It’s rather complicated. In the “in-between” times, firearms were considered a coward’s weapon, making the user a “sniper” and thus less honorable than those who used more traditional arms. This faded with time however, as most ideas do.
Wow, this is so much faster
Submitted 7 months ago by The_Picard_Maneuver@lemmy.world to memes@sopuli.xyz
https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/a7b0ff6c-d124-4b3f-968e-3afa9b14dda5.jpeg
Comments
vanderbilt@lemmy.world 7 months ago
SkyezOpen@lemmy.world 7 months ago
This faded with time however
Yeah, because the people that thought that way got fucking shot.
Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 7 months ago
"what’re you going to do, coward? shoot me?"
- Man who got fucking shot
BenFranklinsDick@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Words of wisdom
veni_vedi_veni@lemmy.world 7 months ago
The Pope tried banning crossbows
yamanii@lemmy.world 7 months ago
In latin languages it’s even called “besta” to indicate it’s from the beast (Satan)
cumskin_genocide@lemm.ee 7 months ago
Bro American Sniper was a fucking badass film. No politics or anything. Just a guy shooting terrorists.
Ashelyn@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 months ago
Bro really called “just a guy shooting terrorists” apolitical
Emmie@lemm.ee 7 months ago
It had the same value as that nazi propaganda sniper movie from inglorious basterds
GrymEdm@lemmy.world 7 months ago
stanka@lemmy.ml 7 months ago
Explanation: It’s just that… you have all these squishy parts, master. And all that water! How the constant sloshing doesn’t drive you mad, I have no idea. HK-47
NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 7 months ago
Longbow was the main battle weapon of samurai.
lapislazuli@sopuli.xyz 7 months ago
FTFY: Longbow was the main battle weapon of the English. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yumi was the main battle weapon of the samurai.
reliv3@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Reading your links, the correction you made seems semantically insignificant. Yumi is the word for “bow” in Japanese and longbows describe a bow that are long. Longbows are not unique to the English, and there are a lot of bows that can be described as longbows. So my point is, if samurais used yumis that are long (which some did) then saying they used longbows is not incorrect. Nevertheless, thank you for letting us know what the Japanese called their bows, it was educational.
Kusimulkku@lemm.ee 7 months ago
Yumi (弓) is the Japanese term for a bow.
thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org 7 months ago
Yo Jimbo should be required viewing.
cmbabul@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Seven Samurai too, although less central
captainlezbian@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Yeah they were soldiers. Alexander the Great had engineers in his army for a reason. Genghis Kahn would lose his shit over a magnum gun.
Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Depending on the era, they were rich thugs who could and would slice a homeless person in half for looking at the wrong.
Emmie@lemm.ee 7 months ago
War never changes
Agent641@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Genghis Khan would love M114 howitzers.
captainlezbian@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Genghis Kahn would love the Toyota hilux. The modern technical is endowed with his spirit of “let’s make the real shit of war more mobile”
EvilLootbox@lemmy.world 7 months ago
but then what would Spike TV show in the place of Deadliest Warrior?
FireTower@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Milk_Sheikh@lemm.ee 7 months ago
Web search is failing me for a primary source under the deluge of web/pop culture fascination with katanas, but I swear I’ve read that their primary killing tool in battle was the Yumi bow, usually fired from horseback.
Guns displaced every warrior-caste from multiple different societies; the samurai held on to power through arms control first for swords, then later guns once the colonial powers invited themselves in.
snooggums@midwest.social 7 months ago
Bows (or other projectiles) and spears ruled the battlefield in Japan and everywhere else on the planet when combat was primarily hand to hand. Sometimes there were situations where swords or maces and other close in weapons had the advantage, but in general killing someone from a distance with a weapon that could be primarily made of wood and relatively simple is just going to be the most commonky used tool of war.
Romans, known for the gladius short sword, would initially start combat with slings, javelins, and spears. They only switched to swords up close. Same for samurai.
TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Also, less maintenance/ material required for its creation.
A spear point with a couple of langets is something a blacksmith can knock out by the hour. Good swords take longer and are more technical to make. You break your spear shaft in training? Well tough as, but you can find a suitable replacement and remount it on campaign.
AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 7 months ago
The sword has always been the last option as a weapon. Like a handgun would be today. A spear would always be preferred.
captainlezbian@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Even more than that, while we think of the gladius as their iconic weapon, the only weapon that served for the entire history of the Roman military is the bronze spear, though it eventually became ceremonial.
Swords are flashy and the weapon of a noble in town, as they’re expensive, high skill, and a reasonable sidearm for relative safety. They weren’t replaced in function by the rifle, but by the pistol. This is actually quite similar to the mindset of revolvers in the American west. The primary armament of that period’s conflicts was the lever action rifle, but the revolver was better in town.
Milk_Sheikh@lemm.ee 7 months ago
Don’t forget the Plumbata!
Cypher@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Nobunaga is literally the most successful of the Japanese warlords because he looted a Spanish merchant vessel and obtained guns and powder.
Then he did everything possible to get more.
This narrative that evil Europeans forced them to use guns is absurd.
EldritchFeminity@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 months ago
It’s more that guns were hard to get until the British and Americans forced Japan to open its borders. They were generally imported through the Spanish/Portuguese, or the Dutch after they established trade relations. Even after they started making their own matchlocks, I believe they were only produced in small batches due to the high percentage of impurities in Japan’s iron deposits.
Milk_Sheikh@lemm.ee 7 months ago
You’re right, that last sentence is ham fisted - I was referring to the gunboat diplomacy opening the trade free for all after decades of isolation, not colonial annexation.
Madison420@lemmy.world 7 months ago
I too have watched batosai the manslayer.
JustZ@lemmy.world 7 months ago
I’ve heard that as well about the bows.