Why didn't the Japanese use SHIELDS?
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 ม.ค. 2020
- Use of shields in Japan's history.
Reposting a vid I put on Epimetheus's channel ;)
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Armor looks better anyways.
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This video is not a repost, right?
I think I have seen a video about the Shields, right around I discovered your channel(I think from a collaboration maybe) and I was able to predict almost everything except the arrow piercing little Squirtle.
Yep, see description :)
Also, wouldn't say swords are piss poor weapons on the battlefield. They were useful but most useful as a sidearm and backup weapon. They were basically the handguns of the era and could cut less armored targets (aka most common foot soldiers) very well.
Of course, then you have the big two-handed swords, the Zanbatous and Nodachi, that were primary weapons, being too large to carry comfortably on your side. Though, as with most large two-handed weapons like those they were either for a specific tactical purpose (Such as holding narrow points like bridges or gateways, or standing behind the spearline to step forth and swing whenever opportunities presented themselves before stepping back, essentially using their companions as shields) and/or their users were the heavily armored champions on the battlefield. (who could afford to go into close combat without shields or comrades protecting them from stray flying projectiles)
@__ 😂
Pfffft real men doesn't need shields ;D
“Why didn’t the Japanese use shields?”
“They did!”
*Video ends*
Unfortunatly for you the history will remember it otherwise.
That's when I gave this video a thumb down for the clickbait. lol
@@michaelngfinance exactly
Copied comment
they did and didnt
So even in Japan the sword was mostly a side arm. Pop culture likes to romanticize it, but the spear was always the bread and butter of warfare.
Even the romans used their pilla as melee weapons from time to time.
Also unlike swords, even an inbred farmer can pick up a long, sharp stick and point it at someone. Which is great since you don't gotta train shit
@@craftedteens yes, i've even seen professionals emphasize on the fact that anybody with a spear could stand a chance against even well-trained soldiers with swords
@@joaopedroalves6777 after they threw their spears lol
Spear as the weapon of battlefield?
Always has been
“‘Osode’…it sounds so fancy and specialized!” Yup, it means “big sleeves.”
I'm Chinese and I understood some of the words. I thought that was a translation error but guess not 😂
@@miumiuwony me too! i was wheezing at the "big sleeves" but then i realised it actually isn't that wrong-
Oh man sleeves, 😩
There is elegance in simplicity
Ahaha
Me: "wait, samurai's main weapon is a bow?"
Linfamy: "always has been"
Which is funny because their bows sucked.
Actually it was but after a while it fell out of use.
Samurais were originally archers, swords like the infamous Katana (which is synonymous with Samurai) weren't used until much later in history and perfected in the Edo period (yes...very late) and even then the sword wasn't the most preferred weapon like the mythology and anime have you think. Bows were still no.1 and spears, spears trumped anything and everything on horseback then it became redundant in close quarter fighting where shorter swords like the Wakizashi was used more as well as the use of Jiu-Jitsu in hand-to-hand combat.
In short, the Samurai had to be a master of every weapon as they are soldiers, much like how one would need to know how to use grenades, breaching tools, explosives etc in part of modern warfare, not just your rifle or pistol, you need a variety of tools for different situations. You can't be a CoD hero irl who just swears by his M4 with his "sick" attachments...sure way to get yourself killed.
The Samurai also used rifles when introduced to Japan from the west, weebs would probably tell you this ain't true and they stayed true to the sword or w/e nonsense they'll tell you. A successful warrior adapts with the changing times, that's what makes a great warrior...not stuck in your ways but taking in that which helps you.
A lot of romanticizing about the Samurai but the bow was their first weapon. The Katana became a spiritual piece of their arsenal, some would refuse to draw the sword based on it's artisan and would be taken into battle more as a talisman of good luck. In most cases it was the last weapon that was drawn. Ofc, I am not implying everyone did this, some would draw the Katana first, but due to its length, it wasn't the best to use for multiple enemies. The Katana was built more for 1v1 duels, it had tremendous flex and would almost always bend if striking armor of your opponent (which had to be straightened out) the Wakizashi was much more preferred as it incorporated a hand-to-hand style of combat mixed in with Jiu-Jitsu, disarming your opponent is much more affective than clinking swords together, grab the hands and hip throw them onto the ground to find the neck and finish them off. Super effective against multiple enemies as most battlefields are.
