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I'm actually impressed at the research here. If you ask me, the fact that he's being pedantic is a GOOD sign. It means he's not having to correct major issues.
There are some points he goes into abit more. But most of it is indeed pedantic. Still appreciate stuff like that because often the small things do matter.
I know right? Even long two handed spears/pikes could be used with strapped shields like the shields used by Macedonian pikemen, some ancient & medieval Chinese cavalry and pikemen, and some Rennisance era pikemen.
As someone who identifies as a 16th century Japanese soldier, I once leaned into a strike when dodging was an option. My opponent didn't have a kanabo so I thought it was totally safe, but man was my head severe afterwards.
If you look at the Battle of Hastings the Norman cavalry couldn't break the Saxon shield wall. Until they lured them into breaking the shield wall to attack an assumed broken enemy. So it was discipline in the case of the infantry but not always by causing them to run.
@@sp1ashy345 it's one of those "take it with a fistful of salt" info channels, there's good info there but as always be skeptical of everything they say
Japanese hand-held shields are from the Yayoi period through the Kofun until the Asuka period. Near the end of that long stretch those long standing shields (looking like a house door) were introduced and the hand-held types fell out of use; likely due to the dominance of massed archery.
Bows were only really finally phased out of armies when full-scale industrial production of simple-to-use firearms became viable. It took a lifetime to train and discipline veteran archers, but you could stick a firearm in the hands of any peasant, mass them into huge blocks, and unleash devastating firepower with barely any training at all.
Try a European crossbow of around 1,200lb draw you need a windlass to pull it's not much faster, which is probably why 2 different cultures came up with the same tactic to use them on the battlefield 🤔 I love seeing how alike people are regardless of their differences 🙂
I head to go back, because I misheard "usually used by the Samurai class" as "used in my Samurai class", and was severly confused, because my head immediately went to the mental image of a Professor entering class in a full suit of armor to get the students attention.
The first thing I think of when someone mentions Samurai armor (especially old-school O-Yoroi like mine) isn't the mask (mempo) or helmet (kabuto), but the *shoulder pauldrons* (o-sode), because they *ARE* your shield(s), which is why they're so huge and square 🙏🙇♂☸
The pauldrons are third to my mind, right after the katana and the helmet/mask (as I mentioned elsewhere, I kind of think of them together). I've always loved big pauldrons, and o-sode are the largest pauldrons I can think of historically...
I think of the hair, kimono and paired swords mainly because the most prominent images we've had of the Samurai class are from the Edo Period and those are the things that were by law specific to their class. It's a common mistake to call the older iterations of Japanese warrior "Samurai" they were called "Bushi" and the Edo Period romanticised image of them wasn't anything like the genuine article. I'm a pragmatist I can't stand the we are Samurai we're so honourable thing it makes me cringe. The earlier iterations would be the 1st ones to hit you in the back or go up your kimono to find a soft spot 😄
helmet and mask for me tbh, and a polearm more than the katana. when i hear katana i think more of a dude in a kimono with a samurai knot haircut, meaning i guess subconsciously ive always known its a backup weapon considering they might be samurai, but theyre not geared up, and not "in battle" more of duels.
Metatron, Raffaello, my friend! I need a favour from you. I am subscribed to a certain yt channel, that has mentioned a comparison between ancient Greeks and Romans where that youtuber claims that unlike the Greeks, the Romans didn't care about body building and left that to slaves and gladiators. But, I am certain I have heared somewhere that there were gymnasiums within public baths which tells me that Romans did care about building their bodies! Can you please cover and clarify the topic on Romans and bodybuilding? (Also, i am certain there is a difference in mindset between "pagan"Romans and Christian Romans). This youtuber is not a historian, it was mentioned in one sentence not related to my question so this is not a critique on the youtubers behalf. Roma Invicta!
Which time period, which social class... ? A lot of the upper class Romans of the early republic sent their children to Athens for education. It'd be very weird if they didn't pick up a couple of habits there.
i may be wrong but did not the roman admire well built statues, venus, and so on. Roman admire a well muscular body. practically worship it. Be weird that most citizen did not wish to be compare to these god like statue.
@@Marveryn could be, i just don't know, the premise was that bodybuilding fell out of favour with Romans (most likely when the majority became Christian) and came back in late 19th century
I’m glad you asked that question. I hope The Metatron does cover it. I’ll be interested in his response. I don’t know much about Ancient Greek and Roman history but I find it interesting.
Also, the point about the "padding" being used for suspension as well is best exemplified in modern construction hats. They don't have any padding whatsoever, but they have a suspension system of leather or other material. And, you know, a hardhat is meant to provide quite the significant shock absorption when a brick or something else falls on your head. And I'm not sure they'd be as effective if they were just a layer of cotton on the inside of the hardhat.
It paints a pretty picture when something hits you in the hardhat, I caught some low hanging construction work last week and the hat's fine and it only drew a little blood underneath. Still hurt and I felt like I was back in my teens but my skull's still intact 😄
But is the suspension system actually better? I suspect that a foam lined hard hat would probably be more protective. Its a trade off between a little less protection and workers not overheating with no airflow
@@jameswilson4854 I don't know whether it's better or not. I was just giving it as an example of a helmet without padding. There must be a reason, though, that they didn't put any padding in.
Truth about using anything to strike an opponent. I was a correctional officer for many years and despite having a steel expandable baton on our hips and pepper spray there were numerous incidents where an officer happened to have their handheld radio in their hand or on a desk nearby and used it as a weapon because it was the quickest option in that particular instance.
The first thing I think about samurai is the helmet and armour because it's such a unique armour. Even their neighbours Korea and China wore different unique sets of armour. Then there's most of Europe with their armour. Honestly I wouldn't know what nation the knight belongs to if they didn't have their heraldry.
That's somewhat of a over generalization. Armor making techniques weren't developed everywhere at once. Historically there would have been significant periods where you could have told where a knight was from based on the style and/or materials of their armor.
Countering Cavalry is done quite effectively by a Pike Square, which is a formation similar to the Tortoise, but with the soldiers in the center wielding very long spears or "pikes" The shield bearers at the edges would be blocking ranged attacks, and any horseman foolish enough to charge them would quickly become a pincussion.
Something I hate about that channel is that they repost previously published content because they need to make money at all costs. In fact, I once wrote a comment about Adolf H in one of their videos that earned me thousands of likes, but such an achievement disappeared because the channel managers couldn't think of a better option than to delete the video and republish it many months later. What a waste 🤦♂️
Used to bear a (tall polycarbonate) shield in my time as a riot cop. Heck. I loved it. Shield formations are indeed a system. Half of our staying power (ability to advance under attack too) came merely from having shields and helmets and being trained, motivated and disciplined with them. Forming up took mere seconds in optimal conditions and maybe just twice as much in combat. Also, offensive capabilities of shields are often undeprapreciated. A good shield bash coming from a trained bloke with his back against a platoon of other blokes sends ya flying. tl;dr shields fucking rock in the right context
Shield bash is great thing. I'm not sure if you can hit with the edge of police riot shield, but you can definitely do it with medieval shield and it is absolutely devastating (if you have a shield made for that, they are usually bit heavier). It is not for everyone, but if it suits your style, it is pretty good trick.
