I love the juxtaposition of wearing Medieval Europe clothing while lecturing about the Japanese Samurai and their traditional weaponry.

As much as I've been enjoying Knights Watch lately. Its nice to see a video like this again. No politics, no anger, just playing with swords and a history lesson

I only knew the difference bc my dad has a Tachi and when I was little I would always call it a Katana and he would always correct me and say it’s a Tachi. He got it in the mid to late 80s and still has it. It’s just wild to me he’s had it for almost 30 years and is the Main reason I love traditional Japanese culture. It always fascinated me

Most modern people, even many of us Japanese confuse this, but when they say "katana", they're usually referrring to "nihontou" Nihontou or Japanese blade(blade as in blade part of the sword, not the catagory) in english referrs to all blade pieces including spear heads, kitchen knives, straight blades and swords created using the Japanese blade smithing method. Katana referrs to the blade as a catagory which can historically include scimitars, sabers, all nihontou single bladed weapons(exceptions exists such as kogarasumari makes being quite famous.) What you explain as katana is actually uchigatana. all nihontou katanas are classified only by length. the different handle angles and how curvy the blade is doesn't matter. the main thing to note is that most modern surviving historic examples of nihontou are properly made with 15 fold on the skin and 8 folds in the core. A very labor and time intensive proccess and is only done to tailor make the weapon for someone or is just depending on the smithing faction. Said someone would have the blade made to fit his height, patterns and martial school. Some school is more popular in others and has more numerous branching schools and this shows in surviving examples. Horse mounted combat prefers their tachi to have a very deep curve, for example. And Most lords and daimyou is horse mounted. Conversely while rare, tachi made in the later periods such as around edo usually have less curve. because they are usually used on foot. Regarding the confusion around carrying, it probably stems from just basic misunderstanding of the above. Simple rule to follow is tachi or longer is hung pointing up, uchigatana or shorter is holstered pointing down and koshigatana is jammed in any crevice available from a man's crotch cloth to a horse's ass(multiple historical account exist but also possibly just humor) Yet another point regarding the curve in nihontou katanas is that the curve comes purely from the heat treating proccess. and they are almost all forged straight. It just so happens uchigatana is about the right length just before the difficulty of getting it right jumps up several times. Longer blades curve harder because... well, Science. This is also why uchigatana is much more affordable and available then tachi back then and that everyone carries it. It's basically the affordable and effective large caliber pistol people love carrying as a sidearm. Which also makes martial arts surrounding the use of uchigatana wildly popular and many survives to this day. on top of the simple fact that uchigatana has less curve ans is just all around way easier to use then tachi even at a reach disadvantage. Abit of a rant but when most youtube smiths forge katana, they end up making a saber that looks like a katana instead of an actual katana. They understand that the carbon content of the outer and inner steel is different, but they often fuse it together way too early before the folding proccess, making it entirely pointless. The high carbon skin steel is folded 14~16 times and the core steel is folded 6? to 8 times. So if people buy them, they would have to becareful never to use them to test cut. they are strictly decoration regardless of what the seller says. The number of "damascus katana"s are just abhorrant abominations of weapon smithing. Literally sticking a V antenna on a Jegan and calling it a Gundam. The folding to organize the grain and layering of the steel also serves a crucial role in allowing the smith to sorta kinda control the direction and how much the blade will bend while heat treating. Sorry for otaku rant text wall. :x But most of nihontou related info like this is on touken world. I still think 2 handed long swords are cooler though.

Tachi (太刀)is written as thick(太) and katana(刀). Tachi is characterized by being thick and long.Tachi was developed in 9th C. Tachi's center of gravity is in the hilt and can be wielded with one hand, so it can be used by cavalrymen as well. Pointing the tachi blade downward prevents the scabbard from hitting the horse's belly. Uchigatana was developed in 12C. uchigatana(打刀) is written as strike(打) and gatana(刀). Uchigatana is a katana developed for infantry. Center of gravity of the uchigatana blade is placed at the tip to enhance the effectiveness of the slash, and it is handled with both hands. Uchigatana can change the center of gravity position by exchanging hand guards with different weights, so the user can choose power and operation performance. Odachi（大太刀） is written as large (大), thick (太), and katana (刀). Katana（刀） is a major category and tachi(太刀) and uchigatana(打刀),odachi（大太刀）,nodachi（野太刀）and gunto（軍刀） are minor categories. character (刀) means a single-edged sword. Katana(刀) or nihonto(日本刀) is a general term for Japanese-style single-edged swords. Prototype of katana is the 7th C Japanese sword warabiteto（蕨手刀）. Since these have different purposes, tachi was used even after uchigatana was made.