I'd say that Ronin's made the Katana more popular since they are the "cool kids" who broke off from the Samurai class to go solo and they only carried around the Katana to show off their prowess and rank. Also in times of peace, having street fights were much more controllable than a full on battlefield. Which is how Ronin such as Miyamoto Musashi built their legend and we still talk about him to this day (also used dual Katanas which was frowned upon by Samurai...badass).
@@acewmd. let’s be honest, all of their weapons sucked.
Being isolated on a small island really sucked for technology and innovation
@@Av-te7ze this. they got ahead a little, then isolated and only fought among themselves. their tech stagnating for centurys.
When the Japanese put all of their skill points in offense, rather than defense.
Because they ended up putting all of their equipment points in armor!
There's a recent anime about that.
You again :)
@@KyoushaPumpItUp Do you mean Infinite Stratos?
Gundam: Phase Shift Armor
Evangelion: A.T Field
There's a lot more... it just escapes my mind.
Japan: They are not shields , they are portable walls.
Chinese: Its not a wall , it is landscape sculpture.
EA : They are not loot boxes , they are a surprise mechanic.
They’re not shields, they’re surprise walls
You should’ve flipped them around
You: This is not an overused meme. It’s a form of humor.
Bethesda: they're not bugs, they're features!
@@mitchellbarton7915 omg lol
7:18 makes sense since it's the same thing we see in europe when full body plate armor came around, shields stopped being used, since you wanted a heavier 2 handed weapon to defeat other people in full plate.
Zweihänder were not so common.
Knights used a large variety of shield until XVI century when gunpowder was already widespread.
It was good sense to protect yourself with a shield before risking wounds using only your armor.
@@jackie1825 I wasn’t talking about Zweihanders, I was more thinking of Polearms like Warhammers, Halberds, Billhooks and Poleaxes.
Also guns completely invalidated centuries of armor technology, since even the first arquebuses went clean through even the toughest armor there was, meaning they needed to make the armor a lot thicker and rounder to deflect bullets, which meant leg and arm armor basically dissapeared.
Zweihander is a weapon used by Doppelsoldner aka mercenaries given double payment for a more dangerous job and shield still have used only changed into Bucklers a small parrying shield that can be used offensively for civilian duels cause rapiers were popular at the time and during the 15-16 century Pavise is still used but as cover so that Arquebusier can reload safely
A few years back I saw a video on the history of Japanese weapons that pointed out some samurai & more well-off officers had another layer of "armor" that shocked the heck out of the people doing the show. They couldn't figure out why they found so many historical images of mounted fighting men wearing what were essentially very large silk capes that flowed out in the air behind them as they rode. Some full-scale tests were done, both with blunted arrows and a human volunteer and then with very pointy arrows and a dummy strapped to a horse, and the crew discovered that a big expanse of silken cloth billowing out behind someone on a (relatively) fast-moving horse did an absolutely amazing job of literally stopping arrows in their tracks. Even with very sharp points, the arrows would get knocked off course by the billowing material and/or become entangled in it before reaching their intended target (the rider). It wasn't useful as regular armor, but offered an excellent level of protection to the back of someone riding away from the archers that were shooting at him.
runescape capes giving defensive bonuses be like
They didn't use shields.
They used anime body pillows.
Those do protect you
from a social life
@@Linfamy A form of eternal virginity.
@@carmelopappalardo8477 Should have sold those to the Vestal Virgins. Then again, ancient weeboos might have made a move on them.
That's more advanced than strapping cats on their body, like the Persians did.
Aya ya hh
Europe: I want armor that fits my body! Smith, make me a suit like no other!
Japan: I wanna wear a shield.
To be fair, European full plate armor is a shield by itself. Thus why knights with full plates never wear shields. They'd take polearm anytime.
@@toxicdermyillunary4103 That is untrue though Medieval knights towards the latter end of the Medieval Periods still used shields albeit mostly on horseback but they still used them on foot for it depends on personal preference of the warrior and we have artwork that depicts this. It'd more more accurate to say it's more common than they'd take a polearm but it is untrue to say they stopped using shields.
@@toxicdermyillunary4103 Early knights (Medieval) used shields and swords after a charge with a lance, or dismounted and fought shield and sword on foot as shock troops. The plate armor wasn't even very prevalent or well crafted back then, and chain mail was much more effective. Chain, combined with better plates, made swords ineffective for men at arms fighting each other, but shields and swords, axes, or maces were standard for hundreds of years among the elites on the battlefield.
