Quote:
Originally posted by Sir Kenyth:
the other arguement is preposterous. In the same paragraph he claims a 3 1/2-4 pound broadsword would choke and die on wood and yet a 1 1/2-2 pound katana would easily cleave through steel?! Ginsu, eat your heart out!! Maybe you're saying that tempered steel is different when it's in a katana. Europe had mettalurgy down to a fine art, but they don't know nuthun bout makin swords, right? Japan was the only place that figured out that metal could be folded? Are you also saying that samurai armor is wood two inches thick?!
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Weight has little to do with it. It's about cutting edges, the surface area over which the blow is applied, the direction of the swing... plate armour was designed to throw off a point, to prevent a sword from gaining a purchase and being able to hit with force. That was the whole point of the shoulder plates, the solid carapace, the way everything seems to point 'down'. A katana is a very well-designed sword, and is quite capable of hitting armour and making a dent in which to focus the force into the armour rather than across it - unlike a broadsword, which as someone has already mentioned is too unwieldy for such a precise attack unless in the hands of a master.
As for samurai armour, the armguards and shoulder guards were indeed around 2 inches thick. Samurai armour was designed to take a blow - in fact, the samurai used wooden armour because it could hold and trap a blade, unlike metal armour, which a katana, as I said, simply carves through. QED.
As for a monk toppling a knight... it's not that far-fetched, imo. The monk could probably evade the knight indefinitely, waiting for the point when the knight's frustration led him to overstep. Once that happens, all you have to do is push.