years working on a single katana and fold it up to a million times to produce the finest blades known to mankind. Katanas are thrice as sharp as European swords and thrice as hard for that matter too. Anything a longsword can cut through, a katana can cut through better. I’m pretty sure a katana could easily bisect a knight wearing full plate with a simple vertical slash. Ever wonder why medieval Europe never bothered conquering Japan? That’s right, they were too scared to fight the disciplined Samurai and their katanas of destruction. Even in World War II, American soldiers targeted the men with the katanas first because their killing power was feared and respected. So what am I saying? Katanas are simply the best sword that the world has ever seen, and thus, require better stats in the d20 system. Here is the stat block I propose for Katanas: (One-Handed Exotic Weapon) 1d12 Damage 19-20 x4 Crit +2 to hit and damage Counts as Masterwork (Two-Handed Exotic Weapon) 2d10 Damage 17-20 x4 Crit +5 to hit and damage Counts as Masterwork Now that seems a lot more representative of the cutting power of Katanas in real life, don’t you think? tl;dr = Katanas need to do more damage in d20, see my new stat block.

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  • adolf_hitler@reddthat.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    thrice

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    • moog@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      lmao ur names just hitler

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    • Harrison@ttrpg.network ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      It means three times

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  • somegeek@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    This is the most virgin thing I’ve read this week😂😂

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  • FringeTheory999@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    I honestly can’t tell if you’re trolling. because this is the dumbest thing I’ve read on the internet so far today. It’s just a longish saber my dude. It’s not made of fairy magic. They weren’t even the finest blades to exist at the time that they existed.

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    • luciferofastora@discuss.online ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      It’s a copypasta, I’ve seen it on reddit before. I’m not sure if the original poster of that pasta was trolling too, but this one most definitely is making fun of them.

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• CheeseToastie@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  They’re like the revolvers of swords

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  • eestileib@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Revolvers just feel so much more satisfying to shoot than an auto (at least for me).

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    • Cybersteel@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      This reload time is exhilarating ! ! ! Reloading like this…ITS A REVOLUTION!!!

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• uniqueid198x@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  The average croissant has more foldshthan the average katana

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• TomMasz@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Japanese swords: Surprisingly good, considering.

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• Scytale@feddit.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Welcome to the rabbit hole oft YT Creator Shadiversity. He also hates nunchucks with passion and loves sticks.

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  • NotYourSocialWorker@feddit.nu ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Yes! Sticks are the best. Nunchucks are just broken sticks with string.

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    • Tangent5280@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Poorly repaired broken sticks.

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• HellAwaits@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  God, weebs are so dumb and annoying. I love the East, but Japan is backwards in a lot of ways. I mean, every country is, but weebs act like Japan is somehow far above the rest in every conceivable way.

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  • meyotch@slrpnk.net ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    When I went to live in Japan for a year on a fellowship, I was intensely scrutinized for a bit until they were sure I wasn’t a weeb. Only then was I more welcomed socially. For some reason, people don’t like being fetishized. Who knew?

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• DD666@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  source - novepeak.com/the-folding-of-japanese-swords-turni…

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• AI_toothbrush@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Ok tbf katanas are cool but so are longswords and axes.

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• Hazdaz@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  What? No mention of Damascus steel?

  That probably deserves its own thread.

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• Default_Defect@midwest.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  I don’t know shit about metallurgy, but if they had better iron and still folded it 1000 times, would glorious Nippon steel be even more glorious?

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  • VonCesaw@lemmy.world [bot] ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    There is no practical benefit to folding regular steel

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    • Default_Defect@midwest.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Does it help remove impurities or something? I should try to read about this later.

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  • kommerzbert@feddit.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    I once read that folding regular “good” steel is actually decreasing it’s quality because you start hammering out the carbon (?).

    Take this with a grain of salt though, I can’t remember the source. Would be nice if someone with actual knowledge in metallurgy could confirm this

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• FlyingSquid@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  I wonder how an authentically-made katana would do against an authentically-made Damascus steel sword?

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  • Kes@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    A decent portion of Japanese sword fighting techniques revolve around how to not break your sword in half while using it. That’s not a concern with Damascus steel swords

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  • Little8Lost@feddit.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    The katana bends and gets like unusable (the soft back only makes it more bendable) while a normal eurobean sword would maybe have a stratch on the edges.
    At least i think it was like this when i saw a documentary a while ago where they fixated the swords at a table and swinged with power on the other, with the fixated katana i itnk booth had a defect in on the cutting edge but weh the eurobean smord was fixated the katana had enough room to bend

    So yea the soft “whoa it is more flexible and agile” part is the weak point

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    • DerKanzler@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Just saying that damascus swords are middle eastern. Chinese steel were insanely good too. They had steel and chrome centuries and millenia earlier than others.

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• nxfsi@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Everyone* folded their steel from a bloomery furnace prior to the Bessemer process

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• afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Things no one has ever said.

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  • JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    You’ve never heard an argument why the catana is superior?

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