Late knights (Renaissance) realized that they couldn't ever actually kill another knight with a sword and switched to Halberds and other big scary weapons that took two hands. Basically, their armor got good enough at some point that spears, swords, and arrows did zero damage, so they just walked around with weapons specially designed to pierce armor while they killed peasants at will.
@@brandonzzz9924 a knight wouldn’t use a halberd. Those are formation weapons used by infantry. You’re thinking of a pollaxe, which was shorter and more complex.
@@Specter_1125 *poleaxe
"We wont need defense if our enemies are dead" -japan probably
"Shields are fo pussys" - Sun Tzu...probably.
lol
why use a shield when you can just attack
Why need shields when you have family
@@shikikunt lol massacre a family
@Elliot Zwirn-Williams - Class of 2026 Yep but Japanese warfare strategies 軍法are developed from Chinese兵法
The real reason: The ancient Japanese liked Pokémon sword more than shield.
Lmao(4 days ago mista is triggered)
@@diavolojaegar 4 likes
*Mista is super Triggered*
Test
4 comments Mista is Mega TRIGGERED
ara ara
Plot twist: they didn't use shields because the game mechanic didn't allow them to carry a shield when wielding swords
They should try Minecraft.
@@zynthyx i would like to imagine a bunch of samurais chopping an ender dragon's head
@@REEEPROGRAM Speedrunners
Its cause most of their swords are considered 2-handed wpns.
@@mikaruyami well, as said in this video, sword was a plan B
"Why didn't the Japanese use shields?"
Well, it's obvious they're still playing in 1.8.9
because they wore it
@Harshith Joshi
If they ran out of iron why not just conquer some places with iron
I bought a Samurai Armor book for a project, and struggled to grasp how the actual production of the armor took place, since it mostly focuses on naming and visuals, so I heavily appreciate your little "This is how we do it" section for making armour plates. Thanks mate!
"they were holy"
Oh it was sacred?
"Like have a bunch of holes in them"
Oh...
Maybe the material is holy but for how untouchable to handle it will be a different idea for them lol.
hole-ly or holey :)
@@xuanbachlai5371 I'm never gonna use hole-ly shit or holey cow ...
the correct adjected is holed, not holey
yeah that was the joke, ha ha, you got it
Historians: Wielding two shields would not be effective.
Samurai: Hold my, oh wait, don't. I'll just put them on my shoulders.
"Now i have 2 shield, a wall, and a bow, and a moving horse"
@@icecream6256 A stationary horse isn't very useful, now is it?
@@bbittercoffee Well your comment cracked me up xD but depends on whether it's alive or not :D You wouldn't want to face a cornered (or otherwise stationary) warhorse. Yes, you can kill them, but only with a polearm. You get in the reach of their hooves, you're suddenly attacked by two warhammers at the same time.
@@inventiveowl395 Oh, makes sense.
Wielding two shields would not be effective
Minecraft players:
My goals are beyond your limits
“Why didnt the Japanese use shields?”
*Because they would be betrayed by a princess, get hate from the royalty and get disliked by the whole community of people.*
Fantastic comment, you have my like
for people who didnt get it go watch rising of the shield hero
and has to "adopt a slave and a fat Bird which is actually a 11 girl because no one likes him"
And marries the kid who they raised and go back to their world and make lots of babies
so sad
The video title: "Why didn't the japanese use shields?"
The video subject: "Why did the japanese use so weird shields?"
"Why didn't the Japanese use SHIELDS?"
the same reason I don't use shileds in RPGS to have two swords to deal more damage
True
@@Linfamy or is it for more speed who knows
What the hell is "blocking", I'll just spam magic AoE and dual wield swords if I run out of mana
i think they favor the reach of 2 handed weapons, it is an important factor in real life combat
@@akechijubeimitsuhide ye makes sence don't froget to use meteor strike tho
Anyone who doesn't get how the wet hay hay or straw or whatever worked hasn't done enough range testing. My buddies and I figured out that neither an M4, nor AK47 round could penetrate more than like eight inches into sufficiently bundled hay. Shit is dense.
Edit: GREAT comparison mentioning swords were akin to pistols. More convenient backup, convenient personal defense weapon, but NOT a great main battle weapon in most circumstances.
When I took a Japanese sword class the teacher said just that, the swords like modern pistols were the sidearm not the main weapon
@@clarehidalgo That's why they let you keep one today... if it is a main weapon, most country won't let you keep it!
Tengus used the hay bundles as body armor.