Shad is the only channel that actually gets me to watch the main video when I'm in the KZfaq shorts black whole. Thank you for helping me break free.

It's worthwhile to mention that the tachi was widespread during the Kamakura, Ashikaga and Sengoku periods, where clans and states were constantly at war. With the beginning of the peaceful Edo period, the objective of carried arms shifted from offensive frontline combat to defensive personal protection by lords and retainers. Katana and wakizashi were much more convenient and comfortable to wear in public.

Looking forward to that upcoming video! Always been a fan of the kriegsmesser, langmesser etc, and "similar" sword designs for that matter, falchions, sabers... including the katana though probaby a bit less so simply due to the... contrarian in me reacting to the katana's widespread popularity, hehe. Generally single edged swords have always been my preference, I guess one could say. Hearing some in-depth comparisons will be interesting!

Own a sword for manor defence, since that's what the Magna Carta intended. Four heathens break into my cottage. "What in the Lord's name?" As I grab my aventail bascinet and windlass arbalest. Punch a bolt through the first man, he's dead on the spot. Throw a pot of naft at the second man and miss entirely since it's a hand thrown grenade in the dark and burns down the neighbour's harvest causing them to starve in the winter. I have to resort to the pot of boiling oil at the top of the hay loft "Deus Lo Vult!" The boiling oil completely drenches two men and cause them to scream in agony and writhe on the ground, racked with incomprehensible pain. The screams of pain frightens horses in nearby stables. Draw sword and charge the last terrified infidel. He bleeds out with no one to assist him since this is Feudal Europe and nobody gives a shit. Just as the Magna Carta intended.

Glad you made this video! The Tachi always needs more love!

I love your videos so much, they’re amazingly informative and not too boring

I was not aware of this Tachi until I watched Shogo's vid about it. I'm glad Shad also discussed it. I love the katana in video games with their supernatural fantasy stuff together with their appearance. But then after watching some vids about it, I think it's really the Tachi that I'm thinking about when I hear "katana". 🤔

The main battle weapons for samurai were spears and bows with arrows ( later gunpowder guns). But we all loves katanas because of the movies and popculture. :D

One thing Shad forgot to mention is that the blade of the tachi tapers much more than the katana or o-katana. This makes it lighter at the tip, making it easier to cut with.

I love the backdrop and multiple cameras. Youve come a long way Shad well done

Shad we love you and all your nerd glory and that intro was the embodiment of your majesty.

One thing I rarely see mentioned in these discussions is the style of warfare- Samurai were (at least early on) primarily horse archers and mounted combatents. Japanse swords were initially cavalry swords and should be more closely compared to Sabres.

Edo-Katana gets all the fame in pop-culture and stuff while it saw very little use even as a side arm in actually wars historically. The reason why katana got more popular than tachi in the first place is because during the peaceful Edo period there was a law that forced samurai's to carry around daisho (katana wakizashi combo) where ever they went as their status insignia. It was just more convenient to carry around a shorter sword in daily basis.

From the title and thumbnail I was admittedly kind of expecting a butchering of facts, but you presented it well and as accurately as you could from your position and genetics, and I can appreciate that. I was pleasantly surprised and I love that you showed disdain for how so many people take specifics of context and then apply them universally or generally. I share that disdain very much. Very much indeed. The only thing I have to add is that in addition to it being called an Otachi or Odachi, it was also referred to as a Nodachi. The "no" part meaning field. Earned a like and subscribe from me. Attention to detail and reason is so overlooked in today's world.

Haven’t watched one of your videos in a while good to be back, love the hair.

