Author |
Message |
Timo Nieminen
|
Posted: Thu 07 Aug, 2014 4:45 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Until Hideyoshi's laws about swords and wearing of swords c. 1590, there would be a lot of variety. After Hideyoshi's laws, daisho (daito and shoto, worn together) were restricted to samurai (and early in the Edo period, became required wear for samurai on duty), and there were restrictions on weapons ownership by civilians. From 1668, commoners could not wear swords longer than 1.5 shaku (ko-wakzisashi, or short wakizashi), unless given specific permission by a government official.
Before Hideyoshi's laws, civilians could and did wear daito, so no surprise to see ashigaru with daito. In comtemporary art, I've seen ashigaru with katana and tanto, with 2 katanas, with daisho, with tanto, with shoto. One interesting picture of ashigaru musketeers training shows them with swords of about 2 shaku (so either very short daito or very long shoto), with the officers supervising them wearing longer daito.
They would usually have had at least one sidearm. Their main weapon would have been yari (spear or pike) or musket.
"In addition to being efficient, all pole arms were quite nice to look at." - Cherney Berg, A hideous history of weapons, Collier 1963.
|
|
|
|
Michael Brudon
Location: South Pacific Joined: 21 Dec 2013
Posts: 107
|
Posted: Fri 22 Aug, 2014 5:55 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I'd say as others did convenience. A single handed sword can form part of regular dress or ''regular carry'', as modern police say about handguns , which means they will be a lot more popular than long arms. Keep in mind any weapon, including modern soldiering you generally carry it 99.99% of the time versus less than 1% of the time actually needing it. As such even the toughest knight in the toughest time period would not be wearing his two handed sword to the toilet or dinner.
Also in my own experiements, taking swords out to test cut wild pigs or goats on we have just shot in Australia and the novelty of lugging a hand an a halfer through the bush gets annoying about oh,,half way through the first day! especially having to take it off your back to sit down and lean back to rest. A type X or messer hangs nicely and you forget its there.
|
|
|
|
Benjamin H. Abbott
|
Posted: Sun 19 Feb, 2017 2:06 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I just wrote this piece about the longsword on my blog. I remain uncertain exactly how the longsword and similar long-gripped swords compare with single-handed swords. I remain uncertain exactly why longswords and company saw use historically and why they didn't.
|
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum You cannot attach files in this forum You can download files in this forum
|
All contents © Copyright 2003-2024 myArmoury.com All rights reserved
Discussion forums powered by phpBB © The phpBB Group
Switch to the Basic Low-bandwidth Version of the forum
|