@@clarehidalgo Correct
Main weapon from what I have read was bow
Well, a couple of stacked hays can absorb kinetic energy of bullets quite good and can stop bullets, just like sand bags.
"Long poles are useful, they can be put to different positions."
;)
"Long poles are useful, they can be put in many different positions" - Linfamy
Daimyo: "Uh, do you think we should bring shields?"
Samurai: "I'm your shield."
[BLUSHING INTENSIFIES]
When you fail the shogun:
commits suddoko
MY FACE IS MY SHIELD!
@@googiegress7459 bruh
@@googiegress7459 Daimyo : I-It's not like... I like you or anything BAKA!
I should point out that "Samurai" is just the social class, while "Bushi" were the samurai who actually fought. Hence the term "Bushido" or "Way of the bushi".
Bushido is a romanticized fantasy of meditating men who religiously dedicated themselves to a set of rules.
They didn't care about honor; they just did their job and did what their daimyo told them to.
The Bushido code was made up by a Christian Japanese writer, Inazo Nitobe, who basically based it on the rules of Chivalry.
The first 3 rules are actually the same, altough 1 and 2 were switched.
If you'd travel back in time to discuss the Bushido code with actual samurai, they'd have no idea what you were even talking about.
Remco Schedel-the SKULL
Actually, although analogous to chivalry, bushido was not based upon it. Furthermore, while the general parts were envisioned by Nitobe Inazo, the actual term and overall foundation of the idea of bushido was created by the writers of the Kouyou Gunkan. Aside from that, honor was a huge thing in feudal Japan. What do you think they performed seppuku for? People were willing to die rather than live on dishonored.
If you were to travel back in time to discuss the bushido code, the samurai would likely understand the principles of it, but they’d have no idea what “bushido” is. They’d get that their honor is important in it and overall what it means, but they wouldn’t know that there was any form of generalization or written phrasing for their ways of combat.
But yes, it is much like chivalry. They both had next to nothing to do with anything but combat, after all. The chivalric code said one thing about treating people fairly and justly and then moved on to medieval fighting rules. Bushido just kinda decided that honor is important and as long as you act in the best interest of your honor, you were fine. For some reason that included blindly following orders and killing yourself if your master kicks the bucket, but hey, whatever taters your tots.
To summarize: Bushido isn’t based on chivalry. Bushido is basically chivalry’s really suicidal cousin though.
@@narrenitsuwaru8052 to add. Chivalry is a romanticized fantasy of what knighthood was in the eyes of the public.
In reality, Chivalry was theatrics that get put on display in formal settings. Actual knights and nobles spent most of their time pillaging their own land and using their title or status as right to do what ever. Very few actual nobles and knights through out history upheld righteous values or codes their entire life. It is why so many warlords in the western world fought among themselves. Pillaging the wrong village led to drama and conflict. Even within smaller dominions of a war lord, his own knights would become roving bandits that would have to be hunted down by a collective of warlords and knights.
The Japanese had the same to possibly, but inaccurate and incomplete historic evidence leaves it ambiguous. In conjecture we could still say they did but "insert reason" the history was lost.
@@narrenitsuwaru8052 this image of super honorable warriors pretty much comes from WW2 (and sicne the meiji restoration really) imperial japanese propaganda, actually. There is some historical basis for it just like there's some historical basis for the code of chivalry, but most historians would agree that neither code was really all that respected actually. hell, one look at the sengoku jidai will tell you that all this honor stuff was very much a facade. the same way that the aristocratic class in europe justified their domination by saying that they were purer, better beings chosen by god, the aristocratic class in japan justified their domination by saying they were more honorable, but it wasn't true in either case. people also rarely committed seppuku (ritual suicide) of their own will: in the vast majority of cases, it was a punishment imposed on the defeated by the victor: aka, if the neighbor lord conquered all your lands and wanted to get rid of you and your family so as to avoid revengeful heirs and whatnot, he would force you to commit seppuku. you can think of it as a more dignified execution, because that's pretty much exactly how it was used; the few other cases were generals and lords having just lost a big battle and knowing they would be captured and executed. culturally, it was seen as a means to save face: it was more honorable to kill yourself because you were ashamed than to be killed in battle, and hush hush on the fact that you're only killing yourself because the lord who defeated you is forcing you to
as i said before the modern percpetion comes from WW2 japan and the meiji era: to glorify the country, create a sense of identity etc they started glorifying samurai and the bushido code, saying they were super honorable warriors who would kill themselves in shame the second they betrayed their lord so that soldiers wouldn't think of betraying the empire, and so on and so forth
tl;dr: samurai were huge dicks who justified their position with honor and stuff the same way that knights were huge dicks who justified their position with honor and stuff
Wrong, actually. The social class was the Bushi, their whole families known usually as 武家 Buke or 士族 Shizoku. Samurai, or Mononofu, were specifically the members of the Bushi class who served a lord, be it a Bushō, a Shugo in the early period or a Daimyo in the late period. A Rōnin, for example, was a bushi but not a samurai.
