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[haxan7]

I think it's more than just a sword. In this case, it's the user. A master swordsman who's been parrying other sword strikes in combat for years. We've demonstrated that the katana can cut through bone easily, much less flesh. Why wouldn't losing part of his paw or all of it slow him down? He's literally crippled at that point and bleeding profusely. Pretty much every video shows a tiger coming in with extreme confidence, not worried about anything the enemy can do when in reality he could easily lose a limb. Very easily. But the tiger has evolved not to think that way because there's nothing in his food chain that carry a weapon that can slice through bone. Even the most dangerous situations against other tigers, they literally stand in front of each other while claw striking. Face and everything are in range.

The samurai would get one chance and like a split second to do any damage. Even then, the tiger is still going to be raging on adrenaline. There are videos of people being shot 20 times and still attacking. The samurai would have to make an immediately lethal strike or he’d be lethally wounded in seconds.

 

[MastaKiiLA]

I voted for samurai. He's got armor, which gives him a fighting chance. That'll give him at least one shot before getting knocked to the ground. A well-placed thrust or swing could remove a limb, or wound the tiger severely. If he doesn't drop his sword when tackled, he's got a chance to stab it a few more times. While a tiger is large, they're not impervious to pain, and even the most formidable predators run from a losing fight.

What really got me to vote samurai is that we've read stories of African bushmen taking down lions and leopards with spears and no armor. Yes, it's a spear versus a sword, but we're not talking about a halberd or anything, we're talking about pretty rudimentary weapons. Humans have hunted and killed large game for millennia. If the samurai is as skilled as advertised, then I can't discount good old-fashioned human cunning in a fight against an animal.

 

[QSD]

The samurai would get one chance and like a split second to do any damage. Even then, the tiger is still going to be raging on adrenaline. There are videos of people being shot 20 times and still attacking. The samurai would have to make an immediately lethal strike or he’d be lethally wounded in seconds.

have you ever tried attacking someone without any limbs?

 

[Romulus]

The samurai would get one chance and like a split second to do any damage. Even then, the tiger is still going to be raging on adrenaline. There are videos of people being shot 20 times and still attacking. The samurai would have to make an immediately lethal strike or he’d be lethally wounded in seconds.

Split-second timing is the samurai's whole game. That's what they do, now he's got a huge target running at him that is slower than sword swings he's been deflecting half his life. And I think getting shot doesn't immediately register like losing a limb. I've seen videos of people getting shot several times and still fighting, only to die later. But if that same person lost his entire arm? Different story. Not to mention, suddenly you can't walk and you're spewing pints of blood.

 

[Romulus]

What really got me to vote samurai is that we've read stories of African bushmen taking down lions and leopards with spears and no armor. Yes, it's a spear versus a sword, but we're not talking about a halberd or anything, we're talking about pretty rudimentary weapons. Humans have hunted and killed large game for millennia. If the samurai is as skilled as advertised, then I can't discount good old-fashioned human cunning in a fight against an animal.

Yes and another poster mentioned they stopped using tigers in gladiator arenas because they would die too easily against gladiators.

I'm thinking the tiger's biggest disadvantage is not understanding what the human is using against them. It just looks like this shiny object. Then suddenly they're gushing blood. Their brains are not equipped to make a judgment call on the usefulness of a tool.
They see an armored samurai and suddenly a 3ft long razor-sharp blade appears and is slashing at them at 150mph(or whatever). It's just not something that they would ever experience in the wild.

 

[Tertullian]

I absolutely think the master samurai would lethally wound the tiger with his first strike. The advantage of reach simply guarantees it if the samurai sees the tiger coming. Whether the tiger would then tear the samurai apart before it died, I'm not as sure.

 

[QSD]

Yes and another poster mentioned they stopped using tigers in gladiator arenas because they would die too easily against gladiators.