As a gamer I absolutely love using a variety of weapons to destroy my enemies. I used to think swords were most common and hated blunt weapons but after seeing how badass polearms are I absolutely love spears/halberds now. I’m still meh on maces but I can no longer ignore how disastrous they are vs plate. Thanks to Skallagrim and Shadiversity for exposing me to the various weapons of Europe and Japan. Knowing the history of the weapon, it’s uses and how it was fielded and why are what I love most and makes using them far more immersive in games. I also love dropping random trivia on armor and weapons to friends while gaming :) In the future with a home to contain such wondrous weapons and armor I hope to have an armory to gaze at my collection. But for now I’ll absolutely adore them in video and game form :D

I love your videos Shad and absolutely appreciate your passion to present, infrom and educate. About 5 years ago, I started making props for historical and literary theater and for cosplay. I studied more about weapons and armor at around the same time and I discovered the "Community of the Sword" here on KZfaq. I prefer the proper 24-28inch blades for katanas for my height of 5ft5in. Already carved 5 bokens in katana length and 3 in wakizashi length. Already in the works of making a tachi with 38inch blade and 22 inch handle for a 60inch beast. I also have a zwiehander in the works which would be about 65-67 inches total length. Yes, I love my wooden recreations and I also have a 70inch kanabo, removable foam studs so I can still bring it to cosplay cons.

I'd love to see what you think of the Mantis Blades in Cyberpunk 2077. I think they look cool and intimidating, but not very practical with a limited range of swings since they have only one cutting edge. It looks like it could be good for punching/thrust as the blades extends when swung

I still love the No-Dachi simply because 'big sword cool'. And the idea of using a very long sword as a 'cutting polearm' is a fascinating design choice.

Hi Shad! I'm used to be an Aikido/Budo trainee. We had classes with various weapons and katana as well. We had head of the school from japan as a guest in our dodjo. And he explained difference between katana and other types of Japanese swords a bit different. He said that katana is an umbrella term for all swords in japan. There are many forms. Earlier versions of a katana wasn't curved at all. There were double edged katanas, crossguards, and anything else that have a blade and are bigger than a regular knife. Even knifes often were called a katana. And the thing the whole world now call a katana appeared quiet late in history, in XVIII closer even to XIX century. And yes, he told that tachi actually also is a katana and the word "tachi" refers more to the way of wearing it rather than the characteristics or shape of the blade. Also tachi is a more earlier version of the katana. As "traditional katana" is more like everyday civilian weapon for self defense, when tachi is a weapon of the time of big wars. Also tachi was used to wear with armor and it was attached to it and had special fittings for that, while the same sword could be used with different saya(scabbard) and simply put behind the belt while not wearing any armor, so it called simply a katana. Also about wearing it blade up or down. It's not like matter of preference. it's the matter of comfort. It's just uncomfortable to wear a katana blade down, aka tachi, on a soft belt while wearing civilian clothes. And they found simply more suitable to wear it blade down attached to armor.

The Udachi is one of my favorite versions of japanese swords. I love the unique style. And the length makes it feel like a beast to handle. Of course if I were to use a full 2 handed japanese sword, I would go with the Uchigatana all day.

Your passion for the subject and love of the sword (& martial arts in general) absolutely jumps out of the screen at the viewers. There is nothing which can match that kind of hook to keep on watching. Coupled with an inherently fascinating and entertaining subject a presenter like yourself, exuding those qualities, will always make it a rewarding viewing experience. Cheers mate.