For me, the construction style and overall look It's the first thing that comes to my mind when thinking of Japanese armor. Someone else said pauldrons, which is high up for me on the component level. Granted, I had a cool Ronin Warriors figurine in the 90s. But oddly enough, even though I love the helmet/Kabuto, I don't /think/ it's the first or even second in my mind.
Seems like an overall decent video, even if it has a bunch of (I would argue somewhat minor in the grand scheme) inaccuracies. Have to consider that that is a channel that outputs a lot of stuff, for better or worse. Would also say they make it clear enough that shields didn't disappear, just that they started to become less common.
Yeah, far from the worst we've had. A couple glaring issues, a good number of corrections and quite a few nitpicks, but far above most history content mills
Been loving the recent Japanese focused videos, been playing Ghost of Tsushima and loving it a ton! I know the game isn't historically accurate, it's more of an homage to Akira Kurosawa's film making just using a real Mongol invasion as a canvas for the story. it would be cool to see you do a video on Ghost of Tsushima if you haven't already.
When the video shows two guandao when its first starts talking about naginata and comparing it to a glaive, you know the video is gonna have some shortcomings.
I was just about to say that "riveted" shields must work the same way as "studded" armour. There's actually a really interesting video on youtube of Kyujutsu from the 1930s showing men in japanese armour doing archery drills and you can see that they position themselves to gain the maximum protection from their armour, pulling their left arm across the body so the Sode close the arm opening as they draw a new arrow. And also kneeling and a prone position, they're also doing a bounding overwatch fire-and-advance. Really interesting and very different to kyudo, partly because they're shouting the whole time.
Yeah, if I was being generous, I'd say this. Akin to say "Heavy Cavalry" vs. "Light Cavalry". Something perceived as being for full battle by, well, heavy infantry vs. Perhaps a lighter shield for other roles or other combatants.
In large-scale battles during the medieval period in Japan, swords were rarely used. In melee combat, the spear is used exclusively to attack the enemy with blows, and when the opponent falls down, the spear is used to finish him off with a thrust. Swords were mostly treated as auxiliary weapons, but in the case of a contact combat, daggers were easier to handle, so few soldiers carried swords on the battlefield. Since two-handed weapons are the main weapons used in battle, there is no room for portable shields. Shields are mainly large shields that can be installed to protect against arrows and bullets.
Since two-handed weapons are the main weapons used in battle, there is no room for portable shields. Not always true, its possible to use a shield like armor if its hangs over one shoulder when its used with a 2 handed weapon! I think i have hypothesis about the samurai i think sword became more importent when firearms where used , when they are out of ammo!
Its funny how the ashigaru was animated firing the arquebus in 44:25, Ian McCollum of Forgotten Weapons recently made a video on the Tanegashina Arquebus, and he shows the correct way of holding
I always appreciate your content. I cannot recall a time I have disagreed with you, Which I'm sure , so knowing you breathed out a sigh of relief... :)
I'm interested. Make the video! Also, this is a thorough and fair reaction. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and learned quite a few things I had not known before.
Japanese bows and arrows were so powerful that they could penetrate shields, so thick shields or bundles of bamboo were needed to block Japanese arrows. Japanese bows are large and have strong stringing power. Since the tip of the arrow shaft is filled with steel, it has a large mass, and the feathers of the arrow are attached diagonally. This arrow had a heavy mass and flew at high speed while rotating, so it was able to penetrate hard wooden shields and iron plates. The arrow could not be blocked by a shield because it penetrated three pieces of 9mm thick wood. For this reason, samurai armor was made of overlapping iron plates. A 13th century painting depicts his Mongol soldiers being shot behind their shields.
Just like the English longbow, which a trained archer could fire through armor at the distances involved. That truly takes a spectacular strength, and was certainly one displayed to the fullest extent at Crecy (can't be bothered to get the accent characters).
Japan is somewhat shield light in part because of the terrain. It tends to be either forested or irregular. In many settings you have a lot of cover already.
@@DinnerForkTongue When the Spanish encountered the headhunters of the north and the moros of the south, they where shocked because the indigenous warrior's weapons where tough and went toe to toe with their western swords. We have rich iron ore deposits here. Plus the indigenous warriors used thick shields with protrusions like a fork to catch blades. Kinda like if you put a bread knife in between a fork then you twist it, it catches it and bites into the fork.
@@caliburnblade7895 exactly, same with most countries in southeast asia, Vietnam for example had lots of thick vegestation and mountainous areas, and the soldiers used large shields. From the historical depictions, unarmoured militia usually carry large shields. The well armoured troops, the imperial gaurds don't carry shields but prefer long two handed maces and long swords. Large shields were used even till the 18th century.
@@Yes-gu2wn certainly could be anything, including survivors bias, but makes sense regardless. And is backed up by the results of a lot of military conflicts.
When I think of samurai, I definitely do think of the katana and the helmet with some decorative piece on it, but I also think of those big rectangular shoulder pads. Very interesting and distinctive feature that is different from other shoulder armor
Making the armor stronger on the left side for right handed person was exactly because he is supposed to use a shield. This is exactly the opposite of what they say. As you said, the left side is the one you will offer to your opponent. But you will do that because your shield is on your left side. If you are right handed and carry no shield offering your left side makes no sense. It makes you more vulnerable and it decreases your range. If you carry no shield and are right handed you will fight with your right side to the front.
Most people don’t understand that most sword users are cavalry. Spear got lost on the first charge. Most countries “touched” by Mongol end up training and using only a combination of sword spear bow or guns.
Regarding the "leaning into the blow" thing, its value is that if you intercept a blow before the completion of its impact arc, you will greatly reduce the force with which it hit. I wouldn't recommend doing it with your head during an armed fight, but in reality in martial arts most of the block should “lean” or anticipate the blow they defend to reduce force of impact, and there is even a technique in which you intercept a punch with your forehead before it can develop its full power. clearly timing is key.
Best defense against cavalry is taking away their advantage (well, this can be said about any unit). Cavalry is fast and can strike from above and they have a lot of kinetic energy (you cannot just stand when a horse hits you, you will fly away). So, if you make them stop and somehow get on the same level, you have much better chance to defeat them. And that is where I would like to present wagon fort. Hussites. Make a fort from wagons which are heavy and tall enough, so cavalry cannot get over it or around it, and you are protected by the sides up to your chest and you have flail (big, two-hand flail) or halberd or something else what is quite heavy with good reach. Add some crossbows and guns (and a lot of other soldiers) and cavalry will have quite a bad day. When they get close enough, they mostly get in the way of each other, more horses are trying to get closer, somebody fires a decent gun from under the wagon, horses are panicking, knights cannot really swing their weapons and there are three peasants for every knight, so each knight has to cover himself against three different weapons simultaneously and the result is absolute chaos and massacre. On the outside of the wagon fort.
Seconding the suggestion of having a way to stop the horses. To this end, stakes, ditches, walls, rough terrain and other prepared structures work very well too.
Gustavus Adolphus found a way to move ditches. Just give every man a shovel. Worked against the Polish near the end of his campaign against them. @@simonspacek3670
First thing I think of when samurai: Armor. I'm pretty ignorant to armor in general, but tons of people have used spears, swords, bows, etc. The armor people were wearing is wildly more different to me than the weapons they used.