I do have to confess I made that up

 

[QSD]

I will add though that if you look up the actual history of gladiatorial combat against wild animals, that I'm not left with the impression that this was as dangerous as some here suggest. It's a shame there's no succes/failure numbers but if a fight against a tiger was really 90/10 for the tiger they would never get any volunteers. According to this wikipedia article the an animal did sometimes defeat the hunter, but that's a far cry from what some of you are claiming here

Venatio

Exotic wild beasts from the far reaches of the Roman Empire were brought to Rome and hunts were held in the morning prior to the afternoon main event of gladiatorial duels. The hunts were held in the Roman Forum, the Saepta, and in the Circus Maximus, though none of these venues offered protection to the crowd from the wild animals on display. Special precautions were taken to prevent the animals from escaping these venues, such as the erection of barriers and the digging of ditches. Very few animals survived these hunts though they did sometimes defeat the "bestiarius", or hunter of wild beast. Thousands of wild animals would be slaughtered in one day. During the inauguration of the Colosseum about 9,000 animals were killed.[3]

 

[Nester99]

 

[Nester99]

How much time does he get to prepare?

 

[Blitzmangoman]

There are news reports of average humans fighting off/killing mountain lions barehanded or with a kitchen knife.
I remember reading about an old woman who killed one fighting for hours (lol).
I know a mountain lion isn't close to the power and size of a tiger but still.
An elite Samurai? Bye Kitty Kat.

People in here make it sound like the tiger can teleport or some shit, lol.
The samurai can see the movements and evade.

 

[crazy monkey]

It will come down to armor and strength. Samurai has to protect his body specially his neck and face. His body should be covered in pointy armour.

Tiger will win if he smells fear.

 

[Liljagare]

Just noticed that OP actually wrote Siberian Tiger. In that case, it's more like fighting off a charging school bus, that can actually turn on a dime. 65 mph up to 400 kg of meat, even if the Samurai lands a death blow, the impact from the corpse would smush him. Guess that would be a loose/loose?

Hunters armed with guns have issues putting down Siberian Tigers, because of their hides thickness, and bone thickness, you need the bullet to hit right to kill it.

Tranqed siberian, giving zero fucks about it:



This is what our 55 Kg Samurai would be facing. A supersmart, apex predator, it wouldn't face a Samurai down, it would go and eat the Samurai in their bed..







And then, it is probarly a man eater if it goes after a human, so, you have to deal with that facet of it too. The following is a true story. Man eaters are narcisistic, charging even helicopters, they know no fear. It's a honey badger on crack, they don't give a shit. Steal a kill from a siberian, it will go out of its way to hunt you down. Screw with a Siberian Tiger, and know, your death, is guaranteed. It will find you, and kill you. Siberians are known for leaving their territory to kill hunters that have tried to hunt them. This is a story, about a armed hunter, that found his fate, after pissing off a Siberian.

Vladimir Markov, overstepped his place in nature, according to the tiger, that decided to hunt him down. There is no way a tiny Samurai would have been able to do any better.

 

[Liljagare]

Tiger claw hardness level is 2.5, a katana is 40. It's not breaking on those claws, sorry. They're made to strike other katanas. There are various demonstrations of them hacking through bone with ease, and claws are made of the same thing. And even if the claws were harder, the chance of the katana striking the claws is incredibly low.

Claw ripping vectors have given their claws up to a 58 in hardness. Tigers can both chew through, and tear through, hardened steel. There are records of Siberians chewing through engine blocks. So, I think you are a wee bit off.

 

[mansoor1980]

ok here is a decent video

 

[Romulus]

Claw ripping vectors have given their claws up to a 58 in hardness. Tigers can both chew through, and tear through, hardened steel. There are records of Siberians chewing through engine blocks. So, I think you are a wee bit off.

Sounds like you're making up claw ripping vectors. And a 58, where? You don't have time to "chew" in a fight to the death and angle your 700lbs body weight just right for tearing. The tiger is going for suffocation.

So strong you can clip them with a human nail clipper.




A claw is made of a hard protein called keratin, a lion, tiger, or bear is not "shattering" a katana as you mentioned.

 

[QSD]

Sounds like you're making up claw ripping vectors. And a 58, where? You don't have time to "chew" in a fight to the death and angle your 700lbs body weight just right for tearing. The tiger is going for suffocation.

So strong you can clip them with a human nail clipper.




A claw is made of a hard protein called keratin, a lion, tiger, or bear is not "shattering" a katana as you mentioned.

misquote fixed

 

[Romulus]

I agree cause ehm I never said that LOL

That's strange. I'll fix it.

 

[Romulus]

Just noticed that OP actually wrote Siberian Tiger. In that case, it's more like fighting off a charging school bus, that can actually turn on a dime. 65 mph up to 400 kg of meat, even if the Samurai lands a death blow, the impact from the corpse would smush him. Guess that would be a loose/loose?

