Pinoy Community v. 18

[hunter71485]

Funny story.

My former schoolmate found his koi fish on the floor, near the door, without bite or scratch marks, barely breathing, way way out of it's pond. He immediately threw it back in the water, then told me the story, hoping for it to survive, so he can name it Harry - "the koi who lived".

A few minutes later, it died. I told him he could put on the epitaph - "Harry, the koi who almost lived".

 

[baboysai]

aw. it was actually a sad story.

 

[kuroihikari]

koi wa iki
ikirarenai yo
warui koi

/horrible japanese pun haiku.

 

[baboysai]

Oh man, seriously. nauubos na ang pera ko sa manga.

Especially because Fully Booked comes up with the first volumes of many series.

They have Genshiken 1,2, and 3. They have Nodame Cantabile 1 too... To buy or not to buy?

 

[mangadictus]

be smart about it.

 

[baboysai]

Okay this is totally random but... I can't get it out of my head you guys have to help meeeee!

While looking at the Vagabond book covers alongside Rurouni Kenshin and BoTI, I noticed that many characters set in feudal Japan had different physiques- or body structures.

Okay so Kenshin might not be comparable to Vagabond but hey. The guy is really small for such a formidable swordsman, and his master was really big. Or how about Okita who was based on an actual historical figure, the child genius swordsman? A 14 or 15-year-old (with, let us assume, bodies unlike football athletes) who can cut bodies in half- that requires a huge amount of strength.

Or, the head of the Yoshioka school, Seijuro from Vagabond- who was also pretty young and girly-looking...

But then you have the other sword wielders who are quite convincingly drawn to cut bodies in half or whatever...

SO ANYWAY.

I tried to google my query but I did not know how to phrase it. I tried such phrases as "samurai physique" and "ideal japanese swordsman" but I never quite got what I wanted answered. :/

comments? GO.

 

[Imperium]

A lot of that is artistic license. Cutting bodies in half would have been nearly impossible with those swords, it would have easily broken them. The katana is meant to slice and stab, the power needed is not the same as a two-handed broad sword. The strength needed to cut through bone and tissue to dismember someone would have destroyed most of those swords even with a large meat cleaving claymore cutting a human in half is something incredibly hard.

In any case I dont understand the question but people in the past on average were shorter and weaker than your average human today. It has a lot to do with our better diets. But If you want there are photographs from the meiji era samurai which I saw online. I can find them again if your interested.

 

[mangadictus]

gotta love http://www.youtube.com/user/daneboe videos

Spoiler: IMBA

 

[baboysai]

A lot of that is artistic license. Cutting bodies in half would have been nearly impossible with those swords, it would have easily broken them. The katana is meant to slice and stab, the power needed is not the same as a two-handed broad sword. The strength needed to cut through bone and tissue to dismember someone would have destroyed most of those swords even with a large meat cleaving claymore cutting a human in half is something incredibly hard.

Actually I saw the Discovery special (fight science or something) on comparing swords and the Katana is not meant for stabbing it's really meant for slicing and it can in fact, cut people up in two, and even cut a claymore in two. The sword meant for stabbing would be the more western slender swords meant for fencing...

It's not really much fiction when authors describe guts spilling out (which would not be the effect if you stabbed someone) or bones cut clean off the body because the katana or feudal japanese swords of the time were really meant to do just that. If you notice, japanese swords have one edge like a knife so that when you swing it it would slice, where as the two-edged swords of the western cultures were meant more for thrusting.

That's why I was wondering as to how physique really had any play on how they handled the katanas or other japanese swords. I posted on some other places to get info (i.e consulting MH senpai, lol) but I'm now late for work so...

In any case I dont understand the question but people in the past on average were shorter and weaker than your average human today. It has a lot to do with our better diets. But If you want there are photographs from the meiji era samurai which I saw online. I can find them again if your interested.

oh wait, you know I told you how much I enjoyed that Medici docu right? I was trying to access the website again for many days now and they seem to be down. I figured I could find some Fight Science specials there...

 

[hunter71485]

@bb

you're right, the katana was made to cut people in half - the japanese discovered and utilized folded steel hundreds of years before the westerners developed them. in fact, if you are a samurai who recently purchased a katana, you could even "break it in" by slashing anyone you'd meet on the road in half.

the flat, thin, curved one sided blade is utilized as a drawing weapon - it's got more to do with momentum than physical strength.

 

[Imperium]

...There is a significant difference between slicing limbs and severing heads to cutting a body in half but that's the limit of my knowledge on the subject.

you're right, the katana was made to cut people in half - the japanese discovered and utilized folded steel hundreds of years before the westerners developed them. in fact, if you are a samurai who recently purchased a katana, you could even "break it in" by slashing anyone you'd meet on the road in half..

Thats a result of them having shit iron ore compared to China and the other major civilizations of the age.

 

[mangadictus]

its actually how the steel is forged. unlike other techniques, Japanese blacksmiths use clay to balance the thickness and flexibility of the steel. too much, you won't make it sharp enough to slice. too little, it becomes almost brittle.

 

[baboysai]

Okay I want FIGHT SCIENCE SPECIALS NAO!

Bring out the testosterone or something to that effect...

 

[hunter71485]

... Am now officially waiting for the RK DVD, so someone will sub it and I will break RA 10175 for it.

 

[mangadictus]

what's with the fight science craving nes?

 

[baboysai]

Well in my quest, a friend of mine recommended Mark Dacascos' documentary on Miyamoto Musashi.

And it just all the more makes me so impressed with what Takehiko Inoue has done with Vagabond.

And now I want to read Sun Tzu's "The Art of War".

Man, these geezers know a whole load of shit.

 

[mangadictus]

yep. the story and art in Vagabond is something to behold. good luck sa art of war. maybe i should give it a try.

 

[Imperium]

The art of war is short, it shouldn't take long. The length surprised me actually, its similar to Machiavelli's the prince in that sense.

 

[kuroihikari]

It's like incredibly common sense, though (probably because I was raised by a soldier father).

And doesn't have a sex scene .

 

[baboysai]

Yeah I was thinking of buying The Prince too about a year ago, but was confused about which book to buy exactly, because there are many different translations to the book, and the price ranges quite erratically.