True that! Especially since 'our' cinema focuses on what we know historically: We know double-edged straight blades (european arming swords and long swords), one-handed curved swords (middle-eastern and napoleonic), spears, halberds, glaves. All the stuff the chinese also have. But the katana is a two-handed (!), short (!) sabre with a distinctive tip and sufficiently different guard and handle construction. Of course there are other weapons in all three of these cultures, but the katana is an analogue to 'knightly' weapons, and I mean it was similarly romanticized to the long sword the romantic era made 'knightly', not what men-at-arms actually used. Weapons like the guandao didn't fit the western romantic definition of a knightly weapon. Also, all the points this video made.
What do you have to understand. China's history is extensive backwards as well as forwards when it comes to sword and bladed weapons. Remember where the Japanese got their sword design from. The Chinese have been designing Superior and stylish looking blades since before the Vikings and the Europeans. Look up the Zhanmadao, Miaodao and Tangdao
@@camrendavis6650 Nobody doubts that the chinese (or the realms existing in the space of modern china) were advanced compared to europe in several eras. What I was trying to say is that western cinema uses what western culture DOESN'T know. It doesn't matter who invented what, entertainment is the name of the game. If it is too similar, it won't do.
@@camrendavis6650 Superior is a stretch. The Zhanmadao was stylish for sure, but was more of a rough-and-ready foot soldier's weapon rather than a celebrated symbol of knightly prestige. The weapons that filled that niche (regular jian and dao) weren't *that* distinct, especially compared with the katana. Also the vikings *are* Europeans.
Perfect. When I was living in China studying martial arts I realized how rich their sword culture was. They were so amazing in sword making, they inspired all the neighboring countries in sword making, even the Japanese swords. Longyuan -now Longquan is a famous example, as it has produced for centuries some of the finest swords. I bought swords from there and still have them and enjoy them up to this day.
Someone made the interesting point that in China the soldiers were Conscripts, and thus did NOT have a Warrior Class that gained Great Honor like in Japan & The West. Not only that, but from what I've seen, Chinese Media focused more on Hand 2 Hand & Martial Arts Weapons in general, compared to Japan which focuses far more on Swords by themselves.
@@TheAyanamiRei It’s also due to how Chinese society was structured. A warrior type class similar to how European knights or samurai did not exist due to chinas centralised government. If a similar warrior class did exist then it would’ve ended as chinas feudalism came to an end (during establishment of the Qin dynasty) which was a thousand years before the concept of knights or samurais existed. This pattern isn’t strictly a Chinese thing either. After European ended their feudalism they began to phase out knights for a larger centralised army and same goes for Japan during the Meiji restoration. But the most likely scenario as to why chinas swords isn’t as popular is simply because it isn’t as romanticised or their media isn’t as popular here in the west. Chinese tv shows don’t lack in sword action e.g Wuxia adaptations (smiling proud wanderer as an example) it’s just no one knows about it. People also seem to forget that warriors like knights or samurai who often are associated with swords (katana or king swords) are actually rarely used in history. They’re mostly a social status weapon if anything with the most common weapon used throughout all cultures being pole arms and later firearms. Personally pole arms are seriously underrepresented and I would like to see more of them considering how prevalent they are throughout history.
@@TheAyanamiRei I think the Ming did have a hereditary warrior class, but this was not held in high regard. Also I think the Qing Bannermen might also count as a warrior class.
As someone who practices European swordsmanship and is Chinese, I would say that you are certainly right in that the Chinese don't care about swords. But I think I can explain why the Chinese don't care about swords. Firstly, I think the bigger question is why the Europeans and the Japanese care about swords. Despite personally practicing swordsmanship, I have to admit that the sword has no place in a battle when not paired with shields. Most often, swords are carried as a sidearm kinda like a modern pistol. There are exceptions like the European greatsword and the Japanese Odachi, but I am not aware of any Chinese equivalent to these (that aren't for cutting down a horse). The soldier's main weapon is usually a polearm--usually the spear but weapons like the guandao, naginata, or halberd also enjoyed varying degrees of popularity. The sword is famous as a status symbol than a weapon. It is more expensive and difficult to acquire than most polearms and is usually relegated to the nobility or warrior class. Both the Europeans and the Japanese had a warrior class that was greatly respected, so their symbol gained the same respect. The Chinese soldiers, however, are usually conscripted. They are not respected like their European and Japanese counterparts and the sword is not considered their symbol, so the sword does not gain the same respect in China, where the spear was considered the "king of weapons" due to its greater practicality. Lastly, Chinese culture does not penetrate as deeply in the west as Japanese culture does Edit: I am getting a lot of comments from commentators more familiar with Chinese history than I am that swords were also once a status symbol in China, but the association appears to have been lost so long ago that it doesn't translate into modern day
Guan Yu was basically a demigod that is still an example for people of honor and integrity as he never betrayed his comrades or those he believed in nor did he ever break an oath once he made it. Most other Three Kingdoms generals were also similarly "Larger than Life" as it were, with virtues and vices spread among them liberally, but also their varied mastery of strategy, tactics, certain weapons, and even diplomacy. Dynasty Warriors as a video game series may get repetitive and stale, but it inspired me to look into the characters in greater detail outside the games and oh boy I was not expecting to find literal shrines to Guan Yu that are still visited to this day.
I’m glad someone pointed this out. I’m no weapon expert but the sword was a secondary weapon. Pole arms, axes, maces with shields were primary weapons. Swords were very incompetent when it came to puncturing/damaging the armor and killing the target. In Japan, they had pole arms, bows(they were masters in horse back archery, it’s actually insane) and I’m pretty sure they used a club called the kanabo
In kung fu we call the spear as the king of weapons. The "bo" staff and spear are my favourite weapons in chinese martial arts. The staff by its simplicity and for being versatile, and the spear for the elegance and subtlety power.
spears can easily be broken with an axe i think i once remember watching a vid explaining how spears, axe and swords are almost like rock, paper, scissors in medieval time
@@mamertvonn "easily broken"?! Dude, you must have some serious reflexes, huh? I think a spear trust goes in about 40 km/h, imagine this in a fight to the death scenario, it's not impossible, but is very difficult to brake a spear in this situation. Even if you parry the spear trust, the spear guy has to be much more weaker than you. And even if you brake the spear, you can use the broken pole to defend yourself.
look it up in yt i dont remember the yt channel but i remember him having long weird beard he talks about a lot of stuff like the pummel located in a swords handel or the history of fencing
But you don't see western heroes carrying rifles around, do you? They wield a pistol or - even better - a revolver. There is something about sidearms that makes them perfect for the "adventurer/hero" archetype.
@@Mj-th7md Actually it's more about rank and file combat but everyone likes to compare most of these war weapons as 2 guys fighting in the street. A spear gives range but in ranks once they get past the tip all you can do is drop it and draw your sword.
@@Mj-th7md Range is nice but armor is the big issue here. 1 handed weapons have a hard time penetrating any form of armor. Polearms on the other hand can cut, crush, or puncture armor much easier. This has been true for both Asia and Western nations. Knights used polearms and spears a LOT more often than 2 handed swords.
Michal Arkadiusz Blaszczak *two child policy **have as many children as you want as long as your rich enough to pay the fine and are ok with further overpopulating policy
@Michal Arkadiusz Blaszczak Fuc that Joke. No need to make a Joke about Chinas policy. This tread all about a Jackie and Thanos Joke. Mfers always gotta ruin shit with unnecessary comments
To sum up. Japanese: the tool empowers the user, and it is the reward of his training. Chinese" the tool is empowered by the user, and also, the continuity and reward of his training. Both are right in their philosophies.
I would suggest two major factors. First, the katana benefited from the unique historical context of Japan as a nation that took immense pride in its "warrior heritage" despite an unusually long period of enforced peace. Second, in the era when major advances in and expansion of information sharing and mass entertainment were occurring, reasonably high quality katana were far more readily available than any other distinctive traditional weapon. The Edo period looms large in Japanese history. The warrior class were the undisputed dominant force in the culture, but without significant military engagements, that warrior culture as largely vestigial. Weapons which were more effective on the battlefield, such as spears, shields, and ranged weapons are wildly impractical and cumbersome in peacetime; but the katana is both distinctly martial and relatively easy to carry. Thus it took on a cult status as the embodiment of a peaceful nation's warrior heritage. The design, handling, and mythology of the katana was stabilized and codified to a degree few weapons outside Japan enjoyed. High quality katana were produced and preserved in amazing quantity compared to comparable weapons elsewhere that fell out of favor and/or were utilized to destruction. Thus after Japan's borders were forcefully opened (and particularly in the aftermath of WWII when katana were stolen and dispersed as spoils of war) decent quality katana were relatively common, while any other sword the average person encountered (particularly in the US which became so dominant in entertainment) was likely to be either a decorative/parade piece, a minimized sport weapon, or a poorly maintained--if not outright mangled--museum piece. In comparison, the katana took on a legendary status and an outsized dominance where swords were presented.
Japanese martial arts and weapons have been popularized in the West since the end of WWII, because of the US occupation of Japan. Before that, the West knows Japanese swords just as little as other Asian swords.
@@zhe8586 The katana (And other Japanese swords) is also a type of ancient Chinese dao / sword. production process also comes from ancient Chinese technology. katana, It is a dao used by the ancient Chinese when they moved to Japan (ancient Japan before the 13th century was the history of the establishment of a regime in China). It is similar to the Chinese Tang dao 唐刀 and miao dao苗刀.
The reason in my opinion is simple : European and japanese are more represented in entertainment media with swords and swordmen (the Ninja, the Knight, the Samurai) while the chinese are more represented with hand to hand combat and Kung-fu
Metal Shinobi , i agree with this. The legendary knights of europe and the Noble samurai are represented alot. This is what most people grew up with. Chinese swordsmanship is amazing though.
@@fransthefox9682 I spoke about how they were represented in the entertainment Media, but in fact a ninja woud've neither carry a sword nor wear their signature black Outfit
@Eduardo Sanchez eeeeeeeeeeeer... no, Katana no is for ALL combat they used SPEARS,Bows, GUNS etc. Samurai uses a katana mainly for status and in rare ocasions in one fight
I train with the Chinese "Jian" and had a sort of respected envy over the iconic status of the samurai sword. This video essay changed my perspective! But, of course, it is not the utility but the essence of the user itself - how revealing.
Not just but AN. The daoist believed everyday objects had life in them if someone breathed that life into it. The belief was passed from China to Japan. So swords in China actuality were respected if you were daoist. This dude forgets that most people in the han dynasty and ancient China were daoist not buddhist
as this video shows, the weapon and how well its used, gives a look into the wielder's way of thinking or personality, this is how we can come to understand why 'only when fighting, can two people understand each other' moments arise.
Extension of one arm?! Are they joking? How do you think is an extension arm?.....oh come on do you think that you can block a steel rod with you arms?
@@cristiandagale8337 It's an extension of you because you manipulate the weapon. Because you move it with your arms and movement, it is an EXTENSION. You never depend on the weapon but rather depend on your skills to make the weapon reach your enemies
"The loner who seeks defeat“ this guy is the most powerful swordsman in the novel, he has four swords in his life, The first sword "My first sword was so sharp, strong and fierce that none could withstand it. With it in hand, I strive for mastery by challenging all the heroes of the Northern Plains in my teenage years."[4] The second sword represented by a wooden tablet) "My second sword was violet in hue and flexible in motion. I used it in my 20s. With it, I have mistakenly wounded righteous men. It turned out to be a weapon of doom that caused me to feel remorseful endlessly. I cast it into a deep canyon." The third sword "My third sword was heavy and blunt. The uttermost cunning is based on simplicity. With it, I roamed all lands under Heaven unopposed in my 30s."[6] The fourth sword (represented by a wooden sword) "After the age of 40, I was no longer hampered by any weapon. Grass, trees, bamboos and rocks can all be my swords. Since then, I have developed my skills further, such that gradually I can win battles without reaching for weapons."
@@mikebussy3334 It is uncommon to face weapons that you are not familiar with. By drawing parallels from other weapons (Poison Shurikens are like Poison needles stacked together), they adjust themselves accordingly.
If Hollywood would stop using asian historical elements as just tropes to attract the casual weeb audience , maybe they'd see there's more to it than just ninjas,samurai,katanas etc
I think one of the reason for that could be the fact that Japan is supposedly an ally of the west while China isn’t. Therefore, this could potentially cause a lack of exposure of Chinese culture in the western world.
This was a great video. I absolutely love it, especially the end "and whatever Jackie Chan decides to use" that one is pretty much a global rule for weapon choices in fight scenes. Jackie's the King
The sword, as depicted in Chinese cinema, is just an extension of the warrior's martial arts ability. Usually, the warriors are depicted as skilled fighters even without the sword, as seen in numerous kung fu movies where unarmed combat is often the highlight. Therefore, the sword does not take center stage. The Japanese, however, places a huge emphasis on swords, both physically and spiritually, and is usually the showcase of the fight scenes in their cinema or cultural expressions of honor and hierarchy. What is most showcased in cinema is often what becomes popular culture.
Not really. Even the japanese don't go so far as thinking the weapon is more important than the man. Some may do think like that. Not all, and not common. Consider the example of the duel between Miyamoto Musashi vs Sasaki Kojiro. Kojiro used his prized long katana, the 'laundry pole', a famous weapon uniquely his own. Musashi used a simple long oar. Musashi defeated and killed Kojiro. (turns out that 'spiritual power in weapons' is at worst hogwash, and at best, not that important...) The japanese may appreciate craftmanship more than the Chinese, I think, and that's about it.
It's because the Katana is highly symbolic in nature, Katanas are family heirloom, temple offerings, spiritual anchors, seals and all that. One must remember that Japan doesn't have the iron to make these weapons and always import (I'm assuming smuggle) such materials. Their process of making it into steel isn't exactly quick and easy neither. Then the steel folding process is quite ardurous often needing 2-3 smiths. Add to that when making these... there's always a Shinto ritual (I'm assuming this was gone later?). And you have a sword with notable strengths and weakness like any type of sword... but extravagantly steeped in tradition and spirituality. So with a sword like that, would you just say "Eh, it's a sword". Or would you, like how the Japanese have been doing so in the silver screen, go "IT. IS. A. SWORD!!!" You'd be thinking why would they use it then and have it have a chance to break? Well here comes in the Bow, Spear and Matchlock rifles, the actual primary weapons of Samurais. Oh there are other sword that serve the purpose of weapons too (that have similar design to Katanas).
"whatever Jackie Chan wants to use" is practically what 独孤求败 （loner who seeks defeats）highest attainable sword skill level seeks out any item can be a "sword" for him
@@Arthur_CNW I can't stand the wire work in it. All that running through tree tops stuff. Which is a shame, since I always hear how good a movie it actually is.
Japanese katana are cool and all, but it's so annoying how Hollywood defaults Chinese or any other Asian weapon to "Katana, or Shuriken" cuz it just looks stupid asf
The katana (And other Japanese swords) is also a type of ancient Chinese dao / sword. production process also comes from ancient Chinese technology. katana, It is a dao used by the ancient Chinese when they moved to Japan (ancient Japan before the 13th century was the history of the establishment of a regime in China). It is similar to the Chinese Tang dao 唐刀 and miao dao苗刀. NO Japanese and korean sword in history.
The strongest character whom we know by name and never met him...had reached a level so high, thay he ended up using everyday objects as his weapon of choice....the philosophy of Jackie Chan...
1. The person exists when the blade exists. 劍在人在 2. The blade merges with the person using it. 人劍合一 3. The blade exists in the heart. 劍在心中 4. No blade exists. 劍不在 5. Heaven and the person as one 天人合一
“The strongest character has reached a level so high that he ended up using everyday objects as his weapon of choice.” Later... “Whatever Jackie Chan wants to use.” Does that mean...?
That's because there's few Martial Artists in Film who are willing to LITERALLY put their life on the line like Jackie does. He's LITERALLY almost died multiple times on set. Then you add in the fact that he's MASTERED Improvised Weapons like Ladders, and it's obvious why. That's not even getting into how Jackie Chan frequently has his Villains working TOGETHER in careful choreographed moves, UNLIKE most films, where you see Villains just standing around waiting their turn OR doing moves in the background. Jackie depicts FAR more Realistic Group Fighting Scenes. He's honestly a Legend like no other.