This isn't really true, the metal shortage in Japan was more of a post-edo period thing, when they industrialized their economy which needs exponentially more metal.
In response to the thing you mentioned about shifting your weight into a strike. So as a Muay Thai fighter, sometimes when a strike is coming I do tend to push my weight into the strike, this is done to prevent whiplash which could knock you out and also to retain balance, so yes shifting your weight into strike does help you absorb it better but it is always better to evade or parry a shot than to have to absorb even a part of it
this is the problem with some channels trivializing history too much like infographics.. good job on this one even little details if presented with slightly wrong interpretation can create a serious and long lasting misconception.
12:07 I think Testudo sounds really like a possible japanese word. But then again I do not speak any of the mentioned languages. Does it sound to you(dear reader) like a japanese word?
I speak Japanese and can understand why people might get that impression. Meta's thinking in Italian, where "testudo" sounds nothing like Japanese. But if you're just reading it as an anglophone, you miss those subtleties. And if you change the order of two letters: "te-stu-do" becomes "te-tsu-do," which is the Japanese word for railroad.
Maybe when you pronounce the word Tes-tu-do the way you'd assume they do in Japanese instead of Tes-tudo the way it's pronounced in Italy I can see that 🤔 But then the Japanese word for Turtle's Kame I think 😄
Leaning in or "attacking their attack with your defense" is part of a concept of getting inside the effective range of the attack. By leaning in you can take the blow on your armor from the mid blade in the mid point of its arc. When the blow is at its weakest and earlier than the opponent expects. In that regard you take some of their time away and open up more time for your counter
I just thought it was funny that the guy argues that they would try to intentionally deflect blows with something connected to the head. You know, a part of the body which you want to especially keep away from the enemy.
ironically this is why the buckler was so popular and effective in spite of it's seemingly small size. You can push to forward to intercept a blow earlier to deflect it much more easily then you could would a larger shield or one strapped to the arm. However the original video doesn't seem to appreciate that any piece of armor strapped directly to the body you never 'lean in' to a blow with, that just increases the amount of force you'll receive directly against your body. You want to lean away at the point of contact, absorb the force of the blow and direct it away from your core.
48:20 Megingjörð was the mythical wide belt used by Thor and based upon a belt used to transfer the lower half of the weight of chainmail from the shoulders to the hips. I found that such a belt above the hips with hooks to carry the chainmail increased my endurance while wearing knee-length chainmail tenfold. BTW I am 6'1 and a lean 212lbs. I appreciate a distributed load; it prevents nesciences like broken bones and strained tendons. The belt also provides a light and effective layer of armor to the abdomen and lower back. These ancient warriors knew their craft well.
This might be weird, but the first thing I think about when I envisions a samurai are the shoulders. Something about the overlapping plates is just very memorable.
Yep, it was certainly a major factor. However, the terrain and fortifications also contributed and the archers had to engage in melee after using up their arrows...so it can be argued there were still many factors. In some ancient Chinese battles, massed armor penetrating crossbow fire played a large role in turning the course of a battle, but melee infantry and/or melee cavalry were still often needed to finish the job. At the Battle of Jieqiao in 191 AD/CE, Gongsun Zan decided to order a head-on charge of his elite armored cavalry into Yuan Shao's elite armored infantry. Yuan Shao's infantry had a combined arms formation of shielded polearm troops (halberds, spears, pikes, etc) and crossbowmen. Yuan Shao's elite armored infantry held their ground behind their shields, shot the enemy cavalry to pieces with heavy crossbows at close range (and broke the enemy cavalry charge and its formation), and killed the rest with polearm troops who were kneeling in front of the crossbowmen.
I finally know the correct way to say Pavise😂😂😂😂😂. Ty Metatron. I have always been fascinated with that particular shield from the first time I saw one.
Even after you had full plate(or another type of armor with similar levels of protection from projectiles) you might still want a shield because being hit by a javelin or slingstone could still give you a concussion, especially with a staff sling, or if thrown downwards from a wall.
When I think of a Samurai Warrior, the first thing I think about is the sword and then I think of the other two swords and then the armor, especially the headgear. I regret that I won’t have time to watch this whole video right now while it’s fresh but I’m looking forward to finishing it later.
My understanding is that the later the period the more the naginata was considered a woman's weapon. One idea being that the final defense of a castle was by women with naginatas, the men presumably being busy attacking the opposing castle. I am 72 years ago and I have met a disgraced Japanese princess. She lost all position in Japan when she married an American. On her living room wall were displayed a Japanese bow and her naginata. She was skilled in the use of the naginata as a martial art.
Comanche warriors used shields and they were predominantly horse archers and their shields were made of two layers of bison hide and could defect musket and rifle fire if held at a angle.
No need to apologizer for your "pedantic" corrections, we must make sure everything is as accurate as possible to avoid stuff be confused or lost within pop culture as you said in the end. Great content and commentary!
When I hear samurai, I think of the warrior with a katana and wearing a kimono, probably because one of my first introductions to the concept was Samurai Jack. Then comes the typical armos, mostly the kabuto helmet and the oni masks
Master, I do agree 13:00 Romans treated their drills as if they were battles and their battles as if they were drills. Human as they were, they were professionals in and off the field.
I would love to see a dedicated video of pike and shot. From what I know the Eighty Years War between the Dutch and the Spanish was of great influence. The Dutch based tactics on the Roman manipel and discliplines like reloading muskets while marching.
Wouldn't it be rather expensive to equip ashigaru with Naginata as well? Both Naginata and Yari are polearms, but the blade of a Naginata, from my understanding, is basically a sword that required swordsmithing techniques to manufacture. The spear tip of the yari however is much simpler in shape from the looks of it and may have just been a piece of sharpened steel.
Hmmm... Jingasa segment was surely odd. I get the impression that there was some confusion between it and the Okinawan tinbe (tinbei). While they were strictly shields and the tinbe were made from metal (or turtle shells), there is the understanding that in Okinawan kobudo that the straw hat could serve as a makeshift tinbe/shield if needed. Past that, I'm with you, I don't get them inferring the jingasa was a shield instead of a helmet.
49:20 since you asked, in martial arts one way to stop an attack (reduce its damage) is to lean into it. stopping it before it gets momentum or something, i cant explain the reason behind it fully, but i do know it works, when done correctly, against kicks, punches, strikes with weapons.
To me the most interesting thing about the often-forgotten tedate is the fact that it became a recognized counter to pistol shot, to the point where samurai were depicted using it for such self-defense roles in manuals, even while fully armored, though they generally got smaller over time.
The misconception about medieval warfare is unbelievable. I remeber arguing with an american who thougth the siege scenes in "Kingdom Of Heaven" were realistic. He really seemed to be knowledgeable otherwise, i was really surprised he believed all that hollywood cap.
Hello Actually i think English use the term "Legionnaire" differently, but Legionnaire is just the French term for "Legionnary" (hence the foreign legion, slightly after Napoleon) I was just pinpointing that but i enjoyed what i saw of the video as of now :D
Question. I've seen many historical prints of Samurai from the Sengoku and Edo period, which shows them wearing armour on one arm but not the other. Is this historically accurate , and what would be the function of this in your opinion? Love your videos btw 👍 keep up the good work.
