Re: Anti-Armor Weapons

[EMAIL PROTECTED] (peter wezeman) wrote in
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]: 

> In both medieval Europe and Japan there were periods of intense
> competition between weapon makers and armor builders to keep up with
> each others advances in technology, an "arms race" as it were.
> 
> In Europe, the development of plate armor for foot soldiers and
> cavalry ultimately resulted in the eclipse of the sword as the primary
> close combat weapon; it was replaced by the mace, the battle ax with
> spiked poll, and the war hammer. Was there any Japanese equivalent
> to these weapons, or something else with an armor-piercing point that
> could be driven against armor with maximum kinetic energy?

        The Samurai armory included things like the Tetsubo which was
        a club 7-8 ft long ( Testsubo means something like "iron stick"
        I think ) and and a heavy mallet called an Otsuchi ( Large hammer? )
        but the latter was more of an entry assist device for knocking down
        doors and such. Axes don't seem to have caught on in Japan although
        the Naginata was an edged polearm to be sure even if it was
        essentially a sword-on-a-stick.
        Japanese armour never got as heavy as European plate did so the
        requirement for smashing weapons wasn't as critical and there was
        such a cult of the sword that Samurai may have felt that blunt
        objects were beneath their dignity. 

        IBM 

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