[4Tran]

It shouldn't be surprising that swords are celebrated in anime because swords are sort of celebrated in Japan itself. All the way from katana being the symbol of samurai, to them being banned during the Meiji Restoration, to being made general issue for NCOs and officers during the Showa era, to being banned and destroyed after World War II. I don't think that any other weapon in Japan has such a storied record. The more surprising thing is that the sword is as celebrated in Western literature even though it had nowhere near the impact outside the Roman legions.

Originally Posted by risingstar3110

And yeah let's talk about sword, or try to put them in context. I thought with only swords, without shield and over-belief on bushido, Japanese medieval army will be steamrolled by pretty much any other countries? Especially with Sun Tzu's Art of War, emphasize on high ground for superior range combat?

Well, the "over-belief on bushido" bit is most true of Showa Japan, and they were using aircraft carriers by then.

Outside of that, medieval/feudal Japan is probably most associated with the Sengoku era. And the armies of the daimyo by the end are known for fielding more firearms than any of their European counterparts.

Originally Posted by aohige

I don't know why you think swords were the main weapon, because all the Western lolhistory shows that says so are wrong.

Spears were.

And in range, bows/tanegashima rifles.
Like everyone else.

Oh, and btw, we had the some of the biggest longbows in the world.
Yes, bigger than the English longbows. Thankfully we had bamboos, which are light, sturdy, and very flexible.

Don't believe everything you learn from videogames and ninja movies.

Exactly. The Sengoku era samurai were known for being both pragmatic and innovative. They would use whatever worked, and the katanas were more of symbols than they were battlefield weapons.

Originally Posted by Sumeragi

You mean the useless Japanese longbows?

While the Japanese bows don't have the range or power of Welsh longbows, I'm not sure why you'd think they were useless. They were the primary weapons of samurai for several centuries for a reason.