@@airawolf4261 dude, that's not honesty, mainly stupidity. The chinese had swords in museums that our modern technology cannot replicate. Early japanese swords are not katana but chinese style swords. They learned metalology from the chinese and slowly developed the katana. The problem with the chinese blacksmiths was that they keep their blacksmithing skill as a secret. They don't pass on knowledge like the japanese do. Now the chinese loss can't even make a decent sword other then props. Those ridiculous kung fu movies didn't help their popularity neither.
@@donaldmaxwell3171 but honestly speaking chinese hold other weapons such as spears and shields of a much higher regard than swords and being fluent and having many friends from and having been to china i can say with confidence that the chinese do not really care that much about swords favour much more elegant weaponry such as spears or simply martial arts, calling his statement stupidity is not entirely wrong nor right as his statement wasnt that wrong the chinese simply dont care as much about swords as other countries do
The hype and reasons for why katanas are so popular reminds me of the western view behind 1911 pistols. Don't get me wrong, they're great guns, but I feel like a lot of people hold it above ALL pistols no matter if other pistols have equal or even better aspects..
The popularity of katana's has to have something to do with movies and American's stealing a lot of them after WWII. In reality it's a limited weapon, in many ways. No hand protection, heavy for it's size, short for a two handed sword. It's actually not as good as many European swords, and in comparision to sabre it's completely inferior. Katana fighter has no chance against sabre in any duel.
Rites (禮) Music (樂) Archery (射) Charioteering (御) Calligraphy (書) Mathematics (數) Those are the skills a ancient Chinese noble have to master and we can see only archery , so sword isn't a favourite weapon in ancient china ,thus it's not as famous
Yes, agree with that, on the other hand japanese sword became famous because of the rebirth of bushido in ww2, they carried around a katana (even though the cheap version one, except the one owned by generals) everywhere and at every war, even some of their pilots brought one with them, while doing kamikaze. Us army won the war, brought themselves back katanas owned by those Japanese soldiers, that's why it's became famous. And bushido itself is reincarnated from japanese old philosophy of the way of sword (literally the meaning of bushido), as the Invincible Sword Saint 'Musashi Miyamoto' himself stated in his book Gorin no Sho, the way of the warrior is the way of 'pen and sword'.
Not even for japanese. The warriors are warring using bow and spears while sword was just a status symbol. Not until later when they romanticize sword that it becomes as popular as now. Tl;dr Japanese is good in selling their swords
China definitely hold their military and weapons at high regard but they care much more about their spears and longer range weapons rather than swords as well as that skill is considered more important than weapons
I've always felt that in Chinese cinema, the weapon is only as good as the person who uses it. You can have a great weapon, but if you're not skilled, it's not of much value. I think that is why I tend to enjoy Chinese martial arts films more than the Japanese ones. No offense to the Japanese filmmakers! I enjoy a lot of those, too. But I tend to search out Chinese martial arts films first.
In Chinese Novel / Cinema Culture there is a stereotype of weapons for different type of roles in the story. Swords / Jian : Usually carried by scholars. Shows refinement. Scholarly skills are swordsmanship, horse riding, chess, poems, music and education. Almost similar to knights and samurais. Sabre or Broadsword / Dao : Are carried by imperial troops and especially constables or sheriffs. Law enforcers. Some constables in the later Dynasties like Ming Dynasties carry a pair of Tongfa though. Staff / Gun : Carried by Monks. The idea of using staff is because it is perceived to be a less offensive weapon. Under the code of conduct, Monks have the right to defend but no right to kill. Spears / Chiang : Default weapon of the Imperial troops. Especially the Infantry and Calvary. There were alot of variations for spear though. Guan Dao was one of them. Staff mounted blades were popular because usually a one on one fight between leaders in a Warfield is usually done on a horseback. Arrows / Jian : Need no introduce. Long range weapons. The Chinese used stone loaded catapults too. The Yuan Dynasty which was a Mongolian rule over China, the Mongolians conquered China with a superior calvary. Their horses and archers were of better quality. Till the Kamikaze because they had no sailing experience. Flying Guillotine / Xie Di Zi : A weapon that remains as fiction. The idea only appeared in Qing Dynasty, the last dynasty where the rulers are Manchurian. A weapon used by private squad of hitmen hired by the Emperor or the imperial family. The story portrays the hitmen will store the decapitated skulls in their family temple. Their extinction happened because their presence became obselete after the imperial court started buying firearms.
@@Tareltonlives there is somewhat of class division in a way that Jian usually represents refinement. Also represents nobility. Example the Emperor's personal weapon usually is a Jian. Unlike Dao which is meant for slashing, Jian is used like an Epee or a Rapier. Dao has a very rugged image. Also usually Jian is made of better materials. That's why usually Law Enforcers carry Dao as a mass issued weapon. But in Novels there are certain rare Dao of excellent quality. However users are very rugged people like King of pirates or Chief of mountain bandits.
Tareltonlives So Jian has to be crafted straight (which is not as easy as it seems since as it cools down it often shrinks and bends). It usually has edge on both sides. Whereas Dao is usually curved with only one-sided edge. In many cases the techniques in using a Jian is associated with the agility and speed of the user, hence many Jians are light-weighted. On the contrary Daos are more heavily weighted in most cases and associated with the power of the user. Just my understanding
Japan and Europe: swords are an extension of one's honor and are really important to mythology China: swords are a tool for the most part as the actual user is more important Europe: king Arthur becomes legendary because of Excalibur China: Bruce Lee's nun chucks are famous BECAUSE of bruce lee (Not a good example as one of these people is only mythological but you get what i mean)
Exactly; European culture fundamentally evolved from an class of relatively equal aristocratic warriors, who relied on technology (especially metalworking)for dominance. The importance of the weapon was high, because the levels of quality can vary greatly and warriors were self funded, making high quality weapons extremely valuable in an era without scientific metallurgy. A slight difference in technique from one Smith to another is the difference between soft iron, brittle iron and steel
Actually in Chinese cultures, sword are a "gentleman weapon". People that associate with Chinese sword are scholars and to some extend taoist priest. What the video say about a weapon can tell about his owner is correct. If a person carrying a sword in ancient China, he was probably an educated person compare to another guy carrying a Dao (another type of chinese weapons).
R3CKONNER Wu kong staff is made of the hardest metal from the bottom of the sea, so according to the legend, since it’s the hardest, no other weapon can breaks it .
True, I have also come to love the Ming dynasty version of the jian. It is in my opinion, the best design for a side arm/civilian use weapon, with a good balance between cutting and thrusting, weight/balance, sufficient width and depth of the guard and a comfortable grip.
Looking at these Japanese films vs Chinese films, you see the difference in cinematic focus. In the Japanese films, the focus is on the swords and swordplay, the sword is almost the main character. In the Chinese films, the focus is on the fighter and the sword is treated more as a prop, exchangeable. In one Chinese scene in particular, the two fighters repeatedly toss their swords around and at one point almost trade blades, and half of the scene is hand-to-hand rather than sword-to-sword. Which only goes to further your point that the Chinese don't seem to care as much about the sword as, say, Europe or Japan
It's a cultural thing. Japan has romanticized the sword and the Samurai, in the same sense that America has romanticized the gun and the Cowboy. With the firearms they used being just as romanticized as the men who used them. Colt & and Winchester used to be literal house hold names in America for generations, though less these days because the popularity of westerns have fallen and the rise of anti gun hate fueled by progressive movements. I also wouldn't say all of Europe is a Sword culture either. Central Europe and Western Europe have big Gun cultures, even countries like Switzerland. Swords are more of an English, French and Spanish thing.
In ancient China, poets and litterateurs were far more respected than militarists. Sword was a symbol of Junzi(person of noble character) in most times. Also, Jian is just a general name. There are many different kinds of swords (not a single famous sword like Ganjinag, Taike)in China. The most famous one is named 龍泉寶劍(Dragon Spring Sword). If you are really interested in Chinese sword or Jian,and perhaps Wuxia, you may watch a well-known Chinese anime series called Qin's Moon/Legend of Qin(秦時明月).
Meanwhile, in Japan the Samurai and Daimyo classes ruled for hundreds of years under the Shogunate, placing higher value in Japanese warriors and their signature weapon of choice: the Katana.
@@holdenkimura5034 the katana wasn't even a defining attribute of samurai culture until the relatively peaceful era under the Tokugawa bakufu. It was only when the warriors were forced to demobilize and turn into administrators that they began to inflate the properties of the katana as a status symbol.
As someone who practiced WuShu in China for well over 10 years, the “Jian” (sword) is a weapon, among hundreds that surrounds the spirit of kung fu. The weapon is a support, it’s a part of martial art and not the center of it. A martial artist will master fighting before going on to the staff, than sword, then spear…
First, in Chinese language, the definition of “sword” is actually kind of different than Japan and Europe. In Chinese, “剑（jian）” has to be a double-edged sword; in other words, the weapon such as Japanese katana will be defined as a sort of “刀（means blade or knife）” instead of a “sword” in Chinese view, because it only has one edged side. In Chinese history, Jian was widely used as a type of actual combat weapon in the frontline military from Zhou dynasty（1046BC-256BC）to Han dynasty（202BC-220AD）; but during the Han dynasty, its position was gradually being replace by “环首刀”, the Ring-pommel blade, a type of single-edged straight blade. After Han dynasty, Jian became more and more unpopular on the frontline battle field. In military, it was usually only used by some certain special units or high rank officers like generals during the later dynasties. And in Japan, the culture of katana worship is also mainly developed in the Edo period（1603-1868）. In the actual Sengoku period and earlier era, Japanese Samurais also prefer to use lance and bow rather than normal katana on the battle field. Edo period is a relatively peaceful era in Japanese history compare to earlier Sengoku period, large scale war is rare, and that is the time when katana become the symbol of Samurai identity. However, I think the more direct reason about “not being famous” is just because modern Japanese culture industry is developed much better than China, and have much higher influence on western world.
Well, I think in Japanese culture, fightings are develop around the weapons. Whereas in Chinese, the weapons are developing around the fighting. In Chinese, we tend to see weapons accompanied martial arts such as Taiji or Wushu. But the martial arts are not developed around the weapons. In Japanese, martial art such as kendo is entirely developed around using sword.
I agree with the last part, popularity is all based on culture. Westerners glorify the katana because the West is currently allies with Japan, however China is their rival. Why would the West want to glorify anything from their rivals?
@@bboygenetics9882 I think you are wrong, China has only been a rival in recent years. Prior to this, Japan was the main threat but the Katana has been popularised for a long time.
This is why if games allow a level 1 character to equip a high-end weapon it still won't save them most of the time. Not having the skills and active abilities really hurts your ability to fight, and if your stamina/mana is too low to supply your attacks with a high-end weapon you can enjoy waiting for it to regenerate. Some games let characters equip higher level weapons at a significant penalty to hit chance and damage, some games don't even let your mall ninja equip a real sword until after a dozen levels or so of the tutorial.
a swordsman could not just inherit and wield the sword of his elder if he is not mentally and physically fit to handle it. .incase an epic fight erupted between two skillful swordsmen with their respective legendary swords one will always emerge as winner but it doesnot mean the loser is a disgrace to his sword. .in combat dying or surviving is not the ultimate objective of a warrior; it is how one wielded his sword honorably and according to his fighting code. .
@@theghosthero6173 not true swords are expensive to make due to crafting the only civilization where sword is the king of weapon is Roman because of their advance technology much of all culture spear is the main weapon
@@ategabbysev2993 can you read? I said civilian weapons, most people aren't allowed to carry spears in town historically. I also said the most common SIDEARM.
I think swords might have such a place in the history of theatre, film and tv because they are simply more practical and dramatic in performance. Swords allow for more theatrical slashing and swinging movements, do not get in the way of other actors and sets like a spear or other long weapons would and allow actors to draw in much closer to each other in a duel, heightening dramatic tension.
It's as you said. Everybody knows what a katana is, and everyone goes bonkers over how sharp it was and how cool it is, but I think other Asian weaponry are just as great in fiction. Chinese, Mongolian, Korean, etc etc. I hope more light sheds on them in the future.
@@l.n.3372 most Americans I’ve encountered love guns. America was a nations founded by Guns. That’s why the founding fathers protected the rights of its citizens to rebel with guns in the constitution. But I acknowledge that there are Americans that hate the gun the same way that there are pacifist in Japan that hate weapons in general. If you were offended I’m very sorry. Not my intention.
@@Jose.AFT.Saddul There's a huge difference between what the founding fathers said 250 years ago and what the NRA currently does to hold America metaphorically hostage even when the majority of the public in polls say they want stricter gun control. And it also depends on who you claim to be talking to when you say this - because the lack of gun control is a major issue in this country and I wouldn't want you to get the wrong impression from a biased person. But I accept that you didn't mean to be offensive by the comment, so no worries.
A good sword can make a novice powerful. A good sword will make a strong warrior as if adding wings to a tiger.. But only benevolence makes a person invincible.
CORRECTIONS: The proper name for the weapon used by Jet Li is "Three sectional staff" (Thanks to commentor Tom O'Brien) Commenter maartmaster points out that people knowing the word Katana and people not knowing the word "Jian" is not a fair comparism. Katana is one specific type of sword in a much larger category of swords. The proper comparism of words would be Jian vs Nihonto. Commenter Stephen Stokes points out that, technically, there is no equivalent word for sword in the Chinese language. Chinese people uses different words for straight double-edge blade (Jian) and curved single-edged blade (Dao).
@@qiankundanuoyi1 That's not true. Da Dao just means big knife and used to refer to two handed dao. My whole life that type of halberd is called a Guan dao, the guy made it famous enough.
Pre-Qin Chinese kingdoms had a large emphasis on mounted or chariot warfare, where pole arms and bows were the main weapons. Qin armies simply changed the paradigm to giving those same weapons to footsoldiers. The sword was a secondary weapon. Imperial China (Qin - Qing) had no real concept of a warrior class such as the feudal knight or the samurai. Warfare was supposed to be part of what a scholarly gentleman in China studied. To be a general in Imperial China was to be considered the least educated of the scholarly gentlemen, as you weren't fit for duty at court or as some provincial governor/official. There many examples of well-made Chinese swords, the most famous is probably the Goujian, over 2000 yrs old but basically good as new, despite being buried for most of that time. Others come to us from artwork and relics ... "recovered" from China. Being good at war is not considered a virtue in an Imperial Chinese gentleman so the tools of war are not emphasized as greatly. There is another important point: who are the Chinese fighting for? When the Chinese go to war, it's rarely about personal honor or stake (as opposed to knights or samurai). Usually, generals are dispatched with troops at the command of the Emperor. They have gained honor by receiving and then carrying out the command of the Emperor. They don't gain honor by fighting personally the way knights and samurai believe of themselves. The Three Kingdoms era is the only one where personal duels are explicitly mentioned, to my knowledge. The story goes that when the Mongols attempted to invade Japan (with lots of Chinese auxiliaries), samurai challenged them to single combat honor duels. The Mongols and Chinese, either not understanding or not caring, began firing their artillery, much to the samurais' disgust. True or not, it matches the Chinese way of war. Massed formations and use of technology. Swords are the weapons of individual warriors, being personal defense weapons for close use. The pikes, halberds, bows, repeating crossbows and, later, muskets of Imperial armies are what Chinese infantry formations used. Both the Mongol and Manchu dynasties employed Chinese engineers to operate their cannon and siege machines because they were the best in Asia. Chinese cavalry used lances and bows. That's not to say the sword doesn't have symbolism in Chinese - both the jian and dao have tons of it. The Miaodao and Dadao have the distinction of being used in combat up until the end of Chinese Civil War. They even made a song about using the dadao to cut down Japanese troops. But aside from a limited number of Sinologists, who have limited access to both PRC and ROC archives, western media does not like to portray Asians outside of their stereotypes. Chinese men are either martial artists or extremely effeminate. Chinese women are either tiger moms or sex objects. Chinese media is all propaganda bunk these days, including the stuff from the Hong Kong film industry. And almost none of the "historical" films are actually depicting correct arms and armor. As another commenter pointed out, the Cultural Revolution killed a lot of the societal knowledge on Imperial China so modern Sinologists have to work with existing, accessible archival material or interpret work done by western scholars prior to the formation of the PRC. TL;DR - No warrior class, being a soldier not very prestigious job, honor comes from serving Emperor, military emphasized mass formations and weapons which suit it, sword is a tool for personal defense (not offense), all media has no idea what chinese arms and armor are because of the stereotypes they created.