The more bits and pieces of Japanese warfare history I learn, the more I like the Naginata more then the Katana.
Same here. Spears are a lot more fun to use anyway.
"Just line them up side-by-side and you had a wall to protect your archers."
*literally shows Japanese riflemen*
“Why have a sword and a shield when you could have a sword and a sword?”
"cause your hand eye coordination sucks that's why" - some prick
ara ara
Scrub. The right answer? Shield and shield (while wearing a shield on your back, shoulders, chest, knees, and feet)
@@Tenuto40 just armor lol
Maybe you should ask why have a sword and a shield when you could have a shield and a yari?
*why have a sword and a shield?* formation fighting you when lose your spear, or yari, the video forgot to mention yari btw, they don't just wield heavy naginata, kumade and naginata had significantly less usage than a yari majority of the time.
*when you could have a sword and a sword?* do you mean two-handed wielding or dual wielding? dual-wielding is stupidly impractical that's a bottomline. the closest thing all cultures did was wielding both dagger and sword.
therefore your question could be reworded in one aspect as "why formation-fighting with swords when you lose your spear when you can absolutely be impractical??"
I know you probably joke from a reference but when you seriously think about it, even the joke doesn't make sense as humor.
I find it funny that Japan’s entire history only had the budget for either Cavalry *or* shields.
they had sheilds but not in the conventional sense
I mean they don't have big plain field for armored knights to be of use. the only big enough plain was Kanto region, which didn't saw very big development until mid-sengoku period. And the suitable places to raise large amount of horses were too far away, and were in different daimyos' territories.
@@songyani3992 I mean... A knight in full plate armour would ride on a horse anyway (just like the Samurai). So how would his Armour be of any less use than the one the japanese used?
@@nicolaunionsspezialfiliall3962 Like I said, not enough plain fields for heavy armored knights to be of any use, because they are better at long distance charging than stop and fight. Stopped heavy knights might be very hard to kill, but in the end they are just sitting ducks if they are not on the horses charging. And Japan back then had numerous mashes and rivers, a nightmare for such heavy cavalry.
@@songyani3992 Ok I get that heavy cavalry charges wouldn't have been very usefull, but how is a knight in heavy armour a sitting duck? On a horse he wouldn't be much slower than a normal japanese samurai and the plate armour would protect him from most arrows coming at him (which seemed to be very prominent in japanese medieval warfare)
Thank you for your videos. I really enjoy learning about history, especially topics that are not usually talked or written about.
These videos about Japanese military history are fascinating, and a bonus is your narrative, which is really first rate.
I have subscribed to your channel and look forward to learning all sorts of gems! 😊
❤
War before Sun Tzu: *BONK*
War after Sun Tzu: "Use f*cking walls as shields lol"
"Their main weapon was not the sword, but the bow." Are you telling me the Total War games are historically inaccurate??!😂
@Hoàng Nguyên where did you get the idea that they used shuriken on a battle field?
@Hoàng Nguyên you're inaccurate, Japanese often use shadow clone jutsu, rasengan and susanoo to fight
Well in the Rise of the Samurai DLC for Shogun 2, the samurai use bows
@@heydaddy2471 lmao narutard
hey daddy bruh Japanese use gundam lmao what universe u lived in where they use stupid shadow clone when they all have susanoo
TL;DR: The Japanese preferred Pavises and Mantlets over portable shields.
thats a quick and proper way to look at it.
Plus, the Japanese Samurai relied on the bow as they are primary weapon, whereas European Knights treated the boat either as a hunting toy or, in Warfare, the weapon of the peasant rabble. given a shield and a bow do not work well together, that also answers a lot.
Thanks I had no real interest in watching.
@@badgerguy6099 "Peasant rabble".
English Longbowmen were some of the most famous and effective footsoldiers since the Roman Legions.