I am not Metatron, but I like the armor, so I will answer your question. It is probably the "kote(籠手・篭手)" equipment. During the Heian and Kamakura periods, high-ranking warriors attacked from horseback with longbows. To make it easier to use the bow and arrow, they did not wear it on the right arm to ensure the range of motion of the joints.and then on the left arm to prevent the bowstring from catching on the sleeve of their clothes. Please search for “ 流鏑馬(yabusame)” . A very long bow is used. In the Sengoku period, armor evolved into the more functional "Tousei Gusoku(当世具足)", and the fighting style of high-ranking samurai also changed, and they began to fight with swords and spears. Therefore, it was necessary to equip both arms with kote. However, even in picture scrolls from the Sengoku period, high-ranking samurai were sometimes depicted kote only one pair of gauntlets.
@@user-hy5xsai thank you for your answer 👍 that makes complete sense. After a quick look at some prints of notable Samurai and the battle of Sekigahara, I've never realised that some of the Samurai were wearing Oyoroi instead of the Gosoku armor. 🤔 think I've always assumed they wore Gospku because of the time period. 🙏 thank you again. 😊
@@MrTrip666 You're welcome. It's hard to explain it as well as Metatron does. The interesting thing about 「kassen-zu(合戦図)」 is that later painters filled in the blanks with their imaginations and the records left behind. Although armor was seldom worn during the peaceful Edo period, I think the 「O-yoroi(大鎧)」 was revived as a symbol of high family status, and it easily told the picture viewers who was of what status. Thanks for reading!
A video comparing the European pike and shot tactics with the tactics of the Japanese using the yari and tanegashima would be very interesting. I haven't seen it covered by anyone. It seems to me that the Japanese independently ended up developing a very similar method of war once introduced to the gun.
I'm neither a historian nor a re-enacter but my understanding of intercepting/stepping into a blow is it provides some advantages; It reduces the total momentum and therefore damage of a strike, you gain some control of the timing and positioning of the strike, it can cause your opponent to flinch mid strike while you are already moving for a counter and it restricts your opponents ability to feint/alter the trajectory of a strike and follow up/through. if you imagine you're getting hit from a downwards slash and you step into it you get hit closer to the hilt so there's less of a lever acting upon you and you're now under your opponents guard mid upward slash or thrust with a sore back
10:40 Many of the later heater shields were convex to catch the lance tip and keep it from sliding off to the face, groin, or across the defender's body (Wallace Collection 1500c and the Royal Army Museum in Brussels 1490c). My favs are the pieces where the shield has become part of the vamplate as well as the pauldron and vambrace.
13:15 they moved slow, but that was a factor of the weight of the gear and the need to preserve energy in the legs. When missiles were launched, a particular watchword was called, and then the troops snapped the shields into alignment (Marcus Licinius Crassus).
When I think about Samurai, what first comes to mind is the katana and the yumi (uneven bow of the mounted archer). Then the naginata getting left at home during peace time, because the Samurai didn't want to haul it around, and the wife used it to fight off bandits, as well as other unwanted house and garden pests.
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Link to manuscripts and miniatures? It's not in the description.
I see a Sega Dreamcast
Say it with me, brother:
DEI/ESG is trying to become *THE PREDOMINANT LORE* in every story, medium and universe.
Get rid of it 🔥😊.
There is no link to the gendarms.
I hate when my head is severe.
Me when my head is severe
absolutely not me when my head is severe
Do not the head severe
I dont mind it too much as long as its well perfumed before hand!
I remember my last time with severe head. I still haven't called her back.
I'm actually impressed at the research here.
If you ask me, the fact that he's being pedantic is a GOOD sign. It means he's not having to correct major issues.
They’ve definitely gotten better, so much better.
There are some points he goes into abit more. But most of it is indeed pedantic. Still appreciate stuff like that because often the small things do matter.
@@john-paulsilke893i actually stopped watched infographics because of how bad their research was.
@@crwydryny same
@@crwydryny that and the insanely horrifically terrible animations
You can't use a spear with a shield? Er, hoplites?
More than that - most of cultures had spear and shield soldiers in their armies.
And.. every army ever lol
I know right? Even long two handed spears/pikes could be used with strapped shields like the shields used by Macedonian pikemen, some ancient & medieval Chinese cavalry and pikemen, and some Rennisance era pikemen.
Officers at West point reenacting the phalanx comes to mind
Did Dark Souls lie to me?
The start looks like a samurai attacking the Karate Kid.
Or Luke Skywalker.
the irony being karate isn't even in Japan before the late 19th century
When you have a shield on your head, it's a helmet!!!
As someone who identifies as a 16th century Japanese soldier, I once leaned into a strike when dodging was an option. My opponent didn't have a kanabo so I thought it was totally safe, but man was my head severe afterwards.
If you look at the Battle of Hastings the Norman cavalry couldn't break the Saxon shield wall. Until they lured them into breaking the shield wall to attack an assumed broken enemy. So it was discipline in the case of the infantry but not always by causing them to run.
Well technically it did cause them to run
Just in the attacking way, not the retreating way
" a overconfident enemy IS a danger to hinself"
Your pedantry for historical details is very much part of your channel's appeal
I love how you’re doing an Infographics debunking! I’ve been wanting you to do this for ages!
That Infographics channel is pretty trash
@@sp1ashy345 it's one of those "take it with a fistful of salt" info channels, there's good info there but as always be skeptical of everything they say
Yeah, i don't know where these fellas get their sources from, like DAMN that SCP vid was TERRIBLE
Japanese hand-held shields are from the Yayoi period through the Kofun until the Asuka period. Near the end of that long stretch those long standing shields (looking like a house door) were introduced and the hand-held types fell out of use; likely due to the dominance of massed archery.
I can see why you would need archers because of the loading time for guns was crazy back then.
Bows were only really finally phased out of armies when full-scale industrial production of simple-to-use firearms became viable. It took a lifetime to train and discipline veteran archers, but you could stick a firearm in the hands of any peasant, mass them into huge blocks, and unleash devastating firepower with barely any training at all.
Also archers are cheaper in the unit tree duh
@@raulpetrascu2696yes you need to train archers before you can train musketeers.
@@onekill31nice profile picture
Try a European crossbow of around 1,200lb draw you need a windlass to pull it's not much faster, which is probably why 2 different cultures came up with the same tactic to use them on the battlefield 🤔 I love seeing how alike people are regardless of their differences 🙂
I head to go back, because I misheard "usually used by the Samurai class" as "used in my Samurai class", and was severly confused, because my head immediately went to the mental image of a Professor entering class in a full suit of armor to get the students attention.
The first thing I think of when someone mentions Samurai armor (especially old-school O-Yoroi like mine) isn't the mask (mempo) or helmet (kabuto), but the *shoulder pauldrons* (o-sode), because they *ARE* your shield(s), which is why they're so huge and square 🙏🙇♂☸
The pauldrons are third to my mind, right after the katana and the helmet/mask (as I mentioned elsewhere, I kind of think of them together). I've always loved big pauldrons, and o-sode are the largest pauldrons I can think of historically...