The "1v1 me bro" thing seems highly suspect. The sword was just a last-ditch sidearm for the Samurai up until the post Sengoku Shogunate era. Before that samurai were primarily cavalry archers, and spears were more commonly used on foot. And if you actually study the Sengoku era, there really wasn't any of that "honorable warfare" crap either. Where we get the whole mythology of the katana as a super powerful weapon of honor is from when the Samurai had been retired from constant warfare to be bureaucrats, and the only symbol left that they were allowed to prove they were "warriors" was the daisho, or being allowed daily carry of the katana and wakizashi. So it wasn't actually the samurai of war who fetishized the sword, but the ones who lived in a peaceful era.
1steelcobra good point. We typically only see the romanticized view of the katana as a sword from the gods but people forget (conveniently?) that samurai were not top officials until way later in their history. They were the better trained and armored (sometimes?) soldiers of the armies and status was gifted as a reward. This is my opinion and don’t have references to back it up though. Lol
If you look into their mythology as well, the big "excalibur" grade sword isn't even a katana. Ame no murakumo no tsurugi, later renamed kusanagi, is depicted as a fairly standard one-handed double edged straight sword.
A sword was also the side arm of the knights, the lance was more practical on horse. Also the spear was the most common weapon in medival Europe too, it's easier and cheaper to produce, and it's far easier to use
Actually that’s not true. There was a lot of variation, for instance the mongols, Japanese, and Koreans were known for there bow and arrow prowess, while China was known for its lance.
You know, this made me think of something, when you talked about how Buddhists think of the world as an illusion. There's a running theme in the manga One Piece that there's these Excellent Swords in the world. These master-grade swords are really strong, but it's only in the hands of a true master that their true potential is realized. The character Zoro however, has a lot of seemingly Buddhist ideals and thoughts. Zoro basically doesn't believe in swords, even though he needs high grade swords for his ridiculous fighting style. (A running gag in the show early on is he keeps breaking his swords because he's too strong, or rather, he's too focused on strength, he thinks at first 'If I can just become this strong, I can cut through that') Which might explain why Zoro continues to pick up cursed swords. Noone else wants them, and usually thinks of them as well, cursed. But Zoro is not superstitious enough to believe in an unlucky sword. I think he sometimes mentions that he can 'feel' that a sword has good quality, or maybe even that it's strange, but his whole swordsmanship philosophy arcs back to that Buddhist idea that the world is an illusion. It isn't until later in the series that he starts to figure it out.
I can't speak for everyone, but When I think about Japanese fighting, I think swords, katana's, samurai, etc When I think about chinese fighting, I think about monks, hand-tohand, brutal fights of fists, epic battles with masters of many different weapons. Personally, I think that japanese swords are as popular as they are because the katana (and few variations of that basically boil down to different lengtsh of such) is an icon that represents an entire era in japanese hystory. many hundreds of years were spent with katana's as the common weapon by novice and master alike. Whereas in chinese media fighters (ala musou games) are depicted being skilled in many different weapons.
@@jacobhuskinson3854 you're entitled to your own opinion. Though that said I'm not really talking about the peasants here- we all know that Chinese hystory, any hystory, really, is no where near as glorified and epic as it's made out to be in fiction and stories.
Japanese fighting is much more than swords, katana´s, and samurai.. Just like you said, Japanese monks also were fighters. And there are many more japanese weapons. And also the okinawan weapons are kite good. th-cam.com/video/TEhM9Q6L3jM/w-d-xo.html This is a good video about japanese weapons.
@Mister Guy Except it wasn't. The Katana was the status symbol carried during periods of "piece", where no wars where happening, but mostly personal brawls and they began to practice sword combat for duels in a more sportship way to show off.
Well, i studied Wing Chun for some years, and we did a little sword work. There are two distinct types of Chinese swords. The one most that gets the most screen coverage is the double edged sword, which my teacher said was more for dueling, and the curved saber type, which was more for battle. That may explain some of it. Interesting that Korea, which was constantly between China and Japan, seemed to favor the Katana.
Chinese swords are straight, with two blades, representing the integrity of a gentleman according to Confucian beliefs. Therefore, we often see it appear more as a political or status symbol.
The katana (And other Japanese swords) is also a type of ancient Chinese dao / sword. production process also comes from ancient Chinese technology. katana, It is a dao used by the ancient Chinese when they moved to Japan (ancient Japan before the 13th century was the history of the establishment of a regime in China). It is similar to the Chinese Tang dao 唐刀 and miao dao苗刀. NO Japanese and korean sword in history.
The technic of forging Japanese swords was invented by Chinese during Tang Dynasty. Put a hard metal inside a soft metal to obtain the characteristics of both. In fact, Japan still keep a sword gifted by Tang Dynasty emperor in their museum.
Yeah you are right. The japanese was heavily indluenced by tang dynasty. Even to this day, their culture was based on tang dynasty. Not just swordmanship
Ironically, Tang Dynasty banned Tang swords from being carried into Grave. Plus, Tang Swords was considered as a property of the military and they were very expensive to be forged and owned. Because of these factors, Tang swords did not get preserved well. (Not easy to be accessed by common folks) (Most found swords got Rusty and difficult to use it to recover the appearance) Meanwhile, Japanese treated their swords in a different way.
Also, Tang swords have a straight shape and they were designed to cut through metal armor during horse fight. Japanese swords have a curved shape and they were designed to cut through wood-leather armor/flesh. Chinese invented lots of amazing technic but mostly they lost them themselves. It is mainly because of their "prefer literature restrict technic" cluture. People who were good at engineering/building/Smithing were never been assigned an important social status. Meanwhile, Smiths in Japan had a great social status.
That's nothing to be proud of. Coming up with something but then unable to develop it further and another country picks it up and make a better version out of it and makes a greater cultural impact.
Basically. Watch any Donnie Yen film in the last ten years and he literally kills everyone by just simply boxing. Like I mean he doesn't even implement kicks 90% of the time. He will literally Mike Tyson you to death.
@@daoyang223 interesting WingChun is made famous by Bruce Ler precisely because he says it doesn't work and he incorporated styles from Martial Arts around the world to invent his own style. Wimgchun is nice but I don't get the hype.
Often in European and Japanese early periods, the sword was a sign of wealth. You could arm a half dozen men with spears or axes for what it took to make a single sword.
Well, in Chinese culture it was a Junzi (gentleman) thing to have a sword at the waist. It was supposed to mean that the man was both accomplished in academia and in martial arts. But mostly it's just a tool for wealthy scholars to '装逼＇.
Mal Tech the word @flysmask used means "to be pretentious", as chinese swords similar to other cultures' counterparts are still fairly expensive and also a sign of wealth with ornated hilt and sheath. The more commoners' weapon of choice would be the Dao, which was more like a cutlass and often made with much cheaper materials.
Agreed. Vikings had alot of makeshift equipment but they were earning for the best sword. It's a status symbol. O conceal carry and so do my friends. We do criticize each other for our guns. The glock guys likes to shit on the other guys that don't carry glocks. In the US a 1911 (45 acp) is the excalibur weapon. Rifles are considered war weapons. Pistols are self defense weapons so it's very personal.
I'll probably botch this retelling, but I remember reading something about Confucius and the Art of War, saying how every weapon had an advantage and a disadvantage depending on the situation, and no one weapon was better than the other. Also how the weapon in the end is only as good as its user, and to never underestimate your opponent. I also read a part where he was to fight someone, and his opponent was ready, with a sword, and got his ass beat by a wooden training sword. Expect the unexpected!
to be fair we got the whole thing in Japanese as well with the most famous warrior of theirs being Miyamoto Musashi who fought his most famous fight with an oar
As a film maker doing sword fight, Japanese sword technique is easier to learn for inexperienced actor compare to the complex body flow of Chinese sword especially Jian
True, or at least it seems that way on the surface, and film viewers won't be able to appreciate the difference between improper or proper Japanese sword technique, since it's more sutble
not so much, chineses sword is easy too, because it promotes piercing than cutting just imagine ways of doing this from form to form body & last sword position., due to the thinness of a sword,
So basically in Japanese movies the sword often becomes the variable that prevails and helps the character's path. Whereas in chinese shows it's always about the character's development and heart, ultimately surpassing the sword or no longer needing the sword? And hence Jian isn't as popularly emphasized as Katana despite there are lots of legendary tales of Jian similar to Excalibur etc.
Interesting video. I think it might also be the result of traditional Chinese imperial culture which valued philosophers and wise men over soldiers or warriors, and the latter were considered lower in social rank. While in Japan the samurai or warriors were the ruling class. Chinese martial arts are highly valued today but traditionally martial men or soldiers were considered lower rank than learned wise men
Not really. What really happened was the sword replaced by the spear in the warfare in history. So Chinese essence of the cold steel weapons mostly concentrated in the types o spear they used.
@@easternstrategist5276 the spear didn't replace the sword, the spear was always the main weapon, and not just in china, the japanese also used spears and other long polearms as the main weapon.
yamiyomizuki lt did replace the sword though not entirely. In the Han Dynasty, carrying a sword for an ordinary man is as common as nowadays everybody has a cellphone, and which was encouraged by the government. Therefore, in certain battles, you can actually see group charge with swords after all the soldiers empty their arrows or crossbows. But spear, though it already existed long time ago, gradually made soldiers gave up using the sword since the Han Dynasty. Standardized spear formation of infantry started to largely exist as supporting team to the Heavy cavalry, which also happened in the West. In this case, sword was no long important. That was how sword was marginalized in China. In fact in the Tang Dynasty you can even see the use of hammer in certain units. There were various weapons among the army. Sword was only one of them.
@@easternstrategist5276 That actually makes the point about swords in that historically, pretty much all over the world, they were sidearms to be used when the primary weapon couldn't be used. You see this everywhere throughout history, even the Roman legions would only go to the sword after they've thrown their pila first.
@@Riceball01 If you look at the later development of the Roman legion, infantry started to be marginalized while heavy cavalry became the dominant force. Therefore Roman infantry also had to largely relied on spear formation to hold the line to support for the cavalry. This happened mainly due to the tech innovation than leveled up the importance of cavalry. This same thing happened to China. The elite soldiers went to be the heavy cavalry, while low quality and poor trained soldiers only need to form the spear formation. Especially in Chinese case, since there were various weapon coming out like halberd, spear with hammer and hundreds of crazy stuffs, there was really the lack of point to train on sword specifically. In Chinese army, the mix use of weapons were quite common. So you can see that sometimes every infantry man had a bow or crossbow, and in the formation there was the mix use of weapons as spear, hammer, blade, sword, halberd and many others that had no english translations.
your videos are... insanely good. I feel myself looking at everyday human behaviour, news and basic life with a more refreshing perspective! I am so grateful to have found your channel.
Ninja use lots of different weapons too. And polearms and bows are popular samurai weapons besides. Further, people/characters like Musashi and Gintoki are famous for overpowering enemies even with a wooden sword; in Japan too it’s about the strength of your ki, not your weapon (also the Yakuza series where Kiryu can overcome anyone with just his fists). But, like a knight, officer, king, or emperor, a samurai’s sword was a symbol of his rank and status. This cultural history gives it extra significance in both European and Japanese cultures despite the above.
@@camrendavis6650 Those are just the Chinese pronunciations of those words. Donghua (Chinese) = Douga (Japanese), and Manhua (Chinese) = Manhwa (Korean) = Manga (Japanese). In China, they tend to call cartoons (Donghua) and anime (Dongman) separate things, as well as Japanese anime (Dongman) and Chinese anime (Guoman). And yes, Chinese anime have been growing as of late.
4:00 Kenshin does get stonger in the original story. His new sword isnt depicted as stronger, but to match his new strengh (that is to protect others). His blade was broken on the first duel because he was using a sword meant for killing and not to protect others. On that same arc the villan also uses a sword forged by the same blacksmith and it is as strong as his.
Rurouni Kenshin fan here. Technically, his new sakabatou is actually considered better too. The first version is the "shadow" of it. While the true sakabatou was dedicated to a temple instead. Kenshin gains access to the true sakabatou when he's ready to accept himself as a Rurouni - he doesn't want to lose himself as the hitokiri anymore. The new sakabatou is symbolic of his choice to stay Rurouni and never lose control again/never descend into the hitokiri again. So while it's technically a better sakabatou, it's also symbolic of the series themes and messages about the vow to never kill again. Also, the sword broken by Seta was also a sakabatou. It broke because Seta was confident in himself while Kenshin was doubting himself, fearing that he couldn't win against Shishio if he didn't regress back to the hitokiri. Kenshin had doubts so his sword broke to metaphorically show that he's doubting himself. His new sakabatou doesn't break because Kenshin understands himself as the Rurouni. He beats Seta and now Seta has a broken sword because Seta has mentally broken upon learning that Shishio has taught him a foundation of corruption and cruelty. Seta has lost his worldview and has doubts, so Kenshin wins their second duel.
Kenshin fan here. This is inaccurate. Kenshin received a sakabato when he told the Arai Shakku [the swordsmith] he will swear off killing. That sakabato served him well for years until his vow is tested. Arai Shakku improved his technique of forging, creating a sword for "peace", thus allowing Kenshin to replace his old sakabato with a superior one.
Rurouni Kenshin Fan here lol. I think the symbolism and meaning of Kenshin's Sakabato is open to interpretation, Kenshin invites open discussion on what the sword means to viewers. For me I believe the point of Kenshin's first Sakabato was yes it's the shadow/replica version of the real Sakabato. The blacksmith who made it wanted to test Kenshin's will and oath and he predicted Kenshin will face hardships with the Sakabato, so he purposely gave Kenshin the lesser version of it and Kenshin is so powerful and lethal that he's handicapping himself in order to protect others, including villains. Kenshin could had easily killed all his villains but he chooses the path with the most resistance. As Kenshin's past catches up to him, stronger foes and villains challenge him and eventually his sword will break, thus testing his will. Would Kenshin continue being a pacifist despite having the symbol and tool of his oath broken? Is his will broken when the sword is broken? Kenshin decided to keep going despite that and stayed strong to his oath. That is when he finally recieves the true version of the Sakabato, now that his he is 200% sure of his will. The real Sakabato represents Kenshin's undying determination to keep his oath and protect others. Why does Kenshin have an edge at all if he doesn't want to kill people? Because 1. that's too easy, 2 he was trained and taught the way of killing, the Sakabato is a mean to not completely declaw himself, he wants to recreate himself and turn his killing ways in a way that could save people and 3 he wants that killing intent that he had to look back at him because he feels extremely guilty and regretful of the past that he knows he can't change, it's a reminder of the reality he's gone through.
I think a lot of it has to do with media presence. Example in anime, Japanese legend often had a Katana class weapon. Live action movies largely were Japanese early on as opposed to Chinese in nature. In short, one culture had media presence while other took until about 15 years ago to be more available. Largely China was demonstrating martial arts over all and not many stories focused at weapons particularly.
Part of the reason perhaps because during Edo period in Japan, swordsmanship (kenjutsu) becomes one of the virtue a samurai has to master. Even though in actual combat samurai don't use sword that much, the relative peace of three-centuries-long Edo period has stagnated the samurai class into civil servants that romanticize the warrior culture. Along with the invented term of samurai spirit (bushido), during that period sword becomes something that symbolizes that warrior culture, and can be seen decorated plenty of samurai houses. Samurai also brings them anywhere they go as status symbol. They're also allowed to murder anyone who disrespect them (kiri sute gomen) at that exact time and place with the sword. Also during that time, a number of people were so obsessed with a perfectly made sword that random sword-killing (tsujigiri) became rampant in big cities. It's a case of people trying out newly forged sword to test the sharpness of the blade by slicing anyone they passed by, usually at night. Samurai class themselves also has this habit of testing a blade's sharpness when they're tasked to execute people (usually criminals who are sentenced to death). A lot of post-war Japan entertainment took a lot of inspiration from samurai culture during this period, since they had plenty of archives about. Part of it because the fascist Imperial Japan treasured that part of history as a tool of propaganda. So yeah. I guess that contributes a lot on why the sword persists in popular imagination.
