this is an interesting topic i found in another forum.

basically, who would you place your bets on to win ? involving a fight between a great european swordfighter (using a rapier) or a japanese samurai ? assume equal levels of skill...........which style is better ?

at first my inclination is to assume the samurai would win. but i think it would be the opposite.

Well, in reality, I think the samurai would win, due to the quality of the armor and the blade that he would be using; although the rapier would be probably be able to hit the samurai several times, it probably wouldn't penetrate very far. On the other hand, if the samurai gets a clean stroke in, the other swordsman would be, if not disembowled, then severely wounded, and probably be unable to fight further.

Even though the rapier is a agile blade, a katana is more versatile.

If you compare only the fighting forms (i.e. the combatants have no armor, equal physical condition, etc.) I think I would still bet a little more on the samurai, due to methods of training, and the katana itself.

peace out.
sph3ric pyramid.

I'm obviously a bit biased (being a katana weilder myself), but I'd have to say that a samurai in full battle regailia would win.

Consider the dress of the two warriors in addition to their swords. A samurai in full battle mode is bearing two swords, and fairly heavily armored with body and headgear. The standard dueling outfit for someone using a rapier is normal clothing, a sword, and either parrying dagger or cape. We could be charitable and say the guy's wearing a helmet or face mask, but traditionally this is not the case (only in sporting fencing is protective gear normally used).

While the rapier has the capability of being more agile than the katana, the speed of the samurai's weapon is not to be underestimated. In addition to being armored, the samurai could switch at any point to weilding the katana with one hand or draw his wakizashi and add another advantage to his side.

Without the armor and just one sword each I'd have to say it's a complete toss-up. It would only depend on who slips up first.

~Zero the Inestimable

I agree with you guys, Ill say the same thing. Ther armor places a big role.

Just wanted to add, dont forget that Rapier users also can use a MainGauche, but I dont think it will change much.

If any of you want to see that stuff, watch the Highlander mini series, the maker has to work a lot fights with swords of different centurys.

shit, i should have said no armor. just fighting style alone.

from what i understand, a battle between samurai was over in moments. basically, they would face off and the first to move either won or would be counter attacked. and with swords like they used, just one cut would put you out of action.

so that against the skill of a good fencer. darting in and out, wearing the samurai down. if i was to take a more moderate approach, id say like above. the first to slip would die

It would be hard to say who would win. Maybe the samuri were hyped up quite a bit, like everything was back then. There's a possibility that they were only marginal fighters, but if the rest of the world heard stories about them, they'd be afraid and expect to lose. It could have happened since nobody has met a real samuri.

It's always hard to say who would win in a fight, people are different everyday. An Air Force cook could kill a Navy SEAl if the seal had a bad day or the sun got in his eyes or something. After that everybody would think that cooks could whoop seals.