@@thegoogliarch Yeah, though some do believe big pauldrons as goofy, like in say, moving your head
@tileux actual preferred weapon is the bow on horseback and diplomacy, a lot of diplomacy and politics
@tileux I know, i was just clearing any misconception about samurai being melee only
Good point
I really appreciate the fact that you are posting videos so frequently now, they really improve my days a lot. Thank you for everything Metatron ❤
Here to continue lobbying for the Shogun episode breakdowns to continue!
Those would be very nice 👍
i'm joining you, brother
@@himbrine6668You will not regret it
Yes
absolutely
When I hear Samurai, I think of the armor.
I think of the hair, kimono and paired swords mainly because the most prominent images we've had of the Samurai class are from the Edo Period and those are the things that were by law specific to their class.
It's a common mistake to call the older iterations of Japanese warrior "Samurai" they were called "Bushi" and the Edo Period romanticised image of them wasn't anything like the genuine article.
I'm a pragmatist I can't stand the we are Samurai we're so honourable thing it makes me cringe. The earlier iterations would be the 1st ones to hit you in the back or go up your kimono to find a soft spot 😄
Which part?
@@AllanTidgwell the whole outfit normally .
helmet and mask for me tbh, and a polearm more than the katana. when i hear katana i think more of a dude in a kimono with a samurai knot haircut, meaning i guess subconsciously ive always known its a backup weapon considering they might be samurai, but theyre not geared up, and not "in battle" more of duels.
I think of fat old men who live off the work of others.
Metatron, Raffaello, my friend! I need a favour from you. I am subscribed to a certain yt channel, that has mentioned a comparison between ancient Greeks and Romans where that youtuber claims that unlike the Greeks, the Romans didn't care about body building and left that to slaves and gladiators. But, I am certain I have heared somewhere that there were gymnasiums within public baths which tells me that Romans did care about building their bodies! Can you please cover and clarify the topic on Romans and bodybuilding? (Also, i am certain there is a difference in mindset between "pagan"Romans and Christian Romans). This youtuber is not a historian, it was mentioned in one sentence not related to my question so this is not a critique on the youtubers behalf. Roma Invicta!
Which time period, which social class... ? A lot of the upper class Romans of the early republic sent their children to Athens for education. It'd be very weird if they didn't pick up a couple of habits there.
Exactly!
i may be wrong but did not the roman admire well built statues, venus, and so on. Roman admire a well muscular body. practically worship it. Be weird that most citizen did not wish to be compare to these god like statue.
@@Marveryn could be, i just don't know, the premise was that bodybuilding fell out of favour with Romans (most likely when the majority became Christian) and came back in late 19th century
I’m glad you asked that question. I hope The Metatron does cover it. I’ll be interested in his response.
I don’t know much about Ancient Greek and Roman history but I find it interesting.
Also, the point about the "padding" being used for suspension as well is best exemplified in modern construction hats. They don't have any padding whatsoever, but they have a suspension system of leather or other material. And, you know, a hardhat is meant to provide quite the significant shock absorption when a brick or something else falls on your head. And I'm not sure they'd be as effective if they were just a layer of cotton on the inside of the hardhat.
It paints a pretty picture when something hits you in the hardhat, I caught some low hanging construction work last week and the hat's fine and it only drew a little blood underneath.
Still hurt and I felt like I was back in my teens but my skull's still intact 😄
But is the suspension system actually better? I suspect that a foam lined hard hat would probably be more protective. Its a trade off between a little less protection and workers not overheating with no airflow
@@jameswilson4854 I don't know whether it's better or not. I was just giving it as an example of a helmet without padding. There must be a reason, though, that they didn't put any padding in.
Truth about using anything to strike an opponent. I was a correctional officer for many years and despite having a steel expandable baton on our hips and pepper spray there were numerous incidents where an officer happened to have their handheld radio in their hand or on a desk nearby and used it as a weapon because it was the quickest option in that particular instance.
Probably way more effective than that silly baton thing they issue you guys.
Love how many vids you been putting out bro !
I got so hyped by the possibility of a Kenshi and Nagamaki video... please do it!
It is pleasure see this tempo of work from Metatron. Almost unexpected , but still really lovely and always a high quality content
The first thing I think about samurai is the helmet and armour because it's such a unique armour. Even their neighbours Korea and China wore different unique sets of armour. Then there's most of Europe with their armour. Honestly I wouldn't know what nation the knight belongs to if they didn't have their heraldry.
That's somewhat of a over generalization. Armor making techniques weren't developed everywhere at once. Historically there would have been significant periods where you could have told where a knight was from based on the style and/or materials of their armor.
Countering Cavalry is done quite effectively by a Pike Square, which is a formation similar to the Tortoise, but with the soldiers in the center wielding very long spears or "pikes" The shield bearers at the edges would be blocking ranged attacks, and any horseman foolish enough to charge them would quickly become a pincussion.
Something I hate about that channel is that they repost previously published content because they need to make money at all costs. In fact, I once wrote a comment about Adolf H in one of their videos that earned me thousands of likes, but such an achievement disappeared because the channel managers couldn't think of a better option than to delete the video and republish it many months later. What a waste 🤦♂️
History is told by the Victors. Nothing demonstrates that more clearly than the demonization of a certain great Austrian Painter.
@@perceive9600 There was a painter. He could paint an entire apartment in one afternoon! Two coats!
@@greyfriars6540 Quite admirable, German efficiency is! Lol
What did you have to say about Hitler? I sure hope it was ‘he was a bit of an arsehole’ or something similar.
Used to bear a (tall polycarbonate) shield in my time as a riot cop.
Heck. I loved it. Shield formations are indeed a system. Half of our staying power (ability to advance under attack too) came merely from having shields and helmets and being trained, motivated and disciplined with them.
Forming up took mere seconds in optimal conditions and maybe just twice as much in combat. Also, offensive capabilities of shields are often undeprapreciated. A good shield bash coming from a trained bloke with his back against a platoon of other blokes sends ya flying.
tl;dr shields fucking rock in the right context
A good shield bashing, huh? Dragonslayer Armor from DS3 would agree with you xD
Shield bash is great thing. I'm not sure if you can hit with the edge of police riot shield, but you can definitely do it with medieval shield and it is absolutely devastating (if you have a shield made for that, they are usually bit heavier).
It is not for everyone, but if it suits your style, it is pretty good trick.
oink
Wish defensive formations worked better and npcs bashed in bannerlord
For me, the construction style and overall look It's the first thing that comes to my mind when thinking of Japanese armor.
Someone else said pauldrons, which is high up for me on the component level. Granted, I had a cool Ronin Warriors figurine in the 90s. But oddly enough, even though I love the helmet/Kabuto, I don't /think/ it's the first or even second in my mind.
Seems like an overall decent video, even if it has a bunch of (I would argue somewhat minor in the grand scheme) inaccuracies. Have to consider that that is a channel that outputs a lot of stuff, for better or worse. Would also say they make it clear enough that shields didn't disappear, just that they started to become less common.
Just a normal day with metatron obliterating bad history.
Well that wasn't too bad, compared to the guy he debunked last week
He didn't obliterate bad history. He corrected a decent animated 'fun facts' video.