@@badgerguy6099 "a shield and bow do not work well together"
Shields used by archers tended to be small bucklers with a diameter rarely larger than the distance between the elbow and the wrist. English longbowmen and Cretan archers (among others) used both shields and bows.
Now, I get why Naofumi has a shield in hand.
Using long poles to prop up the shields and use the shields for ladders and other purposes is very clever. So obvious when pointed out yet I never thought of them that way or seen them used in the history books I've read.
I always assumed they didn’t need shields because they were just too badass for that.
That too
Japanese: why carry shield if you can kill them firsr
Yubi K. uP
@@Khookies-lp2lu makes sense
Yubi K. You sayin shields aren’t badass?
I saw a museum exhibit of japanese medieval armor a few years ago and was amazed by how each strand, each cord, each rivet had a precise purpose in the construction. Not one piece was out of place, both artistic and functional.
My mom couldn't help but notice how much shorter the men who wore these armors had to be to fit inside them. I guess six feet tall men were not common for feudal japan.
they're still not common
6 ft tall are not common anywhere in feudal time lol, and even today, it’s still not that common.
Same goes for European knights, they were far from the Hollywood bunch type.
Linfamy : and then soldiers got tired of holding their shields...
Me : .. so then they developed cool heavy armor, right?
Linfamy : ... and decided they wanted walls that can move
Me: they what?!?
"they need to paint the symbol of their clan on their shield"
Me:why
Linfamy:✨marketing ✨
"Why didn't the Japanese use shields?"
"They did use shields."
End of video
"Shields are nice, but not if they engender passivity"
-Item description in bloodborne
Oh, a hoonter are ye
something something innefectual against the strength of the beasts as they tend to be
Remember, fear the old blood
Shields are pretty useless when you can literally gain temporary invincibility just by rolling/dashing and when your enemies are beast that can tear through shields like paper.
Interesting video. Learned a lot about it! Thanks keep up the good work!
Wow, this explains a lot! Funny how their combat developed like its own meta.
Cause they didn't have 1.9 installed
Underrated
Mr. Plague Doktor When it’s painfully obvious you liked your own comment.
@@plorin3015 uh i liked it but now im unliking him
200 ok now I liked it.
@@plorin3015 now i did the same
It's a new Linfamy video! This constitutes proof that today is actually Saturday and therefore I don't need to go back to work after my lunch break. I'm sure my boss will buy this reasoning,
I'd accept it
Lmao little details like the almost missable smiley face in the corner when you said long poles give these videos so much personality.
Looking at those shield designs from that photo near the beginning, all I could think was: " man, For Honor did way more historical research then I thought."
Who the heck use shield...? Real man Parry the bullets & slashs like a real Samurai... SEKIRO!!!!!
True
*Laughts in double shield build*
@@awedsy3195 meet your future self *throws fistful of ASH*
Sauce for the pfp please. Kinda wishing I was 9S right now ngl.
Real men take it in the breast plate
its hard to use a two handed weapon with a shield on horse back... *the lance has entered the chatroom*
Lances aren't two handed though
@@georgethompson1460 Lances are two handed in the sense that the bastard sword is two handed. They are versatile weapons. They are light enough to be controlled in one hand but can easily be used as a two handed weapon.
@@georgethompson1460 Lances are generally two-handed if you aren't on a horse.
Similarly, a longsword is two-handed, even though it could be used one-handed with some difficulty due to balance and weight.
The lance charge involves starting with the lance upright, and allowing it to fall downward and judging the exact moment when it will be in range to strike the enemy. Too early and you ride past and the lance drops into the dirt, too late and the lance hits the dirt just before it could have hit him. A shorter lance can be used one-handed like a spear from horseback, but if it's too long it'll require two hands to maneuver it around. And of course lances tend to be as long as possible because you want to poke your enemy before his weapon gets close to you, so it's an arms race between pike and lance.
The difference between how a Lance is used vs how other weapons on horseback are used.
With a bow: 1 hand *must* hold the bow steady, the other must draw the string. Shield is a hindrance.
With a bladed polearm: Maneuverability is a must to be able to swing the blade at times. Shields encumbered this with heavy bladed polearms.
Impaling polearms (Spears/Lances): Using a shield is possible, but maneuverability is lost. As someone else has said, they are only really usable if you can hold the weapon up and "charge" towards other horseback or footsoldiers. Lances being extremely heavy only had sweet-spot windows for this to work, which veteran European soldiers took into account and perfected, and spears while lighter, didn't have enough oomph behind their jabs like lances did without some extra thrusting forcing, which required a second hand to help maneuver.