Hunters armed with guns have issues putting down Siberian Tigers, because of their hides thickness, and bone thickness, you need the bullet to hit right to kill it.

Tranqed siberian, giving zero fucks about it:



This is what our 55 Kg Samurai would be facing. A supersmart, apex predator, it wouldn't face a Samurai down, it would go and eat the Samurai in their bed..







And then, it is probarly a man eater if it goes after a human, so, you have to deal with that facet of it too. The following is a true story. Man eaters are narcisistic, charging even helicopters, they know no fear. It's a honey badger on crack, they don't give a shit. Steal a kill from a siberian, it will go out of its way to hunt you down. Screw with a Siberian Tiger, and know, your death, is guaranteed. It will find you, and kill you. Siberians are known for leaving their territory to kill hunters that have tried to hunt them. This is a story, about a armed hunter, that found his fate, after pissing off a Siberian.

Vladimir Markov, overstepped his place in nature, according to the tiger, that decided to hunt him down. There is no way a tiny Samurai would have been able to do any better.

The scenario is they both see each other and the tiger charges.
I don't feel like the tiger charging automatically equals a blunt force direct hit. It could be a graze from the sidestepping samurai. Or a leaping claw strike.

Either way, the master samurai is absolutely a threat.

I feel the added weight and mad dash frontal attack helps the samurai too. It increases his cutting power because his massive target is accelerating towards him. So in a worse case scenario, a grazing sword wound could mean losing a limb now.

 

[GymWolf]

Isn't funny that a samurai has more chance against ferocious looking animals like lions, tigers and bears but it would have zero chance against a funny looking hippo or rhino?!

 

[Nester99]

This one is better

There are news reports of average humans fighting off/killing mountain lions barehanded or with a kitchen knife.
I remember reading about an old woman who killed one fighting for hours (lol).
I know a mountain lion isn't close to the power and size of a tiger but still.
An elite Samurai? Bye Kitty Kat.

People in here make it sound like the tiger can teleport or some shit, lol.
The samurai can see the movements and evade.

A mountain lion is no Siberian tiger,.

But a Pocket Knife is no Katana !

Man who fought mountain lion with pocketknife, rocks wishes he brought gun

A man who fought off a mountain lion attack with a pocketknife and some rocks near Kremmling is thankful his brush with the predator didn’t turn out much worse. Richard Marriott lives in Evergreen but...

www.skyhinews.com

 

[Romulus]

This one is better



A mountain lion is no Siberian tiger,.

But a Pocket Knife is no Katana !

Man who fought mountain lion with pocketknife, rocks wishes he brought gun

A man who fought off a mountain lion attack with a pocketknife and some rocks near Kremmling is thankful his brush with the predator didn’t turn out much worse. Richard Marriott lives in Evergreen but...

www.skyhinews.com

Indeed, and a 61-year-old man with a pocketknife is no master samurai in the prime of combative life with a sword that he's trained with for 20 years.

 

[Jeff Spicoli]

Ask the Revenant

 

[TrebleShot]

I see the mountain lion argument. Mountain lion is smaller and weighs soughly the same as a large man (males) and roughly half the weight of a man if Female.

I believe a Siberian Tiger weighs roughly x3/4 a large adult male human.

no contest

 

[Sakura]

People seriously saying the tiger?
It doesn't know how to fight a sword. It would probably thrust itself on the sword without realising what is happening. If an armoured human with a sword, that he is an expert with by the way, couldn't fight a wild tiger, I'm pretty sure humans would've gone extinct a long time ago.

 

[Jeff Spicoli]

This famous video is pretty scary, and shows how the tigers can be deadly silent and fast

 

[Romulus]

People seriously saying the tiger?
It doesn't know how to fight a sword. It would probably thrust itself on the sword without realising what is happening. If an armoured human with a sword, that he is an expert with by the way, couldn't fight a wild tiger, I'm pretty sure humans would've gone extinct a long time ago.

Yeah, there's nothing in its evolution that makes even remotely cautious of a sword.

 

[Fbh]

Depends on how many friends the samurai has and how strong their power of friendship is.
Also if they aren't too close to each other the tiger would probably take 10-15 second to reach the samurai...giving him a good 30 minutes worth of flashbacks which would make him even stronger.

 

[Nester99]

.