I love how the chinese cinema focuses on the diversity of weapons, making a master of weapons to be far more formidable than a master of the sword. ... unlike in Anime, where the guy with the ball and chain, throwing stars, shields and spear, bow and arrow will almost always lose to the swordmaster.
Funny bc Japan has way more practical "weaponless" martial arts than China does. You don't see Kung Fu used in MMA. Btw I'm a hafu (just to disclose my potential bias) and I love China and Kung Fu, but I've seen comments about Chinese martial philosophy vs Japanese martial philosophy that are untrue and not based in historic fact. My take is that China had more variety in weapons (due to Japan's lack of access to quality metal), but less training in what to do if you are disarmed or at a disadvantage
@@Kitajima2 I respectfully disagree, trapping, a common term in MMA came from Wing Chun through JKD, and has since become important part of mixed martial arts. Anderson Silva uses it. Striking and kicking from Kenpo that went into MMA also came from Shaolin Kenpo that got passes through Japan and be assimilated into their fighting style. Sure there are many fake martial artist nowadays, if you're to ask some backwater Karate sensei that never truly fight trained fighter, he will probably performs more or less the same. But remember there are also Sanda fighters, Jackie Chen, Donnie Yen and Jet Li, those guys probably knows how to fight. But China, again, being a closeted country was not part of those worldwide event. They didn't participate in world boxing, nor part of any MMA organization, as much as they also didn't partake in Google, Facebook, etc. All I'm saying is, their mistake is not participating in those things (for political reason), if they are, I truly believe their best fighters probably will came out. Am not saying Kungfu is the best waaaa waaa, but I also don't want to look down on it because of reason stated above. Just remember, when China enters the Olympic, they are one of the top 3 with USA and Russia, to dismiss them just because you haven't seen them fight in a tourney seems like a logical fallacy. Instead we should encourage them to participate in those MMA events, who knows maybe 10 years from know we will have a champ from there, at that point, will you still think Kungfu is bad?
After WW2, the US and Japan gained a cultural link many other countries don't have. We import japanese cars and technologies, and have also adopted words, foods, etc. For this reason katanas have become more famous than any other asian sword. It is not the fault of any country, it is evidence of the link between the U.S. and Japan. That's my hypothesis. Thanks for coming to my Ted talk.
Basically, no. The reason why Japanese traditional shit is popular in the west descends from one really fucking successful novel called Shogun, that lead to a massive rise in Traditional Japanese culture popularity. Combine this with a damn fine catalogue of Samurai movies that movie buffs loved, and generally really early amazing works from brilliant directors like Akira Kurosawa (quality China still hasn't even gotten too), and it's pretty understandable why anything associated to Samurai mythos are more popular then Chinese anything.
@@fearedjames it has everything to do with soft power, japanese anime and games naturally promote their culture, Chinese culture lacks this avenue of advertisement to the West. but there are some very good Chinese fantasy dramas emerging recently that expands on the Wuxia genre.
Rainbow Dashtruction Nah, there’s more evidence than entertainment. Take food for example, universal ingredients in Asian cuisine are always called by their Japanese name in the West.
The Kwan Dao was specifically anti cavalry. Its goal was to hook and cut saddle straps, that's why it's also heavy, if the swing and weight wasn't enough to cut the strap it hooked you can just drop it and it'll finish the job once the counterweight hits the ground.
Not in the single movie, not in single literature or any other form, not even once the Japanese had a message saying you don't need much skill if you have a good sword.
Honestly. It's because the sword was never a sign of status like it was in europe and japan. In europe the sword was the traditional weapon of the nobility (because it was expensive to make a good sword until the late middle ages) while in japan the two swords were the sign of the samurai class (again, it was expensive to make a good sword). China on the other hand organized their society differently, and as such the sword never had the same cultural signficance. It was never a way of separating the social elite from the rest.
It must be noted that the sword had little symbolic presence for the samurai until they had basically been retired from warfare to be bureaucrats in the Tokugawa Shogunate. Skilled archery was a far greater talent to have before that. It's kind of like if modern soldiers who'd never seen war open carrying a pistol were acting as if it were the greatest weapon of warfare.
Tobias Åberg that’s a little simplistic. There was many reasons why the sword was valued all over old world civilizations, from japan and china, fo India, the Middle East and Europe. I don’t want to go on a rant on the variety of reasons, but the one that I think is most important pretty much anywhere is a swords unique ability to be worn pretty much anywhere. It’s the only prevalent purpose built weapon (so excluding knives and axes which can be multi use, or specificity war implements) that one can wear anywhere and still be modestly equipt. This means that it could be worn in court or just out in town. Therefore it’s the thing you build the closest relation too, you don’t bring a spear or bow wherever you go but a sword you can. In this way it’s an implement of just not offense but also defense giving it a more noble quality than a purely wartime instrument. These reasons gave it a high social standing, symbolizing, and increased romanticism.
The Jian is the double edged Sword, Spear or Dagger. The Dao is the single edged Saber, Glaive or Knife. The Changdao is a Dao while the Europe’s Zweihander is a Jian.
Kyriolexical Dino I’m just comparing the Changdao a 7ft piece of metal to the Zweihander another 7ft piece of metal. One is clearly a Dao while the other even though it’s not made in China is a Jian by definition.
I feel like even in Japanese films, animes, and shorts, they have constructed and deconstructed the Katana. Romanticized and realistic. They've done it all and I love it.
The katana was a deadly weapon back in the days, but ppl stopped using it when it became illegal at a time. If they don't train with it, it's basically useless since it can easily break from a swing by an inexperienced wielder. Btw the blacksmiths went forging cooking knifes after they weren't allowed to make katana s
HanEnder Eh, while your comment is mostly true, it’s also applicable to most weapons, including all the other types of swords The thing is, the katana can be effective at cutting, but so can many other swords, & the curve would only give marginal improvement to the cutting area & honestly, a weapon that easily breaks from an inexperienced wielder’s swing just isn’t a very good weapon in my opinion
@@depingchen330 I second that motion, though to be quite fair katanas are a sidearm due to its reach in a battlefield and the material they used to make the sword was crap (Pig Iron) that is why they had to fold it to be effective at cutting and it served its purpose well because ancient japan's armor wasnt on par with europe's.
I can only speak from my experience as a united states citizen and consumer of media within that culture. Within my own culture (but outside my hobby subculture which tends to know a good amount about international swords across history) if you asked someone to name 5 kinds of swords, you would get broad and overlapping categories if they could even name the 5- but they would almost all say 'katana' at some point. But if you asked them to name 5 kinds of Japanese swords they would be stuck at Katana. Likewise you could ask them to name 5 kinds of Chinese swords and you would be lucky to get a single answer. So its less that the Chinese don't care about swords, or weaponry in general, and more that other cultures don't know much about them. People know 'katana' but don't know odachi, tanto, wakazashi, ninjato. They might know "longsword" but actually mean "arming sword" and not know zweihander, kriegsmesser, montante, claidheamh-mòr. And likewise with Chinese swords at best they might know "jian" or "dao", or more likely "butterfly sword" or "hook sword" but not know niuweidao, changdao, or dadao. And that is just looking at swords specifically and not the wide ranges of weapons that these cultures used. But funny enough they might know these individual weapons by a photo or pointing to them in a movie. They may not know the names of them, but they have seen them before. People tend to know more than they think they do because they don't always know what things are called.
quite true. in Chinese fictions, it doesn't matter what weapon you use or not use, as long as you reach level 99 and max out all stats
Dark souls series in a nutshell
You're giving them too much credit, that's Japanese fiction.
In chinese fictions it's all about finding the best drugs to get more qi.
@@rabcor but don't use too much cuz it'll fuck up your FoUNdaTiOn
as long as you can reach the dao, everything is possible
@@Hyanuel this guy knows his Tao
"whatever Jackie Chan wants to use" sums up his movies pretty well
English to Jackie Chan dictionary
Chair : Weapon
Stairs : Weapon
1/2 Ham Sammich : Weapon
wait... so jackie chan is in fact dugu qiubai.... lol
I loved that line
I would like the comment but it's at 69.
I laughed out loud at that :)
Chinese swords look a lot like "regular swords" if you will. The katana has a very distinctive look, making it easier to gain repute.
Also, anime.
True that! Especially since 'our' cinema focuses on what we know historically: We know double-edged straight blades (european arming swords and long swords), one-handed curved swords (middle-eastern and napoleonic), spears, halberds, glaves. All the stuff the chinese also have. But the katana is a two-handed (!), short (!) sabre with a distinctive tip and sufficiently different guard and handle construction.
Of course there are other weapons in all three of these cultures, but the katana is an analogue to 'knightly' weapons, and I mean it was similarly romanticized to the long sword the romantic era made 'knightly', not what men-at-arms actually used. Weapons like the guandao didn't fit the western romantic definition of a knightly weapon.
Also, all the points this video made.
What do you have to understand. China's history is extensive backwards as well as forwards when it comes to sword and bladed weapons. Remember where the Japanese got their sword design from. The Chinese have been designing Superior and stylish looking blades since before the Vikings and the Europeans. Look up the Zhanmadao, Miaodao and Tangdao
@@camrendavis6650 Nobody doubts that the chinese (or the realms existing in the space of modern china) were advanced compared to europe in several eras.
What I was trying to say is that western cinema uses what western culture DOESN'T know. It doesn't matter who invented what, entertainment is the name of the game. If it is too similar, it won't do.
@@Rindsgulasch I am sorry
@@camrendavis6650 Superior is a stretch. The Zhanmadao was stylish for sure, but was more of a rough-and-ready foot soldier's weapon rather than a celebrated symbol of knightly prestige. The weapons that filled that niche (regular jian and dao) weren't *that* distinct, especially compared with the katana. Also the vikings *are* Europeans.
Perfect. When I was living in China studying martial arts I realized how rich their sword culture was. They were so amazing in sword making, they inspired all the neighboring countries in sword making, even the Japanese swords. Longyuan -now Longquan is a famous example, as it has produced for centuries some of the finest swords. I bought swords from there and still have them and enjoy them up to this day.
Someone made the interesting point that in China the soldiers were Conscripts, and thus did NOT have a Warrior Class that gained Great Honor like in Japan & The West. Not only that, but from what I've seen, Chinese Media focused more on Hand 2 Hand & Martial Arts Weapons in general, compared to Japan which focuses far more on Swords by themselves.
@@TheAyanamiRei It’s also due to how Chinese society was structured. A warrior type class similar to how European knights or samurai did not exist due to chinas centralised government. If a similar warrior class did exist then it would’ve ended as chinas feudalism came to an end (during establishment of the Qin dynasty) which was a thousand years before the concept of knights or samurais existed. This pattern isn’t strictly a Chinese thing either. After European ended their feudalism they began to phase out knights for a larger centralised army and same goes for Japan during the Meiji restoration.
But the most likely scenario as to why chinas swords isn’t as popular is simply because it isn’t as romanticised or their media isn’t as popular here in the west. Chinese tv shows don’t lack in sword action e.g Wuxia adaptations (smiling proud wanderer as an example) it’s just no one knows about it. People also seem to forget that warriors like knights or samurai who often are associated with swords (katana or king swords) are actually rarely used in history. They’re mostly a social status weapon if anything with the most common weapon used throughout all cultures being pole arms and later firearms.
Personally pole arms are seriously underrepresented and I would like to see more of them considering how prevalent they are throughout history.
@@TheAyanamiRei I think the Ming did have a hereditary warrior class, but this was not held in high regard. Also I think the Qing Bannermen might also count as a warrior class.
I think it has something to do with gun vs sword. And the need to keep an open mind.
@@egoamigo-1377 你的历史不够好，中国古代照样有军事贵族，比如汉朝的六郡良家子，唐朝的府兵，明朝的卫所，在王朝初年是拥有土地来履行军事义务的，但是没有类似于武士骑士那样封邦建国下的军事贵族
As someone who practices European swordsmanship and is Chinese, I would say that you are certainly right in that the Chinese don't care about swords. But I think I can explain why the Chinese don't care about swords. Firstly, I think the bigger question is why the Europeans and the Japanese care about swords. Despite personally practicing swordsmanship, I have to admit that the sword has no place in a battle when not paired with shields. Most often, swords are carried as a sidearm kinda like a modern pistol. There are exceptions like the European greatsword and the Japanese Odachi, but I am not aware of any Chinese equivalent to these (that aren't for cutting down a horse). The soldier's main weapon is usually a polearm--usually the spear but weapons like the guandao, naginata, or halberd also enjoyed varying degrees of popularity.
The sword is famous as a status symbol than a weapon. It is more expensive and difficult to acquire than most polearms and is usually relegated to the nobility or warrior class. Both the Europeans and the Japanese had a warrior class that was greatly respected, so their symbol gained the same respect. The Chinese soldiers, however, are usually conscripted. They are not respected like their European and Japanese counterparts and the sword is not considered their symbol, so the sword does not gain the same respect in China, where the spear was considered the "king of weapons" due to its greater practicality.
Lastly, Chinese culture does not penetrate as deeply in the west as Japanese culture does
Edit: I am getting a lot of comments from commentators more familiar with Chinese history than I am that swords were also once a status symbol in China, but the association appears to have been lost so long ago that it doesn't translate into modern day
Guan Yu was basically a demigod that is still an example for people of honor and integrity as he never betrayed his comrades or those he believed in nor did he ever break an oath once he made it. Most other Three Kingdoms generals were also similarly "Larger than Life" as it were, with virtues and vices spread among them liberally, but also their varied mastery of strategy, tactics, certain weapons, and even diplomacy. Dynasty Warriors as a video game series may get repetitive and stale, but it inspired me to look into the characters in greater detail outside the games and oh boy I was not expecting to find literal shrines to Guan Yu that are still visited to this day.
Pretty informative ngl, I’ll have to some research now
I’m glad someone pointed this out. I’m no weapon expert but the sword was a secondary weapon. Pole arms, axes, maces with shields were primary weapons. Swords were very incompetent when it came to puncturing/damaging the armor and killing the target. In Japan, they had pole arms, bows(they were masters in horse back archery, it’s actually insane) and I’m pretty sure they used a club called the kanabo
Nice explanation. Just like how its thought that knights only need swords, but in actual fact their essential weapons are like the polaxes and mace
Al Roslee indeed
The most legendary Chinese weapon? Jackie Chan's Ladder of The Some Place.
Chairs
I'd expect Bruce Lee's nunchucks to made the list. Guess you are not old enough, lol.
@@DarrenC_1024 you make me feel old, damn...
@@DarrenC_1024 it's just not as comical to say a phrase with that, that's it
Actually it's the folding chairs
Spears are a very unpopular weapon in fiction and fantasy it seems but in reality spears were the absolute god melee weapon.
In kung fu we call the spear as the king of weapons.
The "bo" staff and spear are my favourite weapons in chinese martial arts.
The staff by its simplicity and for being versatile, and the spear for the elegance and subtlety power.
spears can easily be broken with an axe
i think i once remember watching a vid explaining how spears, axe and swords are almost like rock, paper, scissors in medieval time
@@mamertvonn "easily broken"?!
Dude, you must have some serious reflexes, huh? I think a spear trust goes in about 40 km/h, imagine this in a fight to the death scenario, it's not impossible, but is very difficult to brake a spear in this situation. Even if you parry the spear trust, the spear guy has to be much more weaker than you.
And even if you brake the spear, you can use the broken pole to defend yourself.
yeah its long
try thrusting it forward
and the axe will just chop of the wood from your stick
look it up in yt
i dont remember the yt channel but i remember him having long weird beard
he talks about a lot of stuff
like the pummel located in a swords handel or the history of fencing
A sword has always been an "emergency sidearm" and pole weapons were the main weapon, even with the Samurai.
And you know why? It was always about the RANGE capability of the weapon.
But you don't see western heroes carrying rifles around, do you? They wield a pistol or - even better - a revolver. There is something about sidearms that makes them perfect for the "adventurer/hero" archetype.
@@capofantasma97 Rambo doesn't carry around an M60, he used an M60 in *one* iconic scene.
@@Mj-th7md Actually it's more about rank and file combat but everyone likes to compare most of these war weapons as 2 guys fighting in the street. A spear gives range but in ranks once they get past the tip all you can do is drop it and draw your sword.