As you can tell, naginata, which were mostly bladed spears, fell into favor with the Japanese because of the versatility they brought being able to swing or thrust with ease. Thus shields were useless to even the horseback users.
Tl:dr;
Japanese didn't use shields because all of their weapons required a second hand to be free for extra maneuverability.
This channel is sick! I like learning stuff like this that may or may not be taught in school. A well deserved subscribe from me
Really great and explanatory video. Thanks!
"Shields are gay"
-Sun Tzu
Sun Tzu was Chinese though
@@JazzJackrabbit why does that matter?
i quoted the best american on the planet and you're talking about his gender?
@@JazzJackrabbit His influence spread far.
@@wisdomax2891 *excuse me you used the word his in "his gender" are you a racist sexist homophobic bigot? The right word would have been "gay gender fluid lesbian nubian she man"*
😂😂
WHy didn't they use shields?
idk, why didn't they?
Actually, they did!
...
The back of a katana is often used to defend themselves from other attacks.
@@lumbrr2168 You watch too much anime
@@lumbrr2168 quote-unquote how to remove your fingers
@@ProfX501 lmaoo
@@ttchme9816 not in that way, the back of the blade itself, you have a part where you slice and then the backside which is used for defense
"Why didn't the Japanese use shields?"
They just buffed their attack and crit damage so they one-hit everything
Fun fact, Europe had a very similar concept to the wall shields you mentioned called a "pavise" which crossbowmen would plant into the ground and hide behind so clearly the idea of a moving wall for projectile soldiers holds some strategic weight
2:25 "Oh, Bamboo what can you do ?" i loved that rhyme ! ❤️
*what can't you do
I can imagine someone trying the shield but since everyone is already so accustomed to two-handed, well that person would probably be called a coward.
And then this one guy laughed at them when they all died from arrows :p
1:16 Legit a winky face in bottom left corner when he says “Long poles are useful”
This was very informative! Thanks!
one iconic piece of defensice equipment deserves a honorable mention: the horo cloak!
it's often seen in old illustrations, billowing like a balloon behind a samurai on horseback. and that ballooning allowed it to stop arrows by simple dissipating theyr energy on impact. just like an airbag.
"Don't underestimate a big piece of wood." And totally taking that out of context...
haha a joke
“We go straight for the kill we don't need shields”
“But general the enemies shield, we can't penetrate it and they use weird swords to!”
**Gets stabbed**
Aim for the feet, that's how a Greek guy who was thought to be invincible died.
@@azazel166 if only that guy commissioned the first steel-toed boots
That smiley when he said "long pole are useful" hahaha
I always liked the answer of "The Elder Scrolls"' samurai equivalent (the Akaviri Blades). "Why do you want to block an attack? It's easier just to move out of the way."
and its true! in elderscrolls, at least.
Truthfully, the Blades are not much akin to samurai at all in anything other than use of katana (and I guess you could *vaguely* say the armor). The samurai were mounted horseback archers first and foremost, and the katana was always a last resort; there were plenty of samurai that didn’t even carry katana at all. The Blades use the katana exclusively, and I can’t think of a single reference to them so much as even training with anything else. And being that their style originates from the Tsaecii Snake-People of Akavir, they certainly weren’t riding no horses, LOL.
I love your art style
"why didn't the japanese use shields?"
hmm good question
first 5 seconds of the video: "well they did use shields!"
oh ok
k
They converted their Defense into Offense and finally to Stamina and unlocked the Anime skilltree.
For people interested in this topic, Metatron has a number of videos on samurai armor, even comparing different styles through the ages with his own recreated armor, shields, and weapons.
Great info. But I subbed because of the combination with the subtle humour!
Great job man
Naofumi Iwatani would be proud.
I was looking for this comment all along.
I see your a man of culture as well
The anime is trash tho
@@16.jibrilramadhanialamsjah54 no
@@somerandomdumbass7433 *you're
Don’t do this. 😣 I just survived a tough PhD day and decided to check the TH-cam before going to a 3hr sleep. I really thought I just traveled back in time because of your video
lol. Good luck with your PhD. What is it in?
Thanks for replying to my comment 😁.
It’s in geochemistry. And I work in Japan.😊
@@Linfamy More like ptsd amirite XD
Wow, first you're shooting arrows at Squirtle, then later you're talking about kilts... I love this! =D
awesome lesson!