People seriously saying the tiger?
It doesn't know how to fight a sword. It would probably thrust itself on the sword without realising what is happening. If an armoured human with a sword, that he is an expert with by the way, couldn't fight a wild tiger, I'm pretty sure humans would've gone extinct a long time ago.

A 15 year old with a shovel and some pointy Bambo shoots and a bit of time can kill a tiger regardless of size.

 

[Romulus]

I think even "good" samurai of the warring era would stand a decent chance, but most would die. The reason I changed my vote is that the top-tier humans at their craft can be near superhuman when you're talking about the .001% of the best warriors. There's just a massive difference in skill between good and the acknowledged best of your era. Especially when it comes to being under pressure and reacting in a split second. I mean the dude in the video is slicing bullets in half, which a tiger isn't even 5% of that speed. When it comes to the elite of the elite, the tiger would take massive damage no matter what. His body has no defense against a sword and his mind isn't even registering what a sword can do. As fast as a tiger is, that's too slow for how quickly the most elite swordsman can react.
Not to mention, every weapon the tiger attacks with is in direct range of a critical blow. The claws are connected to the tiger's huge paws, which are his balance. The teeth are part of the face.
The samurai's blade extends his range without putting his body in danger. The katana cannot bleed or register pain, but it can deal massive damage.

 

[TrebleShot]

Keep thinking about this thread it’s fascinating how many people think the reaction speed and reflexes of a human are somehow on a par with a tiger.

the samurai would not be fast enough to react to a pouncing tiger. Not to mention the tiger does not have any tells or warning signs on its attacks and it’s range of attacks whereas the samurai is used to fighting humans who are mostly trained to fight one another and for see tells and micro movements in stance , positioning and fighting style,

the tiger has no fighting style. Has no fear and is lightening fast way way beyond the speed and reflexes of even the most highly trained warrior.

the samurai only stands a chance if the tiger is lathargjc drugged or taken by surprise. In a one on one face to face fight the fully grown Siberian tiger wins 99% of the time.

 

[EverydayBeast]

Going off of Jin’s abilities in Ghost it’s an easy win for samurai.

 

[QSD]

Keep thinking about this thread it’s fascinating how many people think the reaction speed and reflexes of a human are somehow on a par with a tiger.

the samurai would not be fast enough to react to a pouncing tiger. Not to mention the tiger does not have any tells or warning signs on its attacks and it’s range of attacks whereas the samurai is used to fighting humans who are mostly trained to fight one another and for see tells and micro movements in stance , positioning and fighting style,

the tiger has no fighting style. Has no fear and is lightening fast way way beyond the speed and reflexes of even the most highly trained warrior.

the samurai only stands a chance if the tiger is lathargjc drugged or taken by surprise. In a one on one face to face fight the fully grown Siberian tiger wins 99% of the time.

Dude earlier in this page I gave the example of arena combat in Roman times, which is probably the only time in history human (with sword) vs tiger combat was a regular occurrence. The history simply doesn't bear out that tigers are that deadly. How the hell were they captured alive (in numbers!) and transported to Rome if that were the case?

Other than that, people are just unfamiliar with the specific skills of a high-level samurai warrior. A real samurai could easily hear a tiger breathe from 3 miles away. He could probably even sense the tiger thinking (or trying to LOL with that extremely dim feline mind) about when to pounce.

 

[Romulus]

Keep thinking about this thread it’s fascinating how many people think the reaction speed and reflexes of a human are somehow on a par with a tiger.

the samurai would not be fast enough to react to a pouncing tiger. Not to mention the tiger does not have any tells or warning signs on its attacks and it’s range of attacks whereas the samurai is used to fighting humans who are mostly trained to fight one another and for see tells and micro movements in stance , positioning and fighting style,

the tiger has no fighting style. Has no fear and is lightening fast way way beyond the speed and reflexes of even the most highly trained warrior.

the samurai only stands a chance if the tiger is lathargjc drugged or taken by surprise. In a one on one face to face fight the fully grown Siberian tiger wins 99% of the time.

We're talking about a massive cat that's hunting big prey. Every hunting video I've ever seen, tigers go from a low stalk to a run. It's not a small ferial cat hunting birds with fast twitches everywhere. The tiger just outmuscles everything. He's not going to see a samurai and be thinking about out reacting a sword, he's thinking about overpowering it with a frontal onslaught, which almost always works for it. Not saying the tiger doesn't genetically have faster reflexes, but he doesn't even use them against smaller prey, just claw swipe+neck bite. Dead.
I think that's very different from parrying sword strikes for decades in real combat. I mean the guy in the video cut a bullet in half.

