Katana: a weapon that has become part of Japanese culture
One of the most famous Japanese cold species in popular culture. weapons - a long sword with a two-handed grip, called a katana. This name is familiar even to those people who are far from studying Japan and the historiography of Japanese edged weapons as such. If the feature film is in Japanese historical topic, then most often - a katana, if the anime is about samurai, then again a katana.
If we talk about the direct translation of the word "katana" into Russian, then it is problematic to find a direct analogue. Therefore, most often they use a simplified version - "saber", which does not quite accurately reflect the very essence of the weapon.
Often, the "Hollywoodization" of world cinema leads to outright mistakes when demonstrating not only how the katana was used, but also how it was worn. One of the frequent "blunders" of modern filmmakers is a samurai with a katana almost in the XNUMXth century, although it is officially believed that this type of weapon appeared in the XNUMXth century. Another common mistake - the hero's katana appears now on the right, now on the left on the belt, and even at home. Firstly, when entering the house, the samurai took out his sword from his belt, and secondly, the tradition of wearing a katana - on the left side, always in a sheath.
The peculiarity of making a katana - a weapon that has become a part of Japanese culture - is forging in layers. Individual pieces of steel, which have passed the slag removal procedure, are repeatedly folded during forging, resulting in an amazing structure resembling the finest puff pastry. Instead of a dough - high-quality steel, and usually two of its types in terms of "softness".
Voennoye Obozreniye is forced to remind that the unlicensed manufacture of weapons is punishable by law.
The video below from Random Hands showcases a variation from the modern katana craftsman. Attention is drawn to what this Japanese sword is forged from - from a piece of rusty chain. But what happens in the end - even an experienced specialist will not immediately say that medieval technology was not followed.
Information