TIL, the Japanese had their own analogue of the buckler!
lemme see that little chocolate starfish mmmmmmhhrrrr
"Showing no respect to pandas..." annnnd you got me to laugh and subscribe!
Yes!
@@Linfamy thanks for the giggle!
Panda: And I take that personaly.
Your language games got me subscribed!
Shields are usually the best defense against arrows and bows, so more of a reason to use shields if the main forces were horse archers. Unless the forces were small, then the absense of shields can be explained. And Pikes work very well with shields, specially against cavalary.
Your videos are awesome and underrated
Thank you :D
There's a manga and anime called Dr Stone. It depicts a world reduced to stone age technology. I find it very fitting, then, that several characters use lacquered buckler-size shields, consistent with what residents of Japan would have used thousands of years ago.
Ohhhn so that’s what doctor stone is about
Pretty much everyone before 1500's made firearms common, would of had a buckler to hand. Considering you could use nearly any reasonable piece of wood as a defensive object, most popular and common being a barrel lid since that was primary way of storing liquids for most of human history. It also requires little training to avoid hurting yourself and can be used as a blunt weapon too.
wet straw at the base of the shields sounds like a decent fire deterrent
Samurai is drawing his sword: PANIK
Samurai are mainly now fighters: Kalm
Your in an anime: *PANIK*
*"Hot shield on shield action"*
_K i n k y_
😏
Sounds like a smashing time.
busty warrior babes want to meet you "in battle."
Gives a whole new meaning to "shield maidens".
3:38
Probably where that whole idea of not putting the sword back in the sheath until it has drawn blood. Because by that point it would have been your enemy's life, or your own.
its also a myth re the kukri
Learned alot from this
I saw that wonky face ";)" when the long pole was mentioned.
Really got me thinking, I'd like to see an European Knight and a Medieval Samurai get together and share their opinions of the other's armor and weapons. I love how different they are to each other and I don't know if they ever interacted in history.
would depend but a 15th century samurai would probably think that a 15th century knight has armour that was made by god.
@@m.kozlov8461 Yeah I guess the conversation would be a bit more interesting if it involved some time travel
The Japanese warrior would 100% be incredulous at the amount and quality of metal the Euros had. The Euro warrior on the other hand, especially if English, would be incredibly impressed at the use of longbow from horseback to the degree the Japanese were able to do it.
The Knights and Samurai circa the 12-1400's would have a lot in common socially and economically, and would probably produce a lot of interesting poetry and debate literature, too.
I'm impressed. This is the first video I've seen that got basically every point right.
Yay 🎉
Except it didn't.
The naginata was not a commonly used battlefield weapon. The bulk of Japanese melee infantry would have armed with yari (spears). Just like every other pre-gunpowder army on Earth.
I don't even think spears are mentioned in this video...
foot soldiers be like:
- So how will I defend myself against arrows?
- That's the neat part, you don't.
You are the shields
Huh. That’s cool. I’d totally love an arm shield. Especially a magic RPG one.
If they used shields their probably be anime about a hero who only uses a shield
Wait:
whats it called?
@@pencil6711 tate no yuusha
*This is the reason "Bofuri" and "Rising of the shield hero were made"* 😂😂
Y e s
I don't need sleep i need answers
Cuz they believe in the belief of , ' I am the bone of my sword. '
@@fakhruddinsamad Then the wives and girlfriends say, "He is the bone of my...something."
Mia T hmm
and their code of “people die if they are killed “
Steel is my body and fire is my blood
is that fate reference????
5:15 that horse smile
I like to think that once you encounter a boom stick for the first time an ancestor would figure out they gotta grind for a better defense.
Did anyone else notice when he says long poles could be useful he puts a winky face in the bottom left around 1:20 time
Just remembered I read awhile ago from a historian of mostly Europe that shields tended to fall out of favor when armor got more advanced in favor of 2 handed weapons or other options- hence the big famous shield formations were in ancient Greek and Roman times and a little in the early middle ages while in the later middle ages other formation types became predominant- and realized that for the same period in Japanese history they had little to no writing (hence Chinese sources being our main source for the portable handheld shields); presumably they were almost as advanced in weaponry and armor as the Chinese by that point despite not adopting Chinese writing until the 700s.
And then of course 100% of the Japanese armor you'll see in Hollywood or even Japanese depictions of their own history will be specifically Sengoku armor, by which time they already had guns as well as advanced armor, but this explains why even looking into the historical record they don't have shield walls.