 

[Romulus]

While I'm not sure if this tiger is even that serious, the attack almost always looks like this against humans because we stand up tall, so the idea is to come in and take us down. The problem is, everything is exposed when the tiger jumps. That's a deep wound to the soft belly tissue, even if the samurai doesn't land a great hit.

The other issue is, not making animals(humans) can take huge backsteps while attacking at the same time. Prey usually run or stands their ground. Not both. The samurai would be equally dangerous while retreating because the tiger's charge is aiding the force needed for the sword to inflict added damage.

 

[Blitzmangoman]

Keep thinking about this thread it’s fascinating how many people think the reaction speed and reflexes of a human are somehow on a par with a tiger.

the samurai would not be fast enough to react to a pouncing tiger. Not to mention the tiger does not have any tells or warning signs on its attacks and it’s range of attacks whereas the samurai is used to fighting humans who are mostly trained to fight one another and for see tells and micro movements in stance , positioning and fighting style,

the tiger has no fighting style. Has no fear and is lightening fast way way beyond the speed and reflexes of even the most highly trained warrior.

the samurai only stands a chance if the tiger is lathargjc drugged or taken by surprise. In a one on one face to face fight the fully grown Siberian tiger wins 99% of the time.

Lightning fast? Did you watch an anime or something?
They are fast, yes, but a human can react to them, sidestep, backstep, duck whatever.
The samurai, an elite, best of the best as mentioned in the OP could side or backstep and attack at the same time.
If he gets one leg even, that's it for the tiger.

 

[lachesis]

I think people think too much of Katana. I like the Katana for its beauty - but I think it's sometimes over estimated in its practical uses.
Traditionally made Katana in Sengoku era, while sharp, chipped, bent/broken easily. So much so, WW2 Japanese soldiers preferred mass produced swords with modern steel, than traditionally made swords.

The pig cutting in half was done by using modern steel katana, not the folded one. They simply didn't have the good iron in Japan in that era.

Also 700lb Siberian tiger, is over 10ft in length. Imagine the bone sizes, or how thick it would be. Katana won't be able to cut thru the big bones.
It will cut somewhat deep flesh wound, but severing is pretty unlikely.

700lbs tiger rushing at you at 40miles per hour. It's like being hit by a small vehicle. Several times more force than a NFL guy rushing at you.
Its swiping is known to crush a bulls skull. Armor won't help, just like a plate armor vs war hammer.

He really needs a long spears, and proper shield, with team of a few more people like ancient gladiators did at least - and perhaps a skilled archer a far.
Wrong weapon choices, and going alone is not a good odd, by historical account of tiger hunting - which, many ended up relying on traps, than actually killing it on site.

 

[Romulus]

I think people think too much of Katana. I like the Katana for its beauty - but I think it's sometimes over estimated in its practical uses.
Traditionally made Katana in Sengoku era, while sharp, chipped, bent/broken easily. So much so, WW2 Japanese soldiers preferred mass produced swords with modern steel, than traditionally made swords.

The pig cutting in half was done by using modern steel katana, not the folded one. They simply didn't have the good iron in Japan in that era.

Also 700lb Siberian tiger, is over 10ft in length. Imagine the bone sizes, or how thick it would be. Katana won't be able to cut thru the big bones.
It will cut somewhat deep flesh wound, but severing is pretty unlikely.

700lbs tiger rushing at you at 40miles per hour. It's like being hit by a small vehicle. Several times more force than a NFL guy rushing at you.
Its swiping is known to crush a bulls skull. Armor won't help, just like a plate armor vs war hammer.

He really needs a long spears, and proper shield, with team of a few more people like ancient gladiators did at least - and perhaps a skilled archer a far.
Wrong weapon choices, and going alone is not a good odd, by historical account of tiger hunting - which, many ended up relying on traps, than actually killing it on site.

Not only would the old swords cut through that pig bone, but they could also cut through more than a single human body at a time. They were tested as such and given ratings based on it.



