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Samurai questions answered
Firstly some often repeated questions and then some specific ones read on.
Q: Someone told me a Japanese sword is folded a million times is this true?
A: No it is not a Japanese sword could be folded from 10 to 20 times this could make any thing from 20 to 35 thousand layers. Much more folding will make the blade to hard and brittle and therefore very easy to break
Q: Which is better the samurai or the European Knight?
A: Yes you can find both European and Japanese sword makers who have the ability to make a good folded blade but boy it will cost you a good couple of thousand pounds. If you find some one selling a so-called traditional made folded sword for less I would be very careful!
Q: Which is better the samurai or the European Knight?
A: There are hundreds of theories on this. So here is my opinion. Firstly it never happened. But if it had then it would depend not on the armour or style of fighting but rather on the individual warriors themselves. So there own individual skill and commitment would decide who would win. So different combination of fighters would get different results.
Q: Since the film body guard a few years ago when Kevin Costner cuts a silk scarf by dropping the scarf in mid air over the blade I am often asked if this is possible
A : No defiantly not is the short answer. If you buy into this then you need to separate the myth of the blade from the fact. You will notice in the book I refer to the legends and give them a separate heading because they are interesting and hold the essence of truth but are not fact.
Q: Some one told me that the swords smiths forged during the night because it was better to see the hamon or over features
A: No definitely not true no work would be done at night due to poor light and possible chance of injury
Q: What’s the deal with the straight ninja blades
A: This is a movie/ TV thing most ninja swords are curved. I refer you to page 34 of history and traditions by the 34-grandmaster Hatsumi sensei look at the picture there. The ninja used a whole variety of swords depend on which century you are looking at. They often used shorter swords (they also often used katana’s) they
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