@@Mj-th7md Range is nice but armor is the big issue here. 1 handed weapons have a hard time penetrating any form of armor. Polearms on the other hand can cut, crush, or puncture armor much easier. This has been true for both Asia and Western nations. Knights used polearms and spears a LOT more often than 2 handed swords.
“Whatever Jackie Chan want to use.”.
😂😂😂
Jackie chan in a ladder factory and he wants no trouble. Can YOU beat him?
That’s my favorite type of sword
Chuck Norris’s chest hair.
@@brytonwallis4817 Your comment is weird, but me like it.
Jackie Chan's ladder > Infinity Gauntlet
@Michal Arkadiusz Blaszczak Perfect....then there is no use of the gauntlet
Michal Arkadiusz Blaszczak *two child policy
**have as many children as you want as long as your rich enough to pay the fine and are ok with further overpopulating policy
jackie chan should be in endgame
@Michal Arkadiusz Blaszczak lol nice one
@Michal Arkadiusz Blaszczak
Fuc that Joke. No need to make a Joke about Chinas policy. This tread all about a Jackie and Thanos Joke. Mfers always gotta ruin shit with unnecessary comments
To sum up.
Japanese: the tool empowers the user, and it is the reward of his training.
Chinese" the tool is empowered by the user, and also, the continuity and reward of his training.
Both are right in their philosophies.
Best comment !! By my opinion
非常精辟
@bad bad mc bad then how come a courntry that always invaded by others become a third large courntry in the world?
@bad bad mc bad mandarin is not Chinese? 您真是无知
@bad bad mc bad You know something about China. But there's much more that you don't know.
I would suggest two major factors. First, the katana benefited from the unique historical context of Japan as a nation that took immense pride in its "warrior heritage" despite an unusually long period of enforced peace. Second, in the era when major advances in and expansion of information sharing and mass entertainment were occurring, reasonably high quality katana were far more readily available than any other distinctive traditional weapon.
The Edo period looms large in Japanese history. The warrior class were the undisputed dominant force in the culture, but without significant military engagements, that warrior culture as largely vestigial. Weapons which were more effective on the battlefield, such as spears, shields, and ranged weapons are wildly impractical and cumbersome in peacetime; but the katana is both distinctly martial and relatively easy to carry. Thus it took on a cult status as the embodiment of a peaceful nation's warrior heritage. The design, handling, and mythology of the katana was stabilized and codified to a degree few weapons outside Japan enjoyed. High quality katana were produced and preserved in amazing quantity compared to comparable weapons elsewhere that fell out of favor and/or were utilized to destruction.
Thus after Japan's borders were forcefully opened (and particularly in the aftermath of WWII when katana were stolen and dispersed as spoils of war) decent quality katana were relatively common, while any other sword the average person encountered (particularly in the US which became so dominant in entertainment) was likely to be either a decorative/parade piece, a minimized sport weapon, or a poorly maintained--if not outright mangled--museum piece. In comparison, the katana took on a legendary status and an outsized dominance where swords were presented.
This explains why Japanese kamikaze pilots carry swords into the mission
Spot on
Modern people have been brainwashed by Japanese propaganda. Because Japan and South Korea are assistants to the United States.
Japanese martial arts and weapons have been popularized in the West since the end of WWII, because of the US occupation of Japan. Before that, the West knows Japanese swords just as little as other Asian swords.
@@zhe8586 The katana (And other Japanese swords) is also a type of ancient Chinese dao / sword. production process also comes from ancient Chinese technology.
katana, It is a dao used by the ancient Chinese when they moved to Japan (ancient Japan before the 13th century was the history of the establishment of a regime in China). It is similar to the Chinese Tang dao 唐刀 and miao dao苗刀.
The reason in my opinion is simple :
European and japanese are more represented in entertainment media with swords and swordmen (the Ninja, the Knight, the Samurai) while the chinese are more represented with hand to hand combat and Kung-fu
Metal Shinobi , i agree with this. The legendary knights of europe and the Noble samurai are represented alot. This is what most people grew up with.
Chinese swordsmanship is amazing though.
Its a shame too, there are some really odd looking (and historical) sword designs.
Yes but the ninja weren't swordsmen in real life.
@@Raoh_Shaya exactly!
@@fransthefox9682 I spoke about how they were represented in the entertainment Media, but in fact a ninja woud've neither carry a sword nor wear their signature black Outfit
Japanese people: I need a better sword!
Jackie Chan: I need Ikea!
King of furniture
lollllllll
Lol
I think he has said a few times that his favorite weapon is a stool.
My favorite scene is in a market. Flings a bowl of dry curry in a dude's face.
i met jackie chan 1 time, he touched me and from that day on i became the ultimate weapon
The "sword" of destiny indeed.
Yuniko Yato
That’s a trash joke.
😂😂😂😂 this comment is so underrated
did u report police? since he 'touched' u.
Lol
"Whatever Jackie Chan wants to use", Explains the philosophy.
In Chinese movies losing a weapon doesn't mean losing the battle. And I love that. I love how they use everything as a weapon.
Bro. 😑 watch anime and get back at me.
@Eduardo Sanchez eeeeeeeeeeeer... no, Katana no is for ALL combat they used SPEARS,Bows, GUNS etc.
Samurai uses a katana mainly for status and in rare ocasions in one fight
Sorry my english.
True, they care more about putting people in camps and organ harvesting them for being the wrong race.
@@boodatruths159 That’s just the modern day corrupt chinese govt, you gotta separate that from the actual chinese culture
While you were partying, I studied the blade.
While you were studying the blade, I studied the folding chair.
Ah yes. Folding chair. According to stephen chow movies even the police can't charge you of it. It is a secret weapon
好折凳
In achient chineese mythology the folding chair was the greatest weapon of them all.
tips fedora*
I studied ladder.
There is a saying:
The king of the 10 most powerful weapons is the folding chair.
@Kakashi commentor That's the sound of those who manage to survive a hit from the almighty folding chair
This is the code followed by WWE wrestlers
Hahahahaha carrying one on the street legally.... great weapon indeed!
This sounds like something from Stephen Chow. "God of Cookery" Lol
Ahhhhh I see. You are interested in cooking
I train with the Chinese "Jian" and had a sort of respected envy over the iconic status of the samurai sword. This video essay changed my perspective! But, of course, it is not the utility but the essence of the user itself - how revealing.
In Kungfu there's a saying: the weapon is just an extension of ones arm.
Exactly. This statement represents the logic of kungfu masters.
Not just but AN. The daoist believed everyday objects had life in them if someone breathed that life into it. The belief was passed from China to Japan. So swords in China actuality were respected if you were daoist. This dude forgets that most people in the han dynasty and ancient China were daoist not buddhist
as this video shows, the weapon and how well its used, gives a look into the wielder's way of thinking or personality, this is how we can come to understand why 'only when fighting, can two people understand each other' moments arise.
Extension of one arm?! Are they joking? How do you think is an extension arm?.....oh come on do you think that you can block a steel rod with you arms?
@@cristiandagale8337 It's an extension of you because you manipulate the weapon. Because you move it with your arms and movement, it is an EXTENSION. You never depend on the weapon but rather depend on your skills to make the weapon reach your enemies
"The loner who seeks defeat“ this guy is the most powerful swordsman in the novel, he has four swords in his life,
The first sword
"My first sword was so sharp, strong and fierce that none could withstand it. With it in hand, I strive for mastery by challenging all the heroes of the Northern Plains in my teenage years."[4]
The second sword represented by a wooden tablet)
"My second sword was violet in hue and flexible in motion. I used it in my 20s. With it, I have mistakenly wounded righteous men. It turned out to be a weapon of doom that caused me to feel remorseful endlessly. I cast it into a deep canyon."
The third sword
"My third sword was heavy and blunt. The uttermost cunning is based on simplicity. With it, I roamed all lands under Heaven unopposed in my 30s."[6]
The fourth sword (represented by a wooden sword)
"After the age of 40, I was no longer hampered by any weapon. Grass, trees, bamboos and rocks can all be my swords. Since then, I have developed my skills further, such that gradually I can win battles without reaching for weapons."
Then I hit him with a barrage of ninja stars
Poison ones!
@@mikebussy3334 It is uncommon to face weapons that you are not familiar with.
By drawing parallels from other weapons (Poison Shurikens are like Poison needles stacked together), they adjust themselves accordingly.
@@HeroesHoshi have you ever been hit by a poison ninja star?
@@HeroesHoshi he is weeaboo lol
A lack of exposure to historical Chinese fiction I think is one reason.
Christian Mills or in their culture.
They are more subtle.
If you're interested, the Legend of the Condor Hero is a good place to start.
@@zuiwoshachang kinda of a big undertaking. I would propose The Book and the Sword as an easier start
If Hollywood would stop using asian historical elements as just tropes to attract the casual weeb audience , maybe they'd see there's more to it than just ninjas,samurai,katanas etc
I think one of the reason for that could be the fact that Japan is supposedly an ally of the west while China isn’t.
Therefore, this could potentially cause a lack of exposure of Chinese culture in the western world.
This was a great video. I absolutely love it, especially the end "and whatever Jackie Chan decides to use" that one is pretty much a global rule for weapon choices in fight scenes. Jackie's the King
The sword, as depicted in Chinese cinema, is just an extension of the warrior's martial arts ability. Usually, the warriors are depicted as skilled fighters even without the sword, as seen in numerous kung fu movies where unarmed combat is often the highlight. Therefore, the sword does not take center stage. The Japanese, however, places a huge emphasis on swords, both physically and spiritually, and is usually the showcase of the fight scenes in their cinema or cultural expressions of honor and hierarchy. What is most showcased in cinema is often what becomes popular culture.
more like Chinese sword are lame af
@@knight1506 LMAO never seen a dao huh?
@@knight1506 Katanas are very overrated they really aren't that good.
Not really. Even the japanese don't go so far as thinking the weapon is more important than the man. Some may do think like that. Not all, and not common.
Consider the example of the duel between Miyamoto Musashi vs Sasaki Kojiro. Kojiro used his prized long katana, the 'laundry pole', a famous weapon uniquely his own.
Musashi used a simple long oar.
Musashi defeated and killed Kojiro.
(turns out that 'spiritual power in weapons' is at worst hogwash, and at best, not that important...)
The japanese may appreciate craftmanship more than the Chinese, I think, and that's about it.
It's because the Katana is highly symbolic in nature, Katanas are family heirloom, temple offerings, spiritual anchors, seals and all that.
One must remember that Japan doesn't have the iron to make these weapons and always import (I'm assuming smuggle) such materials.
Their process of making it into steel isn't exactly quick and easy neither.
Then the steel folding process is quite ardurous often needing 2-3 smiths.
Add to that when making these... there's always a Shinto ritual (I'm assuming this was gone later?).
And you have a sword with notable strengths and weakness like any type of sword... but extravagantly steeped in tradition and spirituality. So with a sword like that, would you just say "Eh, it's a sword".
Or would you, like how the Japanese have been doing so in the silver screen, go "IT. IS. A. SWORD!!!"
You'd be thinking why would they use it then and have it have a chance to break?
Well here comes in the Bow, Spear and Matchlock rifles, the actual primary weapons of Samurais. Oh there are other sword that serve the purpose of weapons too (that have similar design to Katanas).
"whatever Jackie Chan wants to use" is practically what 独孤求败 （loner who seeks defeats）highest attainable sword skill level seeks out any item can be a "sword" for him
That was the greatest connection in the video.
The way she wins by getting her sword cut in half is some great storytelling on its own. I need to see that movie.
Oooh, you haven't seen Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon? Definitely do so! It's a fantastic movie ^_^
It's a great movie, that fight scene is one of the best in history.
She won by wit.
@@Arthur_CNW I can't stand the wire work in it. All that running through tree tops stuff. Which is a shame, since I always hear how good a movie it actually is.
@@FrttMs it's part of the artistic element and it's not like they were trying to hide it
Japanese katana are cool and all, but it's so annoying how Hollywood defaults Chinese or any other Asian weapon to "Katana, or Shuriken" cuz it just looks stupid asf
确实很傻
The katana (And other Japanese swords) is also a type of ancient Chinese dao / sword. production process also comes from ancient Chinese technology.
katana, It is a dao used by the ancient Chinese when they moved to Japan (ancient Japan before the 13th century was the history of the establishment of a regime in China). It is similar to the Chinese Tang dao 唐刀 and miao dao苗刀.
NO Japanese and korean sword in history.
@@barbiebarbie1813
苗刀は日本刀を元に作られたらしいけど…🤔
I once had a nightmare that I was stuck and being hunted by Jackie Chan in a ladder factory
Aaron Baron why was he chasing you?
Did you survive?
Did you survive?
@Bolaji Windapo he has better chance of survival if he stood next to the elephant's foot in the Reactor 4 Basement
Ah hell nah
The strongest character whom we know by name and never met him...had reached a level so high, thay he ended up using everyday objects as his weapon of choice....the philosophy of Jackie Chan...
That is not Jackie Chan's philosophy. We have this concept before he was born.
Amen.
@@pacificdawn5999 or maybe this concept appeared retroactively with his birth
John Wick?
Dugu Qiubai.
“Ascending above material objects is a sign of enlightenment...hence, the stick thing”
this will be my quote of the month
People may misunderstand...
@@daomickael7883
It already have been 5 months, my quote of the month has changed
@@Bamthis make it your quote of the month again
1. The person exists when the blade exists. 劍在人在
2. The blade merges with the person using it. 人劍合一
3. The blade exists in the heart. 劍在心中
4. No blade exists. 劍不在
5. Heaven and the person as one 天人合一
“The strongest character has reached a level so high that he ended up using everyday objects as his weapon of choice.”
Later...
“Whatever Jackie Chan wants to use.”
Does that mean...?
It’s not as weapon of choice but anything can be my sword.
Anything you do, like folding your shirt and pants can be count as kung fu, or can be adapted into kung fu.
He is the reincarnation of the Loner who seeks defeat!
@@BeastOrGod I feel like I've read that title somewhere...is it a novel?
@@HeliPotter2000 Karate Kid?
I just love the fact Jackie Chan always gets his own catergory.
yes. well, there are martial arts movies and then there are jackie chan movies.
That's because there's few Martial Artists in Film who are willing to LITERALLY put their life on the line like Jackie does. He's LITERALLY almost died multiple times on set.
Then you add in the fact that he's MASTERED Improvised Weapons like Ladders, and it's obvious why. That's not even getting into how Jackie Chan frequently has his Villains working TOGETHER in careful choreographed moves, UNLIKE most films, where you see Villains just standing around waiting their turn OR doing moves in the background. Jackie depicts FAR more Realistic Group Fighting Scenes.
He's honestly a Legend like no other.
"Spoiler alert: I don't think China cares much about swords."
...Brilliant.
I admire the balls on the guy for upfront honesty 😂
@@airawolf4261 dude, that's not honesty, mainly stupidity. The chinese had swords in museums that our modern technology cannot replicate. Early japanese swords are not katana but chinese style swords. They learned metalology from the chinese and slowly developed the katana. The problem with the chinese blacksmiths was that they keep their blacksmithing skill as a secret. They don't pass on knowledge like the japanese do. Now the chinese loss can't even make a decent sword other then props. Those ridiculous kung fu movies didn't help their popularity neither.
@@donaldmaxwell3171 but honestly speaking chinese hold other weapons such as spears and shields of a much higher regard than swords and being fluent and having many friends from and having been to china i can say with confidence that the chinese do not really care that much about swords favour much more elegant weaponry such as spears or simply martial arts, calling his statement stupidity is not entirely wrong nor right as his statement wasnt that wrong the chinese simply dont care as much about swords as other countries do
@@Takodachiii swords are weapon of kings and generals so.......no
qwedsa789654 tang doesn’t matter if people don’t care
The hype and reasons for why katanas are so popular reminds me of the western view behind 1911 pistols. Don't get me wrong, they're great guns, but I feel like a lot of people hold it above ALL pistols no matter if other pistols have equal or even better aspects..
The popularity of katana's has to have something to do with movies and American's stealing a lot of them after WWII. In reality it's a limited weapon, in many ways. No hand protection, heavy for it's size, short for a two handed sword. It's actually not as good as many European swords, and in comparision to sabre it's completely inferior. Katana fighter has no chance against sabre in any duel.
Monk " everything is ilusion"
Jacky " everything is weapon"
Assassin: illusions are weapons
Christian Mihalcin Stoner: weapons are illusions.