Not only that, but there's a massive difference between the battlefield grunt katana and the ones that take 18 months to make like the master's got. They were extremely strong and sharp and only carried by the generals. The guy in the OP is not a grunt, he's the best of the best, and only received swords from the best blacksmiths. A tiger's wrist or paw is not that thick compared to a human waist, it would be lopped off by a master's sword.


The bone density of the tiger is actually less than other big predators, not sure why. Even smaller breeds of lions have thicker bone density.

More than likely since the tiger attacks with his paws/legs, those will take damage first and they're not that thick. I highly doubt a master's sword would have trouble with a single limb considering it would be tested at the highest quality for cutting through multiple human spines. And I mean really, all the master needs is one or two cuts like that, then he still has two more swords.

The WW2 katanas were junk compared to traditional katanas. They were mass-produced crap. And chipping mostly occurred due to striking other metals or overuse against bone.

I didn't mention the spear in the OP because I think it would be too easy. Too much range. Even a swordmaster is easily winning the votes in this case.

 

[lachesis]

Not only would the old swords cut through that pig bone, but they could also cut through more than a single human body at a time. They were tested as such and given ratings based on it.



Not only that, but there's a massive difference between the battlefield grunt katana and the ones that take 18 months to make like the master's got. They were extremely strong and sharp and only carried by the generals. The guy in the OP is not a grunt, he's the best of the best, and only received swords from the best blacksmiths. A tiger's wrist or paw is not that thick compared to a human waist, it would be lopped off by a master's sword.

Cutting pigs, or tatami mats, or whatnot - with a full swing, even western long swords can do it, along with many other types of swords.
While the video doesn't show the classes of the sword themselves - but it shows either one of them is capable of penetrating and cutting steel sheets to varying degrees.

Also, human waist, only have one bone - the spine. Considering Japanese people were very short compared to neighboring countries like China and Korea and they called Japanese people as "dwarfs" (倭) - men averaging about 158cm, which is around 5ft 2 in edo period - and one can only assume their waistline - with the nutrition data from the time period. I'd say somewhere 26-28 inches at the most?

A Tiger's wrist/paw is much more boney than just gut-filled human waist too. Also their front legs have denser and stronger bone to support the body weight & pouncing too. In this case, 700 lbs of its own body weight and then some.

I like katana, but some people think it will cut/behead someone's arms and legs with small wick of the wrist movements like that scene in Kill Bill, or Star Wars light sabers. Such cut, requires a big strong swing. Big swings are hard to hit unless it's a static target like a corps or standing tatami mats. Tiger most certainly is not. If he's got a Muramasa and was able to do a full body weight swing and hit the tiger - sure, he could hurt the tiger badly... but can he? Tiger is 20m away. Tigers run 30-40 miles per hour. That gives him about little over 1 second to access and analyze the movement of the animal he's never even seen before, or what its habbits are. (There's no tiger in Japan.) Does he know it could jump in less than 0.5 second, because they can leap over 10 meters in one bound? Or right paw or left paw? Or will it run around to the back?

Sure - that BB bullet cutting dude with his drawing skill was crazy impressive - but at least he knew the general idea of where it's coming, at what timing before hand as it was announced. The samurai, unfortunately never even have encountered a tiger before, has no idea, whether it's going to attack straight on, or walk around and attack from the back like tigers do, or how much force is needed to sever a tiger paw or what kind of speed it will come in. Considering that, a full swing is very much unlikely happen. With no full swing, any damage to the tiger would be not fatal, and tiger can rip apart the scale armor he's wearing with its claws. Those armors are designed for arrows and swords, not ripping actions - and the shapes and material, it's too easy grab for a tiger claw to rip apart. Worst of all, will throw his balance off.

There are reasons why ancient gladiators fought these beasts with shields and spears. Katana - sword that's not even that long to begin with - is a wrong weapon for the job, no matter how sharp it is.

 

[EviLore]

 

[West Texas CEO]

I would say the tiger

 

[Krappadizzle]

9/10 the tiger wins that fight, the 1/10 the samurai wins is when he put the katana down and grabbed a spear.

 

[QuantumZebra]

I'm curious... for those who are saying tiger would win easy, let's say we run this experiment 100 times. How many fights would the tiger win?

99 of 100.

I refuse to believe there is any situation this guy wins beyond some 1 in 100 (or 1 in a million) situation where the tiger lands on him and his katana perfectly severs it's spine/cerebellum. Even then the weight of it from the pounce will probably crush the guy so badly he'd die anyway.