Thank you for this discussion

some japanese weapons that deserve to be mentioned in a video: Yumi, the japanese longbow. main weapon of the "Samurai"(horseback archers) during the Heian and Kamakura period. later used in masse by common foot soldiers, the "Ashigaru", even after the arrival of matchlocks Ootachi or Nodachi. as you mentioned, tachis that were often 2 metres in length. mainly used in the Kamakura to Nabokucho period Nagamaki, half-sword half-polearm. Naginata, japanese glave, used during the Heian and Kamakura period, fell out of fashion in the Sengoku period Yari; Japanese spear, usually about 3 metres in length. main melee weapon of battle during in the Kamakura and Nanboku-cho period. Kagiyari, Kamayari, Omiyari. Japanese polearms, about 3 metres in length. most "samurai"(lol) would be probably armed with these during the Sengoku period Nagaeyari. japanese pikes, 4.5 to 6 metres in length. main weapon of the Ashigaru(now thr main forces of the battlefield, especially since calvary fell out of fashion) during the later Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama period. should be noted that they were used in an up and down swinging fashion, unlike western pikes. the Takeda clan attatched extra weight on the end for more striking power. Teppo, matchlocks. widely spread after the famed Nobunaga. some predict Japan had more guns than Europe during this era, not sure if true. the japanese prefered Tedate, japanese shields(pavise), large, cannot be carried with one hand, made of wood planks. contrary to popular belief, the Japanese loved these shields since the Heian period. bow Ashigaru and matchlock Ashigaru were teamed up with pavise men, who carried the shield around and quickly formed shield walls during battle. Takedate are same as tedate, but even larger and made of bamboo. sometimes had wheels. Wakizashi and Tanto. shortwsword or daggers. looks like tiny katanas. as japanese armour evolved, almost every body part was covered with steel (sometimes leather) or maille, as a result, melee battles between two heavily armoured soldiers often ended in wrestling and grappling, where the winner would stick the dagger in vunerabillities of armour, for example the armpit

2:55 Tri-force sheathe decorations. IIRC the Tachi is designed for use on horseback, hence the increased curve (easier one handed draw) and the more radical curve of the handle, as having a straight handle interfere with holding the reigns or using a spear would be rather impractical.

great vid keep up the good work shad

Love how after all these years shad is still making katana videos, and I’m still coming back to watch them

As a big katana fan and my prefered sword due to my size, I agree that the Tachi should have more recognition specially in media set in Japan previous to the Edo period, a beautiful sword and should have as much recognition as the katana and a big part of Japanese history and warfare

"Hmm..." -Geralt of Rivia

great stuff ,just found u,being from kendo background i love japanese weapon styles,shogo has just done a reaction to sellsword katana vs longsword,good "points"made the japanese swords are curved making the longsword a bestter thrusting weapon,yari was used in battle alot and tachi was preffered for horseback as for foot soldiers ,my guess is the avrage would use katana unless trained in o tachi!just subbed!

Where u at cause that castle background looks sick. Oh and awesome video good info. Lot of fun.

The specific term for katana in Japan is uchigatana (打刀) and the term katana (刀) often refers to single-edged swords from around the world. The word katana first appears in Japanese in the Nihon Shoki of 720. The term is a compound of kata ("one side, one-sided") + na ("blade"), in contrast to the double-sided tsurugi.

Shad, the tachi sword was worn with the blade facing down because it was a cavalry sword, it was easier for a horseman to draw and to immediately slash if he needed to while on horseback. That's why you'd prefer to wear it blade facing down. The uchigatana (now just called katana) was worn with the blade facing up because it was an infantry sword and because of the way you tuck it into the obi belt. The odachi, though, regardless of being called tachi, was also an infantry sword due to its size.

Great video. I love the Tachi and have done for a while. My understanding is that it was a cavalry sword, akin to a sabre and it's predecessors, hence the preference for blade down fixings.

Great video! Thanks for posting

The main problem I have here is that the Sengoku period, the most iconic period of japanese warfare goes all the way up to the early 17th century, well after the medieval period is traditionally seen as over in europe. Sure the tachi was the more traditional sword for samurai at the time and remained in use pretty much throughout the period, but you also had widespread adoption of the katana well before the edo period, mainly among the lower ranks but also among samurai, especially when they were switching over to mass formations of guns and spears where the katana probably make more sense as the sidearm of choice. Basically I'm mostly just nitpicking about that they were both battlefield weapons used by samurai, it isn't one or the other. Also worth mentioning that a lot of tachi was reshaped into katanas.

I always thought that the best European equivalent of the Katana was the small sword. That may sound crazy but bear with me. Although the small sword was optimised for pointy end thrusting and the katana for er... choppy slicing, both were miniaturised versions of earlier military swords and their purpose was to be easily worn in everyday civilian life, show social status and to be a fast drawing self defense weapon.

Loved it! Thanks for sharing!

Amazingly interesting tutorial. Thank you !