@@Wintermute909 also because that video wasn't too bad - as Metatron himself stated
Yeah, far from the worst we've had. A couple glaring issues, a good number of corrections and quite a few nitpicks, but far above most history content mills
Been loving the recent Japanese focused videos, been playing Ghost of Tsushima and loving it a ton! I know the game isn't historically accurate, it's more of an homage to Akira Kurosawa's film making just using a real Mongol invasion as a canvas for the story. it would be cool to see you do a video on Ghost of Tsushima if you haven't already.
“I Had to DEBUNK This...”
*me who didn’t even know about it till now*
When the video shows two guandao when its first starts talking about naginata and comparing it to a glaive, you know the video is gonna have some shortcomings.
I was just about to say that "riveted" shields must work the same way as "studded" armour. There's actually a really interesting video on youtube of Kyujutsu from the 1930s showing men in japanese armour doing archery drills and you can see that they position themselves to gain the maximum protection from their armour, pulling their left arm across the body so the Sode close the arm opening as they draw a new arrow. And also kneeling and a prone position, they're also doing a bounding overwatch fire-and-advance. Really interesting and very different to kyudo, partly because they're shouting the whole time.
Lol random shouting
It's always the aesthetics of the armor/helmet that comes to my mind first, when thinking of Samurai
Just don't look at all the other history videos, you are going to have an hart attack
Oh deer 😂
@@sanjivjhangiani3243 Hahaha!
Enjoyed this very much. It was actually nice to see that you didn't have to do too much debunking.
Perhaps his usage of the word "heavy-shield" was the author trying to distinguish stuff like heater/kite shields from say a buckler.
Yeah, if I was being generous, I'd say this. Akin to say "Heavy Cavalry" vs. "Light Cavalry". Something perceived as being for full battle by, well, heavy infantry vs. Perhaps a lighter shield for other roles or other combatants.
In large-scale battles during the medieval period in Japan, swords were rarely used.
In melee combat, the spear is used exclusively to attack the enemy with blows, and when the opponent falls down, the spear is used to finish him off with a thrust.
Swords were mostly treated as auxiliary weapons, but in the case of a contact combat, daggers were easier to handle, so few soldiers carried swords on the battlefield.
Since two-handed weapons are the main weapons used in battle, there is no room for portable shields.
Shields are mainly large shields that can be installed to protect against arrows and bullets.
It's like a modern soldier who is always using his battle rifle as a primary weapon and pistol as a sidearm.
@@onekill31 Yes, As sexy are they are, swords are a side arm more accurately compared to your pistol. A polearm/spear was the primary weapon.
Since two-handed weapons are the main weapons used in battle, there is no room for portable shields.
Not always true, its possible to use a shield like armor if its hangs over one shoulder when its used with a 2 handed weapon!
I think i have hypothesis about the samurai i think sword became more importent when firearms where used , when they are out of ammo!
Preaching to the choir here.
Samurai had style and function
Its funny how the ashigaru was animated firing the arquebus in 44:25, Ian McCollum of Forgotten Weapons recently made a video on the Tanegashina Arquebus, and he shows the correct way of holding
I always appreciate your content. I cannot recall a time I have disagreed with you, Which I'm sure
, so knowing you breathed out a sigh of relief... :)
You don't understand. Japanese would wear shields on their heads so they can deflect blows by intensely bowing lol.
I mean, even if it's not an actual Japanese word, I'd argue that Testudo sounding like "てすつど" absolutely could be mistaken as Japanese by someone
Yeah. Except when you realize that Japanese doesn’t _really_ have Tu. つ is Tsu.
He is Italian and the root word is Latin so I can imagine to him it does not sound Japanese what so ever. Perspectives.
Testudo does look and sound superficially similar to tetsubo.
@@danielantony1882would Tu be written like "とぅ" or is that impossible? (I only know very very little japanese, i can barely introduce myself)
as a Portuguese speaker, "testudo" is legit how we would mock someone with a big forehead
I didn’t know anything about pre samurai Japan.
Enjoyed this.
I enjoy these videos. I hope these encourage others to do research.
Oh come on, Testudo totally sounds like Tetsuo.
Yeah, thought the same. And he is speaking japanese too.
Was looking for this as I've mixed up the words before
“It’s true you can use anything to hit an enemy in the face”
That, sir, is exactly why I continue to watch your videos.😂😂😂😂
Right on! :D
@@metatronyt and you replying just earned yourself another patreon sub.
If you weren't "a little bit pedantic", I'd suspect an imposter.
I'm interested. Make the video! Also, this is a thorough and fair reaction. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and learned quite a few things I had not known before.
Japanese bows and arrows were so powerful that they could penetrate shields, so thick shields or bundles of bamboo were needed to block Japanese arrows. Japanese bows are large and have strong stringing power. Since the tip of the arrow shaft is filled with steel, it has a large mass, and the feathers of the arrow are attached diagonally. This arrow had a heavy mass and flew at high speed while rotating, so it was able to penetrate hard wooden shields and iron plates. The arrow could not be blocked by a shield because it penetrated three pieces of 9mm thick wood.
For this reason, samurai armor was made of overlapping iron plates. A 13th century painting depicts his Mongol soldiers being shot behind their shields.
Just like the English longbow, which a trained archer could fire through armor at the distances involved. That truly takes a spectacular strength, and was certainly one displayed to the fullest extent at Crecy (can't be bothered to get the accent characters).
I literally just had to re-subscribe to your channel. I don't remember unsubscribing. I've been subscribed for years I think.
Japan is somewhat shield light in part because of the terrain. It tends to be either forested or irregular. In many settings you have a lot of cover already.
The Philippines is also mountainous and has lots of thick vegetation, but the warriors here preferred shields over armor.
@@caliburnblade7895 But how was Filipino metalworking compared to the Japanese? Could be one reason why they favoured less metal-demanding shields.
@@DinnerForkTongue When the Spanish encountered the headhunters of the north and the moros of the south, they where shocked because the indigenous warrior's weapons where tough and went toe to toe with their western swords. We have rich iron ore deposits here. Plus the indigenous warriors used thick shields with protrusions like a fork to catch blades. Kinda like if you put a bread knife in between a fork then you twist it, it catches it and bites into the fork.
Much like in the West, shields were phased out because of better armours.
@@caliburnblade7895 exactly, same with most countries in southeast asia, Vietnam for example had lots of thick vegestation and mountainous areas, and the soldiers used large shields. From the historical depictions, unarmoured militia usually carry large shields. The well armoured troops, the imperial gaurds don't carry shields but prefer long two handed maces and long swords. Large shields were used even till the 18th century.
Watching your videos is always a delight. Because you are delightful. D-lightful.
20:20 "if you try to charge a militia they will run away"
Milan militia at battle of pontida enter the chat
(I know It's an exception to the rule)
No. It's not. Militia tended to stay in the fight longer against overwhelming odds, when the stakes were high. According to ancient sources.
@@gehlesen559could be survivours bias?
@@Yes-gu2wn certainly could be anything, including survivors bias, but makes sense regardless.
And is backed up by the results of a lot of military conflicts.
When I think of samurai, I definitely do think of the katana and the helmet with some decorative piece on it, but I also think of those big rectangular shoulder pads. Very interesting and distinctive feature that is different from other shoulder armor
Making the armor stronger on the left side for right handed person was exactly because he is supposed to use a shield. This is exactly the opposite of what they say.