Soviets : "we are weapon"
Weapons are weapons
Chuck Norris: you call that weapon?
Rites (禮)
Music (樂)
Archery (射)
Charioteering (御)
Calligraphy (書)
Mathematics (數)
Those are the skills a ancient Chinese noble have to master and we can see only archery , so sword isn't a favourite weapon in ancient china ,thus it's not as famous
Sword is to Rites and higer nobles.
Yes, agree with that, on the other hand japanese sword became famous because of the rebirth of bushido in ww2, they carried around a katana (even though the cheap version one, except the one owned by generals) everywhere and at every war, even some of their pilots brought one with them, while doing kamikaze. Us army won the war, brought themselves back katanas owned by those Japanese soldiers, that's why it's became famous. And bushido itself is reincarnated from japanese old philosophy of the way of sword (literally the meaning of bushido), as the Invincible Sword Saint 'Musashi Miyamoto' himself stated in his book Gorin no Sho, the way of the warrior is the way of 'pen and sword'.
Good sword=noble
Not even for japanese. The warriors are warring using bow and spears while sword was just a status symbol. Not until later when they romanticize sword that it becomes as popular as now.
Tl;dr Japanese is good in selling their swords
China definitely hold their military and weapons at high regard but they care much more about their spears and longer range weapons rather than swords as well as that skill is considered more important than weapons
I've always felt that in Chinese cinema, the weapon is only as good as the person who uses it. You can have a great weapon, but if you're not skilled, it's not of much value. I think that is why I tend to enjoy Chinese martial arts films more than the Japanese ones. No offense to the Japanese filmmakers! I enjoy a lot of those, too. But I tend to search out Chinese martial arts films first.
TheJohno95 so you don’t like anime..?
I can take it or leave it. As a genre, it's not my go-to. But there are some good ones.
I am a renowned Japanese filmmaker and I am deeply offended!
Oh, yeah? What movies have you made? I might have seen them.
@@TheJohno95 7 Samurai, Yojimbo, Spider Web Castle, Sword of Doom, and a few others.
What a fantastic channel, so glad I found this! You are doing a great job!
In Chinese Novel / Cinema Culture there is a stereotype of weapons for different type of roles in the story.
Swords / Jian : Usually carried by scholars. Shows refinement. Scholarly skills are swordsmanship, horse riding, chess, poems, music and education. Almost similar to knights and samurais.
Sabre or Broadsword / Dao : Are carried by imperial troops and especially constables or sheriffs. Law enforcers. Some constables in the later Dynasties like Ming Dynasties carry a pair of Tongfa though.
Staff / Gun : Carried by Monks. The idea of using staff is because it is perceived to be a less offensive weapon. Under the code of conduct, Monks have the right to defend but no right to kill.
Spears / Chiang : Default weapon of the Imperial troops. Especially the Infantry and Calvary. There were alot of variations for spear though. Guan Dao was one of them. Staff mounted blades were popular because usually a one on one fight between leaders in a Warfield is usually done on a horseback.
Arrows / Jian : Need no introduce. Long range weapons. The Chinese used stone loaded catapults too. The Yuan Dynasty which was a Mongolian rule over China, the Mongolians conquered China with a superior calvary. Their horses and archers were of better quality. Till the Kamikaze because they had no sailing experience.
Flying Guillotine / Xie Di Zi : A weapon that remains as fiction. The idea only appeared in Qing Dynasty, the last dynasty where the rulers are Manchurian. A weapon used by private squad of hitmen hired by the Emperor or the imperial family. The story portrays the hitmen will store the decapitated skulls in their family temple. Their extinction happened because their presence became obselete after the imperial court started buying firearms.
I wonder if there was a class division between the jian and dao
@@Tareltonlives there is somewhat of class division in a way that Jian usually represents refinement. Also represents nobility. Example the Emperor's personal weapon usually is a Jian. Unlike Dao which is meant for slashing, Jian is used like an Epee or a Rapier.
Dao has a very rugged image. Also usually Jian is made of better materials. That's why usually Law Enforcers carry Dao as a mass issued weapon. But in Novels there are certain rare Dao of excellent quality. However users are very rugged people like King of pirates or Chief of mountain bandits.
Tareltonlives
So Jian has to be crafted straight (which is not as easy as it seems since as it cools down it often shrinks and bends). It usually has edge on both sides. Whereas Dao is usually curved with only one-sided edge. In many cases the techniques in using a Jian is associated with the agility and speed of the user, hence many Jians are light-weighted. On the contrary Daos are more heavily weighted in most cases and associated with the power of the user. Just my understanding
@@Tareltonlives Jian is also known as the "gentleman's weapon" so there is indeed a sort of class division
Hehe, Gun
Yes I know it's obviously not pronounced like that, but I think it's just a funny coincidence that the spelling is the same
Japan and Europe: swords are an extension of one's honor and are really important to mythology
China: swords are a tool for the most part as the actual user is more important
Europe: king Arthur becomes legendary because of Excalibur
China: Bruce Lee's nun chucks are famous BECAUSE of bruce lee
(Not a good example as one of these people is only mythological but you get what i mean)
you completely messed up the first part... in kungfu we don't see swords as just tools.
m.th-cam.com/video/KgH-aMuuRdw/w-d-xo.html
i think this sword was made by gan jiang's teacher Ou ye zi
Exactly; European culture fundamentally evolved from an class of relatively equal aristocratic warriors, who relied on technology (especially metalworking)for dominance. The importance of the weapon was high, because the levels of quality can vary greatly and warriors were self funded, making high quality weapons extremely valuable in an era without scientific metallurgy. A slight difference in technique from one Smith to another is the difference between soft iron, brittle iron and steel
Actually in Chinese cultures, sword are a "gentleman weapon". People that associate with Chinese sword are scholars and to some extend taoist priest.
What the video say about a weapon can tell about his owner is correct. If a person carrying a sword in ancient China, he was probably an educated person compare to another guy carrying a Dao (another type of chinese weapons).
Lol never thought about this, but so true. Chinese swords are not really important. Wu Kongs staff however...
a weapon that has long surpassed metal gear...
R3CKONNER Wu kong staff is made of the hardest metal from the bottom of the sea, so according to the legend, since it’s the hardest, no other weapon can breaks it .
Yeah, ironically I've attributed staves as a Chinese weapon. Son Wukong's staff included.
The Heaven Sword wielded by Mie Jue Shi Tai was the best looking Chinese sword.
Honestly a shame because Jian are incredibly beautiful. Probably my favorite type of swords visually.
True, I have also come to love the Ming dynasty version of the jian. It is in my opinion, the best design for a side arm/civilian use weapon, with a good balance between cutting and thrusting, weight/balance, sufficient width and depth of the guard and a comfortable grip.
Looking at these Japanese films vs Chinese films, you see the difference in cinematic focus. In the Japanese films, the focus is on the swords and swordplay, the sword is almost the main character. In the Chinese films, the focus is on the fighter and the sword is treated more as a prop, exchangeable. In one Chinese scene in particular, the two fighters repeatedly toss their swords around and at one point almost trade blades, and half of the scene is hand-to-hand rather than sword-to-sword.
Which only goes to further your point that the Chinese don't seem to care as much about the sword as, say, Europe or Japan
It's a cultural thing. Japan has romanticized the sword and the Samurai, in the same sense that America has romanticized the gun and the Cowboy. With the firearms they used being just as romanticized as the men who used them. Colt & and Winchester used to be literal house hold names in America for generations, though less these days because the popularity of westerns have fallen and the rise of anti gun hate fueled by progressive movements. I also wouldn't say all of Europe is a Sword culture either. Central Europe and Western Europe have big Gun cultures, even countries like Switzerland. Swords are more of an English, French and Spanish thing.
ancient China has always been not stuck in the material, not for the material as the main philosophy of life。 We call “不滞于物” 。
@@Alte.Kameraden France England and Spain are like the biggest western european countries what.
"had reached a level so high, they end up using everyday objects as a weapon of choice."
sounds like Jackie Chan
In ancient China, poets and litterateurs were far more respected than militarists. Sword was a symbol of Junzi(person of noble character) in most times.
Also, Jian is just a general name. There are many different kinds of swords (not a single famous sword like Ganjinag, Taike)in China. The most famous one is named 龍泉寶劍(Dragon Spring Sword).
If you are really interested in Chinese sword or Jian,and perhaps Wuxia, you may watch a well-known Chinese anime series called Qin's Moon/Legend of Qin(秦時明月).
Meanwhile, in Japan the Samurai and Daimyo classes ruled for hundreds of years under the Shogunate, placing higher value in Japanese warriors and their signature weapon of choice: the Katana.
Are we seriously going to pretend that Sun Tzu didn't come from China and that China didn't fall into warring regions at a rather constant rate?
@@ZerogunRivale But there wasn't an entire ruling class of warlords that survived into peacetime like in Japan.
@@holdenkimura5034 the katana wasn't even a defining attribute of samurai culture until the relatively peaceful era under the Tokugawa bakufu. It was only when the warriors were forced to demobilize and turn into administrators that they began to inflate the properties of the katana as a status symbol.
@GiganX13 So what ?
As someone who practiced WuShu in China for well over 10 years, the “Jian” (sword) is a weapon, among hundreds that surrounds the spirit of kung fu. The weapon is a support, it’s a part of martial art and not the center of it. A martial artist will master fighting before going on to the staff, than sword, then spear…
中国要选择的武器太多，所以没有那一种武器多么被重视。不同需求用不同武器。同样中国人先是修心再修身，只要思想灵活任何物品都可以成为武器，武器只是配合人完成使命。就象拿金钱可以买任何东西，这是中国人思维。而日本武士垄断阶级，他们为保护利益必须看重武士刀。但资源匮乏，锻造技术不发达，只能更多选择武士刀。日本人思维就是金钱只能换金钱，范围太小。
John Wick with a pencil vs Jackie Chan with an eraser?
Eric Ling Bruce Lee with his bare hands Chuck Norris' remaining chest hairs still quiver at the thought of it
vs jason born with a pen.
@@scrubby2 any person with a ak47?
Chan would catch the pencil tip in the eraser and twist his wrist, breaking the point and making the pencil useless!
vs a stormtrooper with a red shell
First, in Chinese language, the definition of “sword” is actually kind of different than Japan and Europe. In Chinese, “剑（jian）” has to be a double-edged sword; in other words, the weapon such as Japanese katana will be defined as a sort of “刀（means blade or knife）” instead of a “sword” in Chinese view, because it only has one edged side.
In Chinese history, Jian was widely used as a type of actual combat weapon in the frontline military from Zhou dynasty（1046BC-256BC）to Han dynasty（202BC-220AD）; but during the Han dynasty, its position was gradually being replace by “环首刀”, the Ring-pommel blade, a type of single-edged straight blade. After Han dynasty, Jian became more and more unpopular on the frontline battle field. In military, it was usually only used by some certain special units or high rank officers like generals during the later dynasties.
And in Japan, the culture of katana worship is also mainly developed in the Edo period（1603-1868）. In the actual Sengoku period and earlier era, Japanese Samurais also prefer to use lance and bow rather than normal katana on the battle field. Edo period is a relatively peaceful era in Japanese history compare to earlier Sengoku period, large scale war is rare, and that is the time when katana become the symbol of Samurai identity.
However, I think the more direct reason about “not being famous” is just because modern Japanese culture industry is developed much better than China, and have much higher influence on western world.
Well, I think in Japanese culture, fightings are develop around the weapons. Whereas in Chinese, the weapons are developing around the fighting. In Chinese, we tend to see weapons accompanied martial arts such as Taiji or Wushu. But the martial arts are not developed around the weapons. In Japanese, martial art such as kendo is entirely developed around using sword.
I think because Samurais switched over to using guns from the bow and lance.
I agree with the last part, popularity is all based on culture. Westerners glorify the katana because the West is currently allies with Japan, however China is their rival. Why would the West want to glorify anything from their rivals?
@@bboygenetics9882 I think you are wrong, China has only been a rival in recent years. Prior to this, Japan was the main threat but the Katana has been popularised for a long time.
Doesn't Japanese also have 剣 (ken, double edged sword) vs 刀 (katana, single edged sword)?
"why use a sword when you got the strap?"
- Sun Tzu, Art of War
😂🤣
;-;
There's one thing,he is right,sword is symbol of someone,in chinese history,the mostly used by army and people is knife but sword
Good saying.
It's very interesting. I appreciate that Chinese directors use a bunch of different kinds of weapons for us to watch. It's nice like that.
Ya know that the Japanese and the Chinese have a similar philosophy in one way
"If the wielder is weak, even the most powerful weapon is useless"
This is why if games allow a level 1 character to equip a high-end weapon it still won't save them most of the time. Not having the skills and active abilities really hurts your ability to fight, and if your stamina/mana is too low to supply your attacks with a high-end weapon you can enjoy waiting for it to regenerate.
Some games let characters equip higher level weapons at a significant penalty to hit chance and damage, some games don't even let your mall ninja equip a real sword until after a dozen levels or so of the tutorial.
@@Foxxie0kun Yeah, true :/
a swordsman could not just inherit and wield the sword of his elder if he is not mentally and physically fit to handle it. .incase an epic fight erupted between two skillful swordsmen with their respective legendary swords one will always emerge as winner but it doesnot mean the loser is a disgrace to his sword. .in combat dying or surviving is not the ultimate objective of a warrior; it is how one wielded his sword honorably and according to his fighting code. .
*laffs in polearms*
*ancient chinese dud with auto crossbows* :
HA. speak for yourself.
It's a historical meme thing, swords aren't even the most used weapon in the middle times, not in Asia, not in Europe not anywhere.
Yeah spear is widely used
You're right, military uniforms incuded swords untill at least ww1 even if they were basically useless
They were. They are the most common civilian weapons aside daggers and the most common military sidearm
@@theghosthero6173 not true
swords are expensive to make due to crafting
the only civilization where sword is the king of weapon is Roman because of their advance technology
much of all culture spear is the main weapon
@@ategabbysev2993 can you read? I said civilian weapons, most people aren't allowed to carry spears in town historically. I also said the most common SIDEARM.
If u are chinese u dont need a sword if you can fly while fighting 😉
What's the deal with flying on magic swords anyways?
Something wrong with magic carpets?
@@rabcor if u watched some chinese movies with sword fighting they fly 😂
well the sword is still helping you if you are not cultivating your body lol
yeah but having a sword makes you fly better.
@@rabcor in some of the movie they litterally just leap off the ground and start fighting in the air. It very entertaining and epic to watch. 😂
I think swords might have such a place in the history of theatre, film and tv because they are simply more practical and dramatic in performance. Swords allow for more theatrical slashing and swinging movements, do not get in the way of other actors and sets like a spear or other long weapons would and allow actors to draw in much closer to each other in a duel, heightening dramatic tension.
It's as you said. Everybody knows what a katana is, and everyone goes bonkers over how sharp it was and how cool it is, but I think other Asian weaponry are just as great in fiction. Chinese, Mongolian, Korean, etc etc. I hope more light sheds on them in the future.
I think culture helps as well. The Japanese culture treat the katana. The same way Americans treat guns.
@@Jose.AFT.Saddul
That's slightly insulting. Many Americans don't like guns. It's not part of their culture the same way the Japanese katana is.
@@l.n.3372 most Americans I’ve encountered love guns. America was a nations founded by Guns. That’s why the founding fathers protected the rights of its citizens to rebel with guns in the constitution.
But I acknowledge that there are Americans that hate the gun the same way that there are pacifist in Japan that hate weapons in general.
If you were offended I’m very sorry. Not my intention.
@@Jose.AFT.Saddul
There's a huge difference between what the founding fathers said 250 years ago and what the NRA currently does to hold America metaphorically hostage even when the majority of the public in polls say they want stricter gun control. And it also depends on who you claim to be talking to when you say this - because the lack of gun control is a major issue in this country and I wouldn't want you to get the wrong impression from a biased person.
But I accept that you didn't mean to be offensive by the comment, so no worries.
@@l.n.3372 minority doesn't represent the majority.
This is a very interesting video 😏so basically in Chinese mythology ✨the weapon does not make the warrior the warrior makes the weapon✨
No. Three black smith makes the weapon.
precisely
A good sword can make a novice powerful. A good sword will make a strong warrior as if adding wings to a tiger..
