ТОП-5 ОСТРЕЙШИХ КАТАН В ИСТОРИИ, ЧАСТЬ ВТОРАЯ: Мечи, которые рубили доспехи, камень и сталь

These are the sharpest katana, swords that sliced through armor, stone and steel. Sometime in Japan's age of civil war, a commander of the Asakura clan swung a sword at a man's arm and went straight through the kote, the armoured sleeve of iron plates and chain mail that a samurai wore from shoulder to wrist. A katana was never built to do that. The curve, the edge geometry, the hardness of the steel, all of it is designed to open flesh by drawing through, which is exactly what armour exists to prevent. Swordsmen trained for years to aim at the gaps instead. The throat, the armpit, the inside of the wrist. Cutting through plate was never part of the plan. The Asakura kept that blade for generations as proof of what one of their own had done with it. When Oda Nobunaga destroyed the clan in 1573 he took it as a prize. It moved through his retainers, was repolished, changed hands again, and eventually reached the Maeda lords of Kaga, the richest domain in Japan after the Tokugawa themselves. The Maeda held it for two and a half centuries. In 1882 they presented it as a gift of honour to the Meiji Emperor. It is called the Kotegiri Masamune, the gauntlet cutter, and it is number one on this list. The other four earned their names the same way, by cutting something nobody expected them to cut. A tanto, a dagger, driven into rock to hold a ship against a storm at sea. A blade notched along its spine by other swords in battle and still keeping its edge. A sword that killed a cat by accident and was then named for a Chinese monk who killed one on purpose. And a swordsmith who took a blade into his own garden to win an argument about its price, aimed at a pine branch, and cut the stone lantern standing behind it. This is the second set. Five more of the sharpest swords in Japanese history, and the specific thing each one is remembered for cutting. If you search for the sharpest katana, Kotegiri Masamune, famous Japanese swords, or legendary samurai blades, this is the story those searches lead to. 5 MORE SHARPEST KATANA: THE BLADE THAT CUT THROUGH SAMURAI ARMOR Inside this episode: ⚔️ The clay coating that gives a katana a glass-hard edge and a body soft enough to survive a blade strike ⚔️ Awataguchi Yoshimitsu, ranked among the three finest smiths who ever worked, and the dagger of his that anchored a ship to a rock ⚔️ The kirikomi, the battle notches still visible in the spine of a Masamune, and the enemy who was handed it as a thank you ⚔️ Why a sword that killed a cat carries the name of a Zen master from Tang dynasty China ⚔️ The only Kotetsu blade with almost no curve at all, and the four characters carved under its handle that record what it cut ⚔️ How the gauntlet cutter travelled from a defeated clan to Oda Nobunaga to the Meiji Emperor EPISODE CHAPTERS: 0:00 How a Katana Gets Its Edge 1:01 No. 5: Iwakiri Toshiro, the Rock Cutter 3:43 No. 4: Ishida Masamune, the Notched Blade 5:45 No. 3: Nansen Ichimonji and the Cat 7:43 No. 2: Ishidorogiri Kotetsu, the Stone Lantern Cutter 9:56 No. 1: Kotegiri Masamune, the Gauntlet Cutter ⛩️ Watch more episodes in the series 👇    • Top 5 Sharpest Katana in History /  Histor...   🛡️ Like and subscribe for more real samurai history and epic sword content! ☕ Say thanks and support our videos! Every coffee funds editing, research, and new episodes! https://buymeacoffee.com/historyofkatana SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: 💌 Join the HOK Newsletter →https://news.historyofkatana.com/ SUPPORT OUR SPONSOR: 🔪 Explore authentic Japanese blades → https://dreamofjapan.com/knife 🔍 SOURCES AND ATTRIBUTION: https://hok-credits.pages.dev/ Copyright & Fair Use Notice: All historical artwork, archival materials, and public-domain texts used in this video are sourced from open archives or fall under fair use for purposes of education, commentary, and documentary analysis. If you believe any material has been used in error, please contact us directly at historyofkatana.com.