As you said, the left side is the one you will offer to your opponent. But you will do that because your shield is on your left side. If you are right handed and carry no shield offering your left side makes no sense. It makes you more vulnerable and it decreases your range.
If you carry no shield and are right handed you will fight with your right side to the front.
Nice video! Both yours than the animated one😊
P.s. at 39’ mark the on screen script write “Male” instead of Mail…
I think of the Yari, or pike when thinking of Samurai. Or ancient Bushi warriors.
Yeah, samurai and katanas only really became a "thing" in the Sengoku Jidai
Most people don’t understand that most sword users are cavalry. Spear got lost on the first charge. Most countries “touched” by Mongol end up training and using only a combination of sword spear bow or guns.
Regarding the "leaning into the blow" thing, its value is that if you intercept a blow before the completion of its impact arc, you will greatly reduce the force with which it hit. I wouldn't recommend doing it with your head during an armed fight, but in reality in martial arts most of the block should “lean” or anticipate the blow they defend to reduce force of impact, and there is even a technique in which you intercept a punch with your forehead before it can develop its full power. clearly timing is key.
The best defense against cavalry is the square formation.
Best defense against cavalry is taking away their advantage (well, this can be said about any unit). Cavalry is fast and can strike from above and they have a lot of kinetic energy (you cannot just stand when a horse hits you, you will fly away). So, if you make them stop and somehow get on the same level, you have much better chance to defeat them.
And that is where I would like to present wagon fort. Hussites. Make a fort from wagons which are heavy and tall enough, so cavalry cannot get over it or around it, and you are protected by the sides up to your chest and you have flail (big, two-hand flail) or halberd or something else what is quite heavy with good reach. Add some crossbows and guns (and a lot of other soldiers) and cavalry will have quite a bad day. When they get close enough, they mostly get in the way of each other, more horses are trying to get closer, somebody fires a decent gun from under the wagon, horses are panicking, knights cannot really swing their weapons and there are three peasants for every knight, so each knight has to cover himself against three different weapons simultaneously and the result is absolute chaos and massacre. On the outside of the wagon fort.
Seconding the suggestion of having a way to stop the horses. To this end, stakes, ditches, walls, rough terrain and other prepared structures work very well too.
@@Lttlemoi Well, it works well, but it is not movable that much.
Gustavus Adolphus found a way to move ditches. Just give every man a shovel. Worked against the Polish near the end of his campaign against them. @@simonspacek3670
Barbed wire. I think they did that in the Mexican civil war?@@simonspacek3670
First thing I think of when samurai: Armor. I'm pretty ignorant to armor in general, but tons of people have used spears, swords, bows, etc.
The armor people were wearing is wildly more different to me than the weapons they used.
I was under the impression ancient Japanese don't have enough metal, thus only enough for katana, not enough for shields.
This isn't really true, the metal shortage in Japan was more of a post-edo period thing, when they industrialized their economy which needs exponentially more metal.
Shields can be wooden
@@mondaysinsanity8193 *are mostly wooden
@@hewhodoes8073 Yes that was a mistake. Giving them the way to industrialise and what it led to in the 20th century.
@@peterc4082Americans are always so offended to hear the attack dog they beat up, captured and trained tried to bite the hand that feeds 😂
In response to the thing you mentioned about shifting your weight into a strike. So as a Muay Thai fighter, sometimes when a strike is coming I do tend to push my weight into the strike, this is done to prevent whiplash which could knock you out and also to retain balance, so yes shifting your weight into strike does help you absorb it better but it is always better to evade or parry a shot than to have to absorb even a part of it
Yes steel hamsterballs warfare!
Make me a cannonball
this is the problem with some channels trivializing history too much like infographics.. good job on this one even little details if presented with slightly wrong interpretation can create a serious and long lasting misconception.
12:07 I think Testudo sounds really like a possible japanese word. But then again I do not speak any of the mentioned languages.
Does it sound to you(dear reader) like a japanese word?
I speak Japanese and can understand why people might get that impression. Meta's thinking in Italian, where "testudo" sounds nothing like Japanese.
But if you're just reading it as an anglophone, you miss those subtleties. And if you change the order of two letters: "te-stu-do" becomes "te-tsu-do," which is the Japanese word for railroad.
Maybe when you pronounce the word Tes-tu-do the way you'd assume they do in Japanese instead of Tes-tudo the way it's pronounced in Italy I can see that 🤔
But then the Japanese word for Turtle's Kame I think 😄
No, because there's no transisition between the s and the t. It's a bit to explain.
@@Knight_Astolfo Literally "the way of iron".
TY u are such a knowledge fountain for these subjects. Love the videos in spite of discovering your channel so recently. Damn.
Leaning in or "attacking their attack with your defense" is part of a concept of getting inside the effective range of the attack. By leaning in you can take the blow on your armor from the mid blade in the mid point of its arc. When the blow is at its weakest and earlier than the opponent expects. In that regard you take some of their time away and open up more time for your counter
I just thought it was funny that the guy argues that they would try to intentionally deflect blows with something connected to the head. You know, a part of the body which you want to especially keep away from the enemy.
ironically this is why the buckler was so popular and effective in spite of it's seemingly small size. You can push to forward to intercept a blow earlier to deflect it much more easily then you could would a larger shield or one strapped to the arm.
However the original video doesn't seem to appreciate that any piece of armor strapped directly to the body you never 'lean in' to a blow with, that just increases the amount of force you'll receive directly against your body. You want to lean away at the point of contact, absorb the force of the blow and direct it away from your core.
48:20 Megingjörð was the mythical wide belt used by Thor and based upon a belt used to transfer the lower half of the weight of chainmail from the shoulders to the hips. I found that such a belt above the hips with hooks to carry the chainmail increased my endurance while wearing knee-length chainmail tenfold. BTW I am 6'1 and a lean 212lbs. I appreciate a distributed load; it prevents nesciences like broken bones and strained tendons. The belt also provides a light and effective layer of armor to the abdomen and lower back. These ancient warriors knew their craft well.
45 seconds ago is a wild thing to see
This might be weird, but the first thing I think about when I envisions a samurai are the shoulders. Something about the overlapping plates is just very memorable.
I feel like Agincourt was a pretty close representation of bows being the deciding factor and it was essentially over because of that.
No, it wasn't
Yep, it was certainly a major factor. However, the terrain and fortifications also contributed and the archers had to engage in melee after using up their arrows...so it can be argued there were still many factors. In some ancient Chinese battles, massed armor penetrating crossbow fire played a large role in turning the course of a battle, but melee infantry and/or melee cavalry were still often needed to finish the job.
At the Battle of Jieqiao in 191 AD/CE, Gongsun Zan decided to order a head-on charge of his elite armored cavalry into Yuan Shao's elite armored infantry. Yuan Shao's infantry had a combined arms formation of shielded polearm troops (halberds, spears, pikes, etc) and crossbowmen.
Yuan Shao's elite armored infantry held their ground behind their shields, shot the enemy cavalry to pieces with heavy crossbows at close range (and broke the enemy cavalry charge and its formation), and killed the rest with polearm troops who were kneeling in front of the crossbowmen.
I finally know the correct way to say Pavise😂😂😂😂😂. Ty Metatron. I have always been fascinated with that particular shield from the first time I saw one.
