European knight vs Japanese Samurai

lapulid2 · Yellow Belt

given the criteria, the samurai. he has the lightest most efficient and perhaps the sharpest weapon. if you give both a katana or both a broadsword then to each their respective mastery. now, hand to hand no weapons... i would have to give it to the samurai who is most likely a skilled Aikidoist.

Jay · Red Belt

european knite their swords are a lot stronger than katanas athough heavier if they are skilled the katana would break in one hit if hit hard enough
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Menjo · Black Belt

possibly but would a samurai randomly hit swords with the knight, the samurai actually didnt clash swords over and over again...

isshinryu5toforever · Black Belt

A samurai would never allow his sword to take a direct hit from another sword. That is how many swords break katana or broadsword. Also many broadswords were forged, not forged and folded like katana. The folding process made the blade stronger. The curve of the blade in a katana also allowed for greater strength than a straight sword.
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jnpnshr411 · Orange Belt

I would think the samurai would win also for reasons already said.

Menjo · Black Belt

IRKguy · White Belt

The word Chivalry comes from the old French, meaning horsemanship. The very meaning of being a knight was to be cavalry. The idea of a fair fight between a smarai and a European knight on foot is, by definition, not fair. Furthermore, armor was part of the European martial system. The existence of armor and the expectation that he would be on horseback played into everything from how he trained to the design of his weapon. It didn't take samarai skills for the English footsoldier to defeat French cavalry, once they were unmounted.

Back to the weapon: the broadsword was not the primary weapon of the knight. In most cases, the lance was. After the introduction of plate armor, the broad sword lost favor to thrusting swords, hammers, and maces. Even when the broadsword was being used, it was not considered a weapon. It was considered half a weapon and was almost always paired with a shield of some sort. Throughout Medeival times and into the Renaissance, European sword arts assumed that there would be something in the left hand, usually a shield, at least a buckler. It is later dueling arts such as Italian fencing that involved using only one weapon, and these were not war arts. These were dueling arts. Even in dueling, these Italian masters were routinely beaten and humiliated when they tried to teach in England and were challenged by Londoners skilled in sword and buckler.

As you've set the situation up, the Japanese would certainly win, but the comparison is meaningless.

So who would win in a fair fight, a shark or a lion?
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granmasterchen · Black Belt

nicely put.....shark or lion.....well it all depends if it is on land or in the water...lol

maybe we should alter the situation some.

give them both horses....and their armor...shield or what not....

if you start them at a distance the advantage would go to the samurai for their knowledge and art of the bow.....but.....if it was samurai on horse with a yari or naginata versus a knight on horse with a lance....hmmmmm

or a battle on foot with armor. The knight in plate or chain with sword and shield or any other weapon of choice against the samurai in their armor with katana, or kama or sai or what ever other weapon....

hmmmmmm
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Sengra · Purple Belt

kzshin · Orange Belt

I think it still comes down to individual.

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