Katanas are also a relatively new japanese tradition, since they
focused more on archery (until muskets displaced those)
had inferior iron, which is why they had to fold it 100 million times, which made the steel ultra brittle (which is why the orientation of the blade is so important in kendo)
Fun fact Japan kept trying to conquer Korea specifically to get their Iron deposits. Japanese Iron is pretty shit comparable to Iron used for nails, which is also why Japanese steel was created it was to compensate for shitty iron.
Also as you noted Japanese sword focused martial arts is notably different from everyone else in its focus to avoid certain strikes so as to not destroy or ruin the blade. Meanwhile in Europe, the middle east, and China for example there were multiple forms of sword martial arts focused on specifically cleaving through bone.
Japanese sword focused martial arts is notably different from everyone else in its focus to avoid certain strikes so as to not destroy or ruin the blade
There’s a reason european swords have a crossguard and Katanas don’t. ;)
Katanas are also a relatively new japanese tradition, since they
Fun fact Japan kept trying to conquer Korea specifically to get their Iron deposits. Japanese Iron is pretty shit comparable to Iron used for nails, which is also why Japanese steel was created it was to compensate for shitty iron.
Also as you noted Japanese sword focused martial arts is notably different from everyone else in its focus to avoid certain strikes so as to not destroy or ruin the blade. Meanwhile in Europe, the middle east, and China for example there were multiple forms of sword martial arts focused on specifically cleaving through bone.
There’s a reason european swords have a crossguard and Katanas don’t. ;)