I always thought the Katanas were so cool ( still do) but when I saw your channel and Metatrons channel, I fell in love with the Japanese pole arms Yari and Naginata

O-katana and tachi both is 大刀 written in Japanese kanji (日文漢字), it always fun to know when foreigner said katana the word may have total different meaning from Japan. In Japan even OLAF Cutting tools is called katana,and there's a kind of knife(刀)(katana) called O-Tachi (大太刀), because katana(かたな)(刀) means knife in Japanese.Samurai sword in different period usually have quite longer name that end in katana(刀), for example 厳物造太刀(いかものつくりたち)(i-ka-mo-no-tsu-ku-ri-ta-chi)- a categories of knifes forge in the Kamakura period.

Thanks shad your such a good teacher

Loved it! Great content brotha 💯💗

Need to add one to your collection as a second step of showing them more love haha. Always enjoy hearing your takes and learning a bit more about the history and use of swords like these that I may not know much about.

I know this is the most minor of nitpicks, but tachi is pronounced with a long A (like in father or wall), the Japanese language doesn't actually have the short A like in apple or map. Other than that that though, this was a wonderfully informative video. I remember in Nioh they made the distinction between a regular katana and an odachi, so its really neat to learn more about them from you Shad.

I learned something today. Thank you for the video!

I love this video because I've always loved things like the ōdachi, tachi, and tantō over the katana. Don't get me wrong, the katana is awesome... But like... Things like Sasaki Kojiro's monohoshizao ("laundry drying pole") and anything to do with kenjutsu or aikido are so cool! People need to give more respect to the weapons that Japan had. One of my favorite polearms ever is the signature weapon of the most badass women to ever fight, the naginata - used by such figures as Tomoe Gozen and Yuki no Kata. Great video, keep up the great work, and please /please/ do more videos talking about underrepresented historical weapons if you would so graciously please do.

Love these sword comparison videos, looking forward to the Kriegsmesser - Katana comparison!

Love the video, Shad had some good points that the average katana fans never knew about. Hopefully one day someone will come up with a video also discussing the various blade designs of Japanese swords, such as the unokubi zukuri and kogarasu maru. The blade's geometry really changes the dynamic of the katana depending on it's style.

Ef you for distracting me from work, with great content :D

Amazing vid. Need to share with with other enthusiasts like myself.

Interested if you’ll someday talk about the other (smaller) katana swords variants, like the shorter one handed second katana (forgot the name) and the very short Tanto wich is practically a knife.

Both entertaining and educational, as to be expected from this channel.

Long time subscriber - just got recommended this video Shad. I know you're looking at the analytics.

Do you have any plans to do any more castle and fort reviews? I loved that series and your deep-dive takes on fantasy fortifications. I would personally love you to take a look at assassin's creed 1 and 2. They are set in exactly 1191ad and 1459-1499 ad respectively. In addition, most locations in the game have a real-world counterpart that you can draw from for more context or to simply compare against.

I watched the whole video! It was very well made and explained!

I feel like people to often get hung up on the cultural significance of a sword and somehow try to apply that to whether the weapon is good (whatever that means). Fact is unless your Roman or some of the peoples from Southeast Asia (and some others I don't know) then swords are back up weapons almost universally. Most people fought with spears and polearms or missile weapons, they point of this is, even swords that were utilitarian still had major influence on them that weren't about combat effectiveness. How easy are they to carry and draw, what do they look like, can they be used as tools in camp, how much maintenance do they require, these are all things that effect sidearms (not just swords) way more than primary weapons, mostly because your life is in the hands of that primary weapon and your skill with it. That will make a person overlook a lot of things about something like a polearm as long as it gets the job done in a fight.

I remember seeing a Tachi with an odd handle, to my limited knowledge the handle was meant to increase the lever movement. The Handle was curved going against the curve of the blade. Would love to see it talked about!