Even after you had full plate(or another type of armor with similar levels of protection from projectiles) you might still want a shield because being hit by a javelin or slingstone could still give you a concussion, especially with a staff sling, or if thrown downwards from a wall.
When I think of a Samurai Warrior, the first thing I think about is the sword and then I think of the other two swords and then the armor, especially the headgear.
I regret that I won’t have time to watch this whole video right now while it’s fresh but I’m looking forward to finishing it later.
Thanks for great video megatron
A lot of people can say first comment.
But I will claim first like
My understanding is that the later the period the more the naginata was considered a woman's weapon. One idea being that the final defense of a castle was by women with naginatas, the men presumably being busy attacking the opposing castle.
I am 72 years ago and I have met a disgraced Japanese princess. She lost all position in Japan when she married an American. On her living room wall were displayed a Japanese bow and her naginata. She was skilled in the use of the naginata as a martial art.
Ubisoft said 50% of Japan was black though.
Oh lol, it's assassins creed, I don't think it matters that much
They didn't?
they never said that lmao
Rage bait
😂😂😂
I learned the perfume thing before, but had completely forgot it. Thank you Metatron!
Comanche warriors used shields and they were predominantly horse archers and their shields were made of two layers of bison hide and could defect musket and rifle fire if held at a angle.
i love your videos especially when you hyper focus on details also love the accent messing up what you are saying sometimes
No need to apologizer for your "pedantic" corrections, we must make sure everything is as accurate as possible to avoid stuff be confused or lost within pop culture as you said in the end. Great content and commentary!
When I hear samurai, I think of the warrior with a katana and wearing a kimono, probably because one of my first introductions to the concept was Samurai Jack. Then comes the typical armos, mostly the kabuto helmet and the oni masks
Master, I do agree 13:00
Romans treated their drills as if they were battles and their battles as if they were drills. Human as they were, they were professionals in and off the field.
I would love to see a dedicated video of pike and shot. From what I know the Eighty Years War between the Dutch and the Spanish was of great influence. The Dutch based tactics on the Roman manipel and discliplines like reloading muskets while marching.
Wouldn't it be rather expensive to equip ashigaru with Naginata as well?
Both Naginata and Yari are polearms, but the blade of a Naginata, from my understanding, is basically a sword that required swordsmithing techniques to manufacture.
The spear tip of the yari however is much simpler in shape from the looks of it and may have just been a piece of sharpened steel.
Blocking with your head is cool and asserts dominance, I don't think it's practical, but it is shown as something the cool strong guy does.
A very enjoyable video.. thank you
Hmmm... Jingasa segment was surely odd. I get the impression that there was some confusion between it and the Okinawan tinbe (tinbei). While they were strictly shields and the tinbe were made from metal (or turtle shells), there is the understanding that in Okinawan kobudo that the straw hat could serve as a makeshift tinbe/shield if needed. Past that, I'm with you, I don't get them inferring the jingasa was a shield instead of a helmet.
49:20 since you asked, in martial arts one way to stop an attack (reduce its damage) is to lean into it. stopping it before it gets momentum or something, i cant explain the reason behind it fully, but i do know it works, when done correctly, against kicks, punches, strikes with weapons.
I am still confused
Can someone please summarize the main arguments ?
I have not found one historical source which showed a shield
To me the most interesting thing about the often-forgotten tedate is the fact that it became a recognized counter to pistol shot, to the point where samurai were depicted using it for such self-defense roles in manuals, even while fully armored, though they generally got smaller over time.
The misconception about medieval warfare is unbelievable. I remeber arguing with an american who thougth the siege scenes in "Kingdom Of Heaven" were realistic. He really seemed to be knowledgeable otherwise, i was really surprised he believed all that hollywood cap.
Hello
Actually i think English use the term "Legionnaire" differently, but Legionnaire is just the French term for "Legionnary" (hence the foreign legion, slightly after Napoleon)
I was just pinpointing that but i enjoyed what i saw of the video as of now :D
Question. I've seen many historical prints of Samurai from the Sengoku and Edo period, which shows them wearing armour on one arm but not the other. Is this historically accurate , and what would be the function of this in your opinion?
Love your videos btw 👍 keep up the good work.
I am not Metatron, but I like the armor, so I will answer your question.
It is probably the "kote(籠手・篭手)" equipment.
During the Heian and Kamakura periods, high-ranking warriors attacked from horseback with longbows.
To make it easier to use the bow and arrow, they did not wear it on the right arm to ensure the range of motion of the joints.and then on the left arm to prevent the bowstring from catching on the sleeve of their clothes. Please search for “ 流鏑馬(yabusame)” . A very long bow is used.
In the Sengoku period, armor evolved into the more functional "Tousei Gusoku(当世具足)", and the fighting style of high-ranking samurai also changed, and they began to fight with swords and spears.
Therefore, it was necessary to equip both arms with kote.
However, even in picture scrolls from the Sengoku period, high-ranking samurai were sometimes depicted kote only one pair of gauntlets.
@@user-hy5xsai thank you for your answer 👍 that makes complete sense.
After a quick look at some prints of notable Samurai and the battle of Sekigahara, I've never realised that some of the Samurai were wearing Oyoroi instead of the Gosoku armor. 🤔 think I've always assumed they wore Gospku because of the time period.
🙏 thank you again. 😊
@@MrTrip666
You're welcome. It's hard to explain it as well as Metatron does.
The interesting thing about 「kassen-zu(合戦図)」 is that later painters filled in the blanks with their imaginations and the records left behind. Although armor was seldom worn during the peaceful Edo period, I think the 「O-yoroi(大鎧)」 was revived as a symbol of high family status, and it easily told the picture viewers who was of what status.
Thanks for reading!
A video comparing the European pike and shot tactics with the tactics of the Japanese using the yari and tanegashima would be very interesting. I haven't seen it covered by anyone. It seems to me that the Japanese independently ended up developing a very similar method of war once introduced to the gun.
I'm neither a historian nor a re-enacter but my understanding of intercepting/stepping into a blow is it provides some advantages; It reduces the total momentum and therefore damage of a strike, you gain some control of the timing and positioning of the strike, it can cause your opponent to flinch mid strike while you are already moving for a counter and it restricts your opponents ability to feint/alter the trajectory of a strike and follow up/through. if you imagine you're getting hit from a downwards slash and you step into it you get hit closer to the hilt so there's less of a lever acting upon you and you're now under your opponents guard mid upward slash or thrust with a sore back
I think of the kabuto (helmet) of a samurai. Very distinctive shape and silhouette.
The other parts of the yoroi as well.
10:40 Many of the later heater shields were convex to catch the lance tip and keep it from sliding off to the face, groin, or across the defender's body (Wallace Collection 1500c and the Royal Army Museum in Brussels 1490c). My favs are the pieces where the shield has become part of the vamplate as well as the pauldron and vambrace.
13:15 they moved slow, but that was a factor of the weight of the gear and the need to preserve energy in the legs. When missiles were launched, a particular watchword was called, and then the troops snapped the shields into alignment (Marcus Licinius Crassus).
When I think about Samurai, what first comes to mind is the katana and the yumi (uneven bow of the mounted archer). Then the naginata getting left at home during peace time, because the Samurai didn't want to haul it around, and the wife used it to fight off bandits, as well as other unwanted house and garden pests.