But only benevolence makes a person invincible.
@@kaimengquek1952 A good sword will just hurt the bearer in the hands of a novice.
That’s what Thulsa Doom says
CORRECTIONS:
The proper name for the weapon used by Jet Li is "Three sectional staff" (Thanks to commentor Tom O'Brien)
Commenter maartmaster points out that people knowing the word Katana and people not knowing the word "Jian" is not a fair comparism. Katana is one specific type of sword in a much larger category of swords. The proper comparism of words would be Jian vs Nihonto.
Commenter Stephen Stokes points out that, technically, there is no equivalent word for sword in the Chinese language. Chinese people uses different words for straight double-edge blade (Jian) and curved single-edged blade (Dao).
We see 5 swords in that movie
the American 1911 straight saber, the Jian, the Dao, the 9 ring saber, and the katana
And it's not called "Guan Dao". It's called a "Da Dao" because only if Guan Yu uses a "Da Dao" then can it be called a "Guan Dao".
Use the Mandarin name, man.
@@qiankundanuoyi1 the da dao is a completely different weapon though. The guan dao is a polearm and the da dao is a war sword
@@qiankundanuoyi1 That's not true. Da Dao just means big knife and used to refer to two handed dao. My whole life that type of halberd is called a Guan dao, the guy made it famous enough.
I love how you explain the philosophies behind different cultures, great video!
All swords are overated in cinema. History loves polearms.
spears/pikes are king
I prefer Halberds like the Guan Dao
And manga, don't forget manga. Cinema's nothing compare.
Wesley Martins glaives is where it’s at
Tiger fist lel
the greatest weapon is the object closest to jackie chan
Bruce Lee.....
Bite if you must
Poke eyeballs out if you must
Kick balls if you must
Win anyway you can
Bruce Lee mastered The Art of war...LOL.
For Keanu Reeves... a pencil (sharpened is suggested)
@raserianfald suggested... not needed
Pre-Qin Chinese kingdoms had a large emphasis on mounted or chariot warfare, where pole arms and bows were the main weapons. Qin armies simply changed the paradigm to giving those same weapons to footsoldiers. The sword was a secondary weapon. Imperial China (Qin - Qing) had no real concept of a warrior class such as the feudal knight or the samurai. Warfare was supposed to be part of what a scholarly gentleman in China studied. To be a general in Imperial China was to be considered the least educated of the scholarly gentlemen, as you weren't fit for duty at court or as some provincial governor/official. There many examples of well-made Chinese swords, the most famous is probably the Goujian, over 2000 yrs old but basically good as new, despite being buried for most of that time. Others come to us from artwork and relics ... "recovered" from China. Being good at war is not considered a virtue in an Imperial Chinese gentleman so the tools of war are not emphasized as greatly.
There is another important point: who are the Chinese fighting for? When the Chinese go to war, it's rarely about personal honor or stake (as opposed to knights or samurai). Usually, generals are dispatched with troops at the command of the Emperor. They have gained honor by receiving and then carrying out the command of the Emperor. They don't gain honor by fighting personally the way knights and samurai believe of themselves. The Three Kingdoms era is the only one where personal duels are explicitly mentioned, to my knowledge. The story goes that when the Mongols attempted to invade Japan (with lots of Chinese auxiliaries), samurai challenged them to single combat honor duels. The Mongols and Chinese, either not understanding or not caring, began firing their artillery, much to the samurais' disgust. True or not, it matches the Chinese way of war. Massed formations and use of technology.
Swords are the weapons of individual warriors, being personal defense weapons for close use. The pikes, halberds, bows, repeating crossbows and, later, muskets of Imperial armies are what Chinese infantry formations used. Both the Mongol and Manchu dynasties employed Chinese engineers to operate their cannon and siege machines because they were the best in Asia. Chinese cavalry used lances and bows. That's not to say the sword doesn't have symbolism in Chinese - both the jian and dao have tons of it. The Miaodao and Dadao have the distinction of being used in combat up until the end of Chinese Civil War. They even made a song about using the dadao to cut down Japanese troops. But aside from a limited number of Sinologists, who have limited access to both PRC and ROC archives, western media does not like to portray Asians outside of their stereotypes. Chinese men are either martial artists or extremely effeminate. Chinese women are either tiger moms or sex objects. Chinese media is all propaganda bunk these days, including the stuff from the Hong Kong film industry. And almost none of the "historical" films are actually depicting correct arms and armor. As another commenter pointed out, the Cultural Revolution killed a lot of the societal knowledge on Imperial China so modern Sinologists have to work with existing, accessible archival material or interpret work done by western scholars prior to the formation of the PRC.
TL;DR - No warrior class, being a soldier not very prestigious job, honor comes from serving Emperor, military emphasized mass formations and weapons which suit it, sword is a tool for personal defense (not offense), all media has no idea what chinese arms and armor are because of the stereotypes they created.
The "1v1 me bro" thing seems highly suspect. The sword was just a last-ditch sidearm for the Samurai up until the post Sengoku Shogunate era. Before that samurai were primarily cavalry archers, and spears were more commonly used on foot. And if you actually study the Sengoku era, there really wasn't any of that "honorable warfare" crap either.
Where we get the whole mythology of the katana as a super powerful weapon of honor is from when the Samurai had been retired from constant warfare to be bureaucrats, and the only symbol left that they were allowed to prove they were "warriors" was the daisho, or being allowed daily carry of the katana and wakizashi. So it wasn't actually the samurai of war who fetishized the sword, but the ones who lived in a peaceful era.
1steelcobra good point. We typically only see the romanticized view of the katana as a sword from the gods but people forget (conveniently?) that samurai were not top officials until way later in their history. They were the better trained and armored (sometimes?) soldiers of the armies and status was gifted as a reward. This is my opinion and don’t have references to back it up though. Lol
If you look into their mythology as well, the big "excalibur" grade sword isn't even a katana. Ame no murakumo no tsurugi, later renamed kusanagi, is depicted as a fairly standard one-handed double edged straight sword.
A sword was also the side arm of the knights, the lance was more practical on horse.
Also the spear was the most common weapon in medival Europe too, it's easier and cheaper to produce, and it's far easier to use
Swords were always sidearms, but you make a good point that there wasn't a "warrior class" for which a sword would be a distinct indicator of status
*Samurai pulls katana*
"Come. Show me the sharpness of your blade"
*Pulls out a 15 foot ladder*
"I want no trouble"
In real battles, soldiers from every country used the same weapon: spears.
Until gun
Actually that’s not true. There was a lot of variation, for instance the mongols, Japanese, and Koreans were known for there bow and arrow prowess, while China was known for its lance.
@@michaelterrell5061 nope ... China was known for “Chu ko nu” , where it could fire arrow repeatedly.
@@stevemarcosunny3916 China was almost exclusively known for its use of pole arms. Yes it had that weapon but they weren’t known for it.
Romans who exclusively used swords for the majority of their history. Lots of classical and dark age civilizations used swords over spears.
You know, this made me think of something, when you talked about how Buddhists think of the world as an illusion. There's a running theme in the manga One Piece that there's these Excellent Swords in the world. These master-grade swords are really strong, but it's only in the hands of a true master that their true potential is realized. The character Zoro however, has a lot of seemingly Buddhist ideals and thoughts. Zoro basically doesn't believe in swords, even though he needs high grade swords for his ridiculous fighting style. (A running gag in the show early on is he keeps breaking his swords because he's too strong, or rather, he's too focused on strength, he thinks at first 'If I can just become this strong, I can cut through that') Which might explain why Zoro continues to pick up cursed swords. Noone else wants them, and usually thinks of them as well, cursed. But Zoro is not superstitious enough to believe in an unlucky sword. I think he sometimes mentions that he can 'feel' that a sword has good quality, or maybe even that it's strange, but his whole swordsmanship philosophy arcs back to that Buddhist idea that the world is an illusion. It isn't until later in the series that he starts to figure it out.
Interesting.
I can't speak for everyone, but
When I think about Japanese fighting, I think swords, katana's, samurai, etc
When I think about chinese fighting, I think about monks, hand-tohand, brutal fights of fists, epic battles with masters of many different weapons. Personally, I think that japanese swords are as popular as they are because the katana (and few variations of that basically boil down to different lengtsh of such) is an icon that represents an entire era in japanese hystory. many hundreds of years were spent with katana's as the common weapon by novice and master alike. Whereas in chinese media fighters (ala musou games) are depicted being skilled in many different weapons.
@@jacobhuskinson3854 you're entitled to your own opinion. Though that said I'm not really talking about the peasants here- we all know that Chinese hystory, any hystory, really, is no where near as glorified and epic as it's made out to be in fiction and stories.
Japanese fighting is much more than swords, katana´s, and samurai..
Just like you said, Japanese monks also were fighters. And there are many more japanese weapons. And also the okinawan weapons are kite good.
th-cam.com/video/TEhM9Q6L3jM/w-d-xo.html This is a good video about japanese weapons.
When i think chinese fighting with weapon, i just think they use long stick like kungfu in boboho film
@Mister Guy Except it wasn't.
The Katana was the status symbol carried during periods of "piece", where no wars where happening, but mostly personal brawls and they began to practice sword combat for duels in a more sportship way to show off.
@Mister Guy glaive would be a closer fit then halberd
Well, i studied Wing Chun for some years, and we did a little sword work. There are two distinct types of Chinese swords. The one most that gets the most screen coverage is the double edged sword, which my teacher said was more for dueling, and the curved saber type, which was more for battle. That may explain some of it. Interesting that Korea, which was constantly between China and Japan, seemed to favor the Katana.
Chinese swords are straight, with two blades, representing the integrity of a gentleman according to Confucian beliefs. Therefore, we often see it appear more as a political or status symbol.
The katana (And other Japanese swords) is also a type of ancient Chinese dao / sword. production process also comes from ancient Chinese technology.
katana, It is a dao used by the ancient Chinese when they moved to Japan (ancient Japan before the 13th century was the history of the establishment of a regime in China). It is similar to the Chinese Tang dao 唐刀 and miao dao苗刀.
NO Japanese and korean sword in history.
Neo: Guns, lots of guns.
Jackie Chan: Chairs, lots of chairs.
The technic of forging Japanese swords was invented by Chinese during Tang Dynasty. Put a hard metal inside a soft metal to obtain the characteristics of both.
In fact, Japan still keep a sword gifted by Tang Dynasty emperor in their museum.
Wow, someone with accurate historical knowledge. Respect!!
Yeah you are right. The japanese was heavily indluenced by tang dynasty. Even to this day, their culture was based on tang dynasty. Not just swordmanship
Ironically, Tang Dynasty banned Tang swords from being carried into Grave. Plus, Tang Swords was considered as a property of the military and they were very expensive to be forged and owned. Because of these factors, Tang swords did not get preserved well. (Not easy to be accessed by common folks) (Most found swords got Rusty and difficult to use it to recover the appearance) Meanwhile, Japanese treated their swords in a different way.
Also, Tang swords have a straight shape and they were designed to cut through metal armor during horse fight. Japanese swords have a curved shape and they were designed to cut through wood-leather armor/flesh.
Chinese invented lots of amazing technic but mostly they lost them themselves. It is mainly because of their "prefer literature restrict technic" cluture. People who were good at engineering/building/Smithing were never been assigned an important social status. Meanwhile, Smiths in Japan had a great social status.
That's nothing to be proud of. Coming up with something but then unable to develop it further and another country picks it up and make a better version out of it and makes a greater cultural impact.
World: we have swords and polearms as a weapon.
China: I *am* a weapon.
Basically. Watch any Donnie Yen film in the last ten years and he literally kills everyone by just simply boxing. Like I mean he doesn't even implement kicks 90% of the time. He will literally Mike Tyson you to death.
@@daoyang223 interesting WingChun is made famous by Bruce Ler precisely because he says it doesn't work and he incorporated styles from Martial Arts around the world to invent his own style.
Wimgchun is nice but I don't get the hype.
I tried to wipe your picture off the screen.
nice
@Gabriel Amaral that's a shloka from Bhagvad Gita
I believe that this likely is also due to Japans overwhelming soft power. In anime, Katanas are used, as well as for others.
Often in European and Japanese early periods, the sword was a sign of wealth.
You could arm a half dozen men with spears or axes for what it took to make a single sword.
Well, in Chinese culture it was a Junzi (gentleman) thing to have a sword at the waist. It was supposed to mean that the man was both accomplished in academia and in martial arts. But mostly it's just a tool for wealthy scholars to '装逼＇.
@@flysmask to what
Mal Tech the word @flysmask used means "to be pretentious", as chinese swords similar to other cultures' counterparts are still fairly expensive and also a sign of wealth with ornated hilt and sheath. The more commoners' weapon of choice would be the Dao, which was more like a cutlass and often made with much cheaper materials.
And you dont want arm people with swords, considering how useless they were
Agreed. Vikings had alot of makeshift equipment but they were earning for the best sword. It's a status symbol. O conceal carry and so do my friends. We do criticize each other for our guns.
The glock guys likes to shit on the other guys that don't carry glocks. In the US a 1911 (45 acp) is the excalibur weapon.
Rifles are considered war weapons. Pistols are self defense weapons so it's very personal.
Give Jackie Chan a wicker stool and he'll destroy a gang of triads.
Teach Jackie Chan how to make wicker furniture and he'll rid all evil
The ikea of mass destruction
I'll probably botch this retelling, but I remember reading something about Confucius and the Art of War, saying how every weapon had an advantage and a disadvantage depending on the situation, and no one weapon was better than the other.
Also how the weapon in the end is only as good as its user, and to never underestimate your opponent. I also read a part where he was to fight someone, and his opponent was ready, with a sword, and got his ass beat by a wooden training sword. Expect the unexpected!
Never bring a sword to a polearm fight
Never bring a polearm to a gun fight
@CreepyGlider Yes, I must have gotten confused, lol.
Nice Big Brother reference. Lol and Julie Chen is of Chinese descent
to be fair we got the whole thing in Japanese as well with the most famous warrior of theirs being Miyamoto Musashi who fought his most famous fight with an oar
i cant stop watching videos form ur channel! Ur such a brilliant creator. I didn’t even notice that ur actually Chinese after ur Leslie video.
And we are off to the comments section.
Let's see what the experts think.
experts (砖家) will tell you brick is the ultimate weapon
The (real) experts would say the best weapon possible is a harmony of mind, will & body.
(But I'm just guessing because I am no expert 🙂).
I read that in a narrator voice
Great minds think alike! Lol
Still waiting for a hardcore weeb's comment
As a film maker doing sword fight, Japanese sword technique is easier to learn for inexperienced actor compare to the complex body flow of Chinese sword especially Jian
True, or at least it seems that way on the surface, and film viewers won't be able to appreciate the difference between improper or proper Japanese sword technique, since it's more sutble
not so much, chineses sword is easy too, because it promotes piercing than cutting just imagine ways of doing this from form to form body & last sword position., due to the thinness of a sword,
"...and whatever Jacky Chan wants to use." lol, that was brilliant and funny.
*Jackie
So basically in Japanese movies the sword often becomes the variable that prevails and helps the character's path. Whereas in chinese shows it's always about the character's development and heart, ultimately surpassing the sword or no longer needing the sword? And hence Jian isn't as popularly emphasized as Katana despite there are lots of legendary tales of Jian similar to Excalibur etc.
Interesting video. I think it might also be the result of traditional Chinese imperial culture which valued philosophers and wise men over soldiers or warriors, and the latter were considered lower in social rank. While in Japan the samurai or warriors were the ruling class. Chinese martial arts are highly valued today but traditionally martial men or soldiers were considered lower rank than learned wise men
Not really. What really happened was the sword replaced by the spear in the warfare in history. So Chinese essence of the cold steel weapons mostly concentrated in the types o spear they used.
@@easternstrategist5276 the spear didn't replace the sword, the spear was always the main weapon, and not just in china, the japanese also used spears and other long polearms as the main weapon.
yamiyomizuki lt did replace the sword though not entirely.
In the Han Dynasty, carrying a sword for an ordinary man is as common as nowadays everybody has a cellphone, and which was encouraged by the government. Therefore, in certain battles, you can actually see group charge with swords after all the soldiers empty their arrows or crossbows.