May I make a small video making/editing suggestion? Videos like this one are basically conversations with your viewer. As such, I recommend, especially in this case where you're using more than one camera and differing angles; alternate between talking to each of the cameras, then in post editing, have your editor only switch the camera view to match when you're talking to that specific camera. As it is now, you slightly break immersion with your viewer by continuing to talk to a single camera even when the other is the current focus. Although it won't make much difference to you, I have no doubt it would result in a better connection to your viewer, and maybe even sustain their interest, making them feel more included within the conversation. The only time it's decently prudent to continue talking to the other camera, and is generally subconsciously accepted by the viewer, is if there is an interviewer involved. One of the cameras becomes the POV of the interviewer, but when the video switches to the other camera angle, the viewer still feels privy to the conversation, and not personally excluded, because they know you're addressing the interviewer. I know you're a stickler for quality in your content, so I thought I'd throw this suggestion at you.

I love it how educated I feel at the end of your videos. I wish history in school has been that interesting.

very nice to see, that you finally got a good representation of a Gambeson and a propper belt!

Eh... It depends. Look, if you're talking about the Medieval period of the 1200s during which the Mongols invaded Japan then yes, that period of the Samurai which is what was called the Kamakura period back then uses the Tachi. In fact, the Katana was made back then. As the Japanese was facing a hard time dealing with the Mongols, they soon decided that the best way for them to deal with the Mongols was to board their ships in the middle of the night and raid them be it to temper with their supplies or straight up turn into ninjas and assassinate officers. However as they got onto the ships, they soon realized that if they're faced with combat, their Tachis was way too cumbersome and unwieldy in a confined space like a ship's deck or quarters whereas the shorter Turko-Mongol Sabre was dealing tons of damage back to the Samurais thus whatever Samurais that survives their raids would go back to shore and just snap off at least 1/4 of their blades and used these "newer" blades into combat and... It worked and that's how the Katana was known to have started from. By the 1500s, Japan wasn't out of the Medieval period yet or in fact, the entire of Eastern Asia is still stuck in Medieval times till the 1800s in actuality. Even by the time of Sengoku-jidai, Japan was still in limbo of Medieval ways of practice in Japanese form with a slight hint of western Renaissance touch with the influx of medication, arquebues from the Netherlands and even Christianity was brought into Japan at that time. However, despite all that, katanas did see tons of usage by low ranking Samurais and even to a lesser extent, bowmen as Tachi impedes their movement too much. During the early half of the conflict, both katanas and Tachis was still used but by the time after the death of Oda Nobunaga and the rise of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Tachi was slowly being phased out and by the time of Tokugawa Iaeyasu's domination after the failures of Hideyoshi, everyone was already using katanas rather than Tachis. So in a sense, Katana was still the Samurai's combat blade of choice and it just deviated from the Tachi to the Katana in just a span of like one decade before the Tachi was abandoned completely for the Katana.

Shad you were the anchor pulling me out of the abusive dopemine cycle of shorts. Thank you for teaching me something today.

Big brain move placing all the swords blade down AND with handles on the right 🧠 Shad using image warfare effectively.

Facts and a love of history. This is why I love this channel. Love of swords tempered with historical facts.

Gotta love these! I have to say for all the mention of "context" non was mentioned of using a shield with said weapons, as some of them were more commonly used in conjunction with a shield, whereas the Katana and other Japanese/Asian type blades were not. The Katana of course was the Sword, and The Shield. ;)

I enjoy your videos , and 80% humor 20% concern- a person who talks with their hands and holds swords might consider wearing gloves. Keep up the good work with sword videos

Thank you very much for that, I kept seeing katana, o-katana and o-dachi in games and never quite understood their relations to each other. Would love to see a deep dive on their uses in battle versus "civil" fights (like duels or what a body guard might use). Did they have treatises the same way Europe did?

Would love to see Shad visit Japan and other countries to showcase medieval weapons, armour, culture, food, etc.

See I appreciate videos like this because I always learn something that I didn't know before and I'm always happy to learn

Would love to see Shad put on some samurai armor in future videos 🤔

I have had the pleasure of seeing several examples of Katana on display in Japanese museums and as they were peace time swords they were very slim and shorter than their war time counterparts. I imagine they would be extremely fast to draw.

Man i kind of want to get a cloak now... As a taller guy at 6'2 i have always felt that my two katanas are a bit on the short side. I have been looking into asking the maker to make it longer. As a comparison my hema practice steel longsword, feels almost twice the length of my katanas haha.

