The Longsword vs The Katana which one is better? Part 1.5

in #history8 years ago

This is a small post meant to fill in one of the blanks that i somehow missed lol. this is just gonna be about the  size and weight of each sword. This post is a follow up to part one so if you haven't read it i'd suggest you do.

https://steemit.com/martialarts/@mrpsykick/the-longsword-vs-the-katana-which-one-is-better-part-1



The Longsword has a handle of about 11 to 15 inches and a blade length of 33 to 43 inches and they weigh about 2.5 lbs to 8.0 lbs with most averaging 3.0 lbs. Note that for the Longsword the lower measurements are actually for lighter variants that can sometimes be one-handed while the higher measurements are for the bigger more Montante or Zweihander like Longswords that almost always need to be two-handed examples as shown below. 


this right here is a Longsword that's on the smaller end with a blade length of 35 inches and a handle length of 10 inches and weighs 3.0 lbs. swords like the one shown above are more like the ones you'd find on foot soldiers due to their lighter weight and smaller size they could be used with off hand weapons like parrying daggers or even some small shields or bucklers.

while the Longsword shown below is 55 inches in total with a blade length of 40 inches a handle length of 15 inches and a weight of 7.0 lbs. though this sword shown below is more on the ceremonial side and it wasn't as commonly seen in combat by your average foot soldier.



The Katana on the other hand has a handle length of 10 to 13 inches and a blade length of 28 to 31 inches and they weigh about 2.0 lbs to 4.0 lbs though the average were 4.0 lbs while only a few were 2.0 lbs. Note unlike the Longsword most Katana's were wield able in one hand and because of this samurai were able to use off hand weapons like Wakazashi's (Short Swords) Tanto's (Daggers) Manriki-Kusari's (Chain weapons with  weighted ends) and sometimes even another Katana. Musashi Miyamoto the founder of Kenjutsu or Traditional Japanese swordsmanship would use both his Katana and Wakazashi at the same time and even developed techniques that involved throwing his Wakazashi at his enemy's to damage or stun them while he moves in for the killing blow.


here is an example of an Katana that weighs 4.0 lbs with a total length of 40 inches with a 28 inch blade and 12 inch handle. One thing to note is that while 2.0 lbs is the lightest and 4.0 lbs is the heaviest most fall into the 4.0 lbs basket.

    


this sword below is a Wakazashi i'm putting this here just to show the difference now while at first glance they may look the same the Wakazashi is much shorter and made to only be one-handed with an light one weighing 1.5 lbs and heavy one weighing 2.5 lbs the sword itself is about 32 to 36 inches in total with a blade length of 26 to 28 and a handle length of 6 to 8 inches.  


So in the contest of which sword has more weight and size the longer Longswords like the Montante's or         Zweihanders win. But when comparing the average Katana to the average to the average Longsword the Katana has more weight but the Longsword has more range meaning the Katana can have more force behind its strikes and stabs while the Longsword can have more range behind its strikes and stabs giving the each its own distinct advantage. So to sum it up the Longsword on average has more range then the Katana while the Katana on average has more weight behind it and the extra long Longswords have both more weight and length behind them giving both range and power at the cost of being very hard to use effectively without a lot of strength.


Thank you for reading i apologize for not including this into part one i will try to be more thoughtful in the   future. 

  



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I love swords and I like both of these hard to pick the weapon of choice. upvoted

Thanks honestly i have the same problem and that's kind of why i started this.

Always fascinated by swords.

You should consider including a source for your images. Including a source not only gives credit to who made the images but shows you put time and effort into making your post. This may make people more likely to vote on it.

If images are Public Domain or CC0 you could just indicate that at the end of your post. All photos are Public Domain for example.

Finding the original source isn't necessary. A link to where you found it will do.

thanks for the info i'm actually still trying to find the source of some of these images i'm going to include all sources from now on.

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