But spear, though it already existed long time ago, gradually made soldiers gave up using the sword since the Han Dynasty. Standardized spear formation of infantry started to largely exist as supporting team to the Heavy cavalry, which also happened in the West. In this case, sword was no long important. That was how sword was marginalized in China.
In fact in the Tang Dynasty you can even see the use of hammer in certain units. There were various weapons among the army. Sword was only one of them.
@@easternstrategist5276 That actually makes the point about swords in that historically, pretty much all over the world, they were sidearms to be used when the primary weapon couldn't be used. You see this everywhere throughout history, even the Roman legions would only go to the sword after they've thrown their pila first.
@@Riceball01 If you look at the later development of the Roman legion, infantry started to be marginalized while heavy cavalry became the dominant force. Therefore Roman infantry also had to largely relied on spear formation to hold the line to support for the cavalry. This happened mainly due to the tech innovation than leveled up the importance of cavalry.
This same thing happened to China. The elite soldiers went to be the heavy cavalry, while low quality and poor trained soldiers only need to form the spear formation. Especially in Chinese case, since there were various weapon coming out like halberd, spear with hammer and hundreds of crazy stuffs, there was really the lack of point to train on sword specifically. In Chinese army, the mix use of weapons were quite common. So you can see that sometimes every infantry man had a bow or crossbow, and in the formation there was the mix use of weapons as spear, hammer, blade, sword, halberd and many others that had no english translations.
Grinding a sword in a fight, I hadn’t seen that before. That’s badass.
name of the movie is Reign of Ninja
*coughs* Monster Hunter *coughs*
*Reign of Assassins and yea, that movie is bloody great, i'd definately recommend it :D
@@himelbahar5819
its a Chinese movie. I don't know how you came up with Ninja
lol, my bad, it would be Assassins instead of ninjas
your videos are... insanely good. I feel myself looking at everyday human behaviour, news and basic life with a more refreshing perspective! I am so grateful to have found your channel.
Ninja use lots of different weapons too. And polearms and bows are popular samurai weapons besides. Further, people/characters like Musashi and Gintoki are famous for overpowering enemies even with a wooden sword; in Japan too it’s about the strength of your ki, not your weapon (also the Yakuza series where Kiryu can overcome anyone with just his fists).
But, like a knight, officer, king, or emperor, a samurai’s sword was a symbol of his rank and status. This cultural history gives it extra significance in both European and Japanese cultures despite the above.
Why chinese sword not as famous, because they don't have anime
Nope. Chinese make some anime too. Maybe in Ten years... They Will dominate
They have their own cartoons called Donghua. They even have their own comics called Manhua
@@camrendavis6650 Those are just the Chinese pronunciations of those words. Donghua (Chinese) = Douga (Japanese), and Manhua (Chinese) = Manhwa (Korean) = Manga (Japanese). In China, they tend to call cartoons (Donghua) and anime (Dongman) separate things, as well as Japanese anime (Dongman) and Chinese anime (Guoman). And yes, Chinese anime have been growing as of late.
@@ruedelta I see.......
Check out "Rakshasa Street", you will like it.
4:47 "Winning a sword fight with a stick" or in Ip Man, "winning a sword fight with a feather duster"
and smacking you like he's the mother of a naughty child while he's at it
4:00 Kenshin does get stonger in the original story. His new sword isnt depicted as stronger, but to match his new strengh (that is to protect others). His blade was broken on the first duel because he was using a sword meant for killing and not to protect others. On that same arc the villan also uses a sword forged by the same blacksmith and it is as strong as his.
Rurouni Kenshin fan here. Technically, his new sakabatou is actually considered better too. The first version is the "shadow" of it. While the true sakabatou was dedicated to a temple instead. Kenshin gains access to the true sakabatou when he's ready to accept himself as a Rurouni - he doesn't want to lose himself as the hitokiri anymore. The new sakabatou is symbolic of his choice to stay Rurouni and never lose control again/never descend into the hitokiri again. So while it's technically a better sakabatou, it's also symbolic of the series themes and messages about the vow to never kill again.
Also, the sword broken by Seta was also a sakabatou. It broke because Seta was confident in himself while Kenshin was doubting himself, fearing that he couldn't win against Shishio if he didn't regress back to the hitokiri. Kenshin had doubts so his sword broke to metaphorically show that he's doubting himself. His new sakabatou doesn't break because Kenshin understands himself as the Rurouni. He beats Seta and now Seta has a broken sword because Seta has mentally broken upon learning that Shishio has taught him a foundation of corruption and cruelty. Seta has lost his worldview and has doubts, so Kenshin wins their second duel.
In simple term, the first sword Kenshin used is considered a "replica" while the second sword is the real one.
man this manga. This series. I miss it so much.
Kenshin fan here. This is inaccurate. Kenshin received a sakabato when he told the Arai Shakku [the swordsmith] he will swear off killing. That sakabato served him well for years until his vow is tested. Arai Shakku improved his technique of forging, creating a sword for "peace", thus allowing Kenshin to replace his old sakabato with a superior one.
Rurouni Kenshin Fan here lol. I think the symbolism and meaning of Kenshin's Sakabato is open to interpretation, Kenshin invites open discussion on what the sword means to viewers.
For me I believe the point of Kenshin's first Sakabato was yes it's the shadow/replica version of the real Sakabato. The blacksmith who made it wanted to test Kenshin's will and oath and he predicted Kenshin will face hardships with the Sakabato, so he purposely gave Kenshin the lesser version of it and Kenshin is so powerful and lethal that he's handicapping himself in order to protect others, including villains. Kenshin could had easily killed all his villains but he chooses the path with the most resistance. As Kenshin's past catches up to him, stronger foes and villains challenge him and eventually his sword will break, thus testing his will. Would Kenshin continue being a pacifist despite having the symbol and tool of his oath broken? Is his will broken when the sword is broken? Kenshin decided to keep going despite that and stayed strong to his oath. That is when he finally recieves the true version of the Sakabato, now that his he is 200% sure of his will. The real Sakabato represents Kenshin's undying determination to keep his oath and protect others.
Why does Kenshin have an edge at all if he doesn't want to kill people? Because 1. that's too easy, 2 he was trained and taught the way of killing, the Sakabato is a mean to not completely declaw himself, he wants to recreate himself and turn his killing ways in a way that could save people and 3 he wants that killing intent that he had to look back at him because he feels extremely guilty and regretful of the past that he knows he can't change, it's a reminder of the reality he's gone through.
I think a lot of it has to do with media presence. Example in anime, Japanese legend often had a Katana class weapon. Live action movies largely were Japanese early on as opposed to Chinese in nature. In short, one culture had media presence while other took until about 15 years ago to be more available. Largely China was demonstrating martial arts over all and not many stories focused at weapons particularly.
Part of the reason perhaps because during Edo period in Japan, swordsmanship (kenjutsu) becomes one of the virtue a samurai has to master.
Even though in actual combat samurai don't use sword that much, the relative peace of three-centuries-long Edo period has stagnated the samurai class into civil servants that romanticize the warrior culture. Along with the invented term of samurai spirit (bushido), during that period sword becomes something that symbolizes that warrior culture, and can be seen decorated plenty of samurai houses. Samurai also brings them anywhere they go as status symbol. They're also allowed to murder anyone who disrespect them (kiri sute gomen) at that exact time and place with the sword.
Also during that time, a number of people were so obsessed with a perfectly made sword that random sword-killing (tsujigiri) became rampant in big cities. It's a case of people trying out newly forged sword to test the sharpness of the blade by slicing anyone they passed by, usually at night. Samurai class themselves also has this habit of testing a blade's sharpness when they're tasked to execute people (usually criminals who are sentenced to death).
A lot of post-war Japan entertainment took a lot of inspiration from samurai culture during this period, since they had plenty of archives about. Part of it because the fascist Imperial Japan treasured that part of history as a tool of propaganda.
So yeah. I guess that contributes a lot on why the sword persists in popular imagination.
I love how the chinese cinema focuses on the diversity of weapons, making a master of weapons to be far more formidable than a master of the sword.
...
unlike in Anime, where the guy with the ball and chain, throwing stars, shields and spear, bow and arrow will almost always lose to the swordmaster.
Funny bc Japan has way more practical "weaponless" martial arts than China does. You don't see Kung Fu used in MMA. Btw I'm a hafu (just to disclose my potential bias) and I love China and Kung Fu, but I've seen comments about Chinese martial philosophy vs Japanese martial philosophy that are untrue and not based in historic fact. My take is that China had more variety in weapons (due to Japan's lack of access to quality metal), but less training in what to do if you are disarmed or at a disadvantage
@@Kitajima2 I love the way chinese martial arts looks on screen more than anything else
David Kitajima
Bending the topic into your ego i see
I mean, I don’t think you can classify Kung Fu as a single martial art.
@@Kitajima2 I respectfully disagree, trapping, a common term in MMA came from Wing Chun through JKD, and has since become important part of mixed martial arts. Anderson Silva uses it. Striking and kicking from Kenpo that went into MMA also came from Shaolin Kenpo that got passes through Japan and be assimilated into their fighting style.
Sure there are many fake martial artist nowadays, if you're to ask some backwater Karate sensei that never truly fight trained fighter, he will probably performs more or less the same. But remember there are also Sanda fighters, Jackie Chen, Donnie Yen and Jet Li, those guys probably knows how to fight. But China, again, being a closeted country was not part of those worldwide event. They didn't participate in world boxing, nor part of any MMA organization, as much as they also didn't partake in Google, Facebook, etc.
All I'm saying is, their mistake is not participating in those things (for political reason), if they are, I truly believe their best fighters probably will came out. Am not saying Kungfu is the best waaaa waaa, but I also don't want to look down on it because of reason stated above. Just remember, when China enters the Olympic, they are one of the top 3 with USA and Russia, to dismiss them just because you haven't seen them fight in a tourney seems like a logical fallacy. Instead we should encourage them to participate in those MMA events, who knows maybe 10 years from know we will have a champ from there, at that point, will you still think Kungfu is bad?
After WW2, the US and Japan gained a cultural link many other countries don't have. We import japanese cars and technologies, and have also adopted words, foods, etc. For this reason katanas have become more famous than any other asian sword. It is not the fault of any country, it is evidence of the link between the U.S. and Japan.
That's my hypothesis. Thanks for coming to my Ted talk.
Mellow Mike
I have heard in a doctors the same !
Basically, no. The reason why Japanese traditional shit is popular in the west descends from one really fucking successful novel called Shogun, that lead to a massive rise in Traditional Japanese culture popularity.
Combine this with a damn fine catalogue of Samurai movies that movie buffs loved, and generally really early amazing works from brilliant directors like Akira Kurosawa (quality China still hasn't even gotten too), and it's pretty understandable why anything associated to Samurai mythos are more popular then Chinese anything.
@@fearedjames it has everything to do with soft power, japanese anime and games naturally promote their culture, Chinese culture lacks this avenue of advertisement to the West. but there are some very good Chinese fantasy dramas emerging recently that expands on the Wuxia genre.
Rainbow Dashtruction Nah, there’s more evidence than entertainment. Take food for example, universal ingredients in Asian cuisine are always called by their Japanese name in the West.
@@yuehan6711 Japanese words are far easier to pronounce for English speakers than Chinese words.
The Kwan Dao was specifically anti cavalry. Its goal was to hook and cut saddle straps, that's why it's also heavy, if the swing and weight wasn't enough to cut the strap it hooked you can just drop it and it'll finish the job once the counterweight hits the ground.
Chinese: a great sword is useless without skillful user.
Japanese: a sword so great, you don't need much skill to use.
'Murica: pew pew pew
😂
Lol
Actually one of our generals did make a pretty good Calvary sword
Not in the single movie, not in single literature or any other form, not even once the Japanese had a message saying you don't need much skill if you have a good sword.
@@Chintok11 it's a fucking joke
Honestly. It's because the sword was never a sign of status like it was in europe and japan. In europe the sword was the traditional weapon of the nobility (because it was expensive to make a good sword until the late middle ages) while in japan the two swords were the sign of the samurai class (again, it was expensive to make a good sword).
China on the other hand organized their society differently, and as such the sword never had the same cultural signficance. It was never a way of separating the social elite from the rest.
Well put.
indeed. metal ore is plentiful in china, thus swords and other metal weapons are common.
It must be noted that the sword had little symbolic presence for the samurai until they had basically been retired from warfare to be bureaucrats in the Tokugawa Shogunate. Skilled archery was a far greater talent to have before that.
It's kind of like if modern soldiers who'd never seen war open carrying a pistol were acting as if it were the greatest weapon of warfare.
Makes so much sense
Tobias Åberg that’s a little simplistic. There was many reasons why the sword was valued all over old world civilizations, from japan and china, fo India, the Middle East and Europe. I don’t want to go on a rant on the variety of reasons, but the one that I think is most important pretty much anywhere is a swords unique ability to be worn pretty much anywhere. It’s the only prevalent purpose built weapon (so excluding knives and axes which can be multi use, or specificity war implements) that one can wear anywhere and still be modestly equipt. This means that it could be worn in court or just out in town. Therefore it’s the thing you build the closest relation too, you don’t bring a spear or bow wherever you go but a sword you can. In this way it’s an implement of just not offense but also defense giving it a more noble quality than a purely wartime instrument. These reasons gave it a high social standing, symbolizing, and increased romanticism.
The Jian is the double edged Sword, Spear or Dagger.
The Dao is the single edged Saber, Glaive or Knife.
The Changdao is a Dao while the Europe’s Zweihander is a Jian.
There's also the shuang shou jian
darkwing dook Not unless if ya remove it from the shaft. Now ya got a staff & a dagger.
Zweihander is just a fancy way of saying two handed sword and I don't think it's military and cultural use is just interchangeable like that.
Kyriolexical Dino I’m just comparing the Changdao a 7ft piece of metal to the Zweihander another 7ft piece of metal. One is clearly a Dao while the other even though it’s not made in China is a Jian by definition.
Kyriolexical Dino you’re not wrong though. A Chinese Jain isn’t a Byzantine Spatha
The sword of goujian is also another legendary Chinese blade as well😊
Probably because the Katana is just a really cool looking weapon, not matter its effectiveness in actual combat.
I feel like even in Japanese films, animes, and shorts, they have constructed and deconstructed the Katana. Romanticized and realistic. They've done it all and I love it.
The katana was a deadly weapon back in the days, but ppl stopped using it when it became illegal at a time. If they don't train with it, it's basically useless since it can easily break from a swing by an inexperienced wielder.
Btw the blacksmiths went forging cooking knifes after they weren't allowed to make katana s
HanEnder
Eh, while your comment is mostly true, it’s also applicable to most weapons, including all the other types of swords
The thing is, the katana can be effective at cutting, but so can many other swords, & the curve would only give marginal improvement to the cutting area
& honestly, a weapon that easily breaks from an inexperienced wielder’s swing just isn’t a very good weapon in my opinion
@@depingchen330 I second that motion, though to be quite fair katanas are a sidearm due to its reach in a battlefield and the material they used to make the sword was crap (Pig Iron) that is why they had to fold it to be effective at cutting and it served its purpose well because ancient japan's armor wasnt on par with europe's.
"And whatever Jackie Chan wants to use"
Laughed at that.
“And whatever Jackie Chan wants to use.”
This line was brilliant.
I can only speak from my experience as a united states citizen and consumer of media within that culture. Within my own culture (but outside my hobby subculture which tends to know a good amount about international swords across history) if you asked someone to name 5 kinds of swords, you would get broad and overlapping categories if they could even name the 5- but they would almost all say 'katana' at some point. But if you asked them to name 5 kinds of Japanese swords they would be stuck at Katana. Likewise you could ask them to name 5 kinds of Chinese swords and you would be lucky to get a single answer. So its less that the Chinese don't care about swords, or weaponry in general, and more that other cultures don't know much about them. People know 'katana' but don't know odachi, tanto, wakazashi, ninjato. They might know "longsword" but actually mean "arming sword" and not know zweihander, kriegsmesser, montante, claidheamh-mòr. And likewise with Chinese swords at best they might know "jian" or "dao", or more likely "butterfly sword" or "hook sword" but not know niuweidao, changdao, or dadao. And that is just looking at swords specifically and not the wide ranges of weapons that these cultures used.
But funny enough they might know these individual weapons by a photo or pointing to them in a movie. They may not know the names of them, but they have seen them before. People tend to know more than they think they do because they don't always know what things are called.