I don't understand what the author was saying "katana wasn't the main battle sword". The Tachi was the standard during the Heian period. Then the battlefield changed over time and was eventually supplanted by the uchigatana, the sword that we normally call katana. So yes, after the Heian, the katana became the main battle sword in Japan.

Very impressive. Great collections. As I understand, かたな Katana is a general calling for Samurai sword, たち Tachi are longer sword for cavalrymen, hang under the belt, blade down. and the other kind is うちがたな Uuchigatana are a little shorter for Infantrymen, carrying through the belt, blade up.

I'm not a blade user myself but somehow blade down and then drawing it, sounds a lot more fluent and comfortable to do than the other way around. Because there's less "friction" to pull it out.

I like swords as well, Shad... BUT WHAT ABOUT DRAGONS?!!!!

This vid was surprisingly cool. You have an excellent way of explaining things, the european clothing was a great addition along with the curved traditional sword atop the katanas, and it was an overall nice experience. But please Shad, place the katanas with their curved side up, otherwise the blade might get dull from hitting the saya, just saying 😀

man Shad you are an ok kinda guy. Idk how tf you get me watching 15 - 20 minute videos about swords when my nerdiness doesn't innately care but you found a way.

Shad: I am sick and need help with my channel. Also Shad: I declare WAR on the entirety of Neckbeardom! May god decide who is right, and may the looser perish and suffer in hell!

I'm pretty sure that the main reason why everybody likes katanas so much is because 'katana' sounds so much cooler than 'tachi'.

This the first time I watched a video by you n by the first three seconds with the editing yell I was like I’m subscribing

Good stuff Sir!!

That’s awesome that the samurai had a sword for warfare Otashi. While the katana is popular, it’s nice to see the Ostashi didn’t know that it was their primary weapon

For Sabres you would wear the blade up while on foot and blade down while mounted. I believe this was the same for shahka and it would be logical for the Tachi as well. The reasoning is you can pull forward to draw while on foot but on horse if you did this action you would smack the horse in the neck. Thus you need to draw 'up' while mounted. Another great indicator of a Tachi is the 'sword knot' or length of fabric on the handle. This is to tie the blade to your wrist so if you dropped it while on horseback you can retrieve it. It's a characteristic of a cavalry sword.

Knew about the odachi but not the tachi or okatana, good video.

Learning to sword fight has always been something I've wanted to do, but haven't had time for. I imagine if I did, I would gravitate towards fencing as I like competition... The equipment used is also very cool. But so is Kendo, liking that allot too. WHAT WOULD Y'ALL SUGGEST AND OLD NEWBIE DO? Besides quit commenting☺☺

I've been wanting to see the comparison between the katana and the gross messer for a long, long time.

I keep seeing people seem to forget the huge size difference between an average Japanese dude and an average englishman, I don't think the fact that a katana is significantly shorter than european swords should ever really be held against it in a fair comparison, since it's designed for smaller people than european swords are

I thought/hoped you'd be discussing the chokuto or the tsurugi, which were even older (pre-10th century) swords with straight blades with one or two edges, respectively. One of the Japanese Imperial Regalia, Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, is such a sword. Such swords would have been used by some of the earliest samurai, a few centuries before the first Mongol invasion in 1274 (ie Ghost of Tsushima). The idea of samurai using straight-bladed swords is so alien to most Westerners (and probably many Japanese who aren't big dumb history/sword nerds) that it would be a fun topic to get into.

Thank you! (For pronunciation, the Japanese ch is indeed pronounced like in "chips" and not like "ships.")

He has 11 swords and wears a cape, best not to mess with this guy lol

Holy shit bro you lost some weight or i just remember you different? I remembered about this channel after a good 3 years

Thank you for your content and solid support for men.

Thinking about it, perhaps people's preference to remember warriors with swords over more common weapons like spears or bows may have something to do with the circumstances that cause the swords to come out: as a backup weapon, it is likely that in battle they would come out when tactics have broken down, presumably for both sides... Which makes for a rather dramatic stage, which lends itself remembrance, and thus retelling. Bit of a stretch, but it sounds plausible.