Tigers are literal murder machines. They are the perfect killers. I would be more likely to bet on a guy in swim trunks defending himself from a shark with a katana.

The samurai would get one chance and like a split second to do any damage. Even then, the tiger is still going to be raging on adrenaline. There are videos of people being shot 20 times and still attacking. The samurai would have to make an immediately lethal strike or he’d be lethally wounded in seconds.

This.

The amount of sheer force/velocity from a 700lb+ animal is enough to crush someone instantly. Then you have the claws, teeth, and rage.

I think tigers can leap some absurd fucking distance as well. It would close on the samurai and obliterate them within 1 second.

 

[QSD]

99 of 100.

I refuse to believe there is any situation this guy wins beyond some 1 in 100 (or 1 in a million) situation where the tiger lands on him and his katana perfectly severs it's spine/cerebellum. Even then the weight of it from the pounce will probably crush the guy so badly he'd die anyway.

Tigers are literal murder machines. They are the perfect killers. I would be more likely to bet on a guy in swim trunks defending himself from a shark with a katana.

'murder machines'




LOL get real, dude if a tiger attacks a legendary samurai the tiger will be flopping around on the ground limbless like a fish out of water within 2 seconds

 

[Romulus]

Cutting pigs, or tatami mats, or whatnot - with a full swing, even western long swords can do it, along with many other types of swords.
While the video doesn't show the classes of the sword themselves - but it shows either one of them is capable of penetrating and cutting steel sheets to varying degrees.

Also, human waist, only have one bone - the spine. Considering Japanese people were very short compared to neighboring countries like China and Korea and they called Japanese people as "dwarfs" (倭) - men averaging about 158cm, which is around 5ft 2 in edo period - and one can only assume their waistline - with the nutrition data from the time period. I'd say somewhere 26-28 inches at the most?

A Tiger's wrist/paw is much more boney than just gut-filled human waist too. Also their front legs have denser and stronger bone to support the body weight & pouncing too. In this case, 700 lbs of its own body weight and then some.

I like katana, but some people think it will cut/behead someone's arms and legs with small wick of the wrist movements like that scene in Kill Bill, or Star Wars light sabers. Such cut, requires a big strong swing. Big swings are hard to hit unless it's a static target like a corps or standing tatami mats. Tiger most certainly is not. If he's got a Muramasa and was able to do a full body weight swing and hit the tiger - sure, he could hurt the tiger badly... but can he? Tiger is 20m away. Tigers run 30-40 miles per hour. That gives him about little over 1 second to access and analyze the movement of the animal he's never even seen before, or what its habbits are. (There's no tiger in Japan.) Does he know it could jump in less than 0.5 second, because they can leap over 10 meters in one bound? Or right paw or left paw? Or will it run around to the back?

Sure - that BB bullet cutting dude with his drawing skill was crazy impressive - but at least he knew the general idea of where it's coming, at what timing before hand as it was announced. The samurai, unfortunately never even have encountered a tiger before, has no idea, whether it's going to attack straight on, or walk around and attack from the back like tigers do, or how much force is needed to sever a tiger paw or what kind of speed it will come in. Considering that, a full swing is very much unlikely happen. With no full swing, any damage to the tiger would be not fatal, and tiger can rip apart the scale armor he's wearing with its claws. Those armors are designed for arrows and swords, not ripping actions - and the shapes and material, it's too easy grab for a tiger claw to rip apart. Worst of all, will throw his balance off.

There are reasons why ancient gladiators fought these beasts with shields and spears. Katana - sword that's not even that long to begin with - is a wrong weapon for the job, no matter how sharp it is.

The video is specifically suited for the long sword. Armor penetration, but I have seen katana cut through steel plates completely. Tigers have no armor. The curved blade is specifically suited for flesh. Like the tiger.

The issue is you're cutting through 2(some cases 3?)human spines in that test with one swipe, and loads more flesh, probably 5x more than a tigers paw or leg. So you're talking 50 inches of flesh at least with 2 large bones. And the tigers leg bones are not that thick or dense when you see the skeleton structure beside a human. Much less than I thought actually for 700lbs.

And we're talking about the very best swordsman of that time out of tens of thousands in a bred warring culture, and likely the very best katana too.

And tigers don't approach small prey that fast when they're stationary either. The scenario is they both have time to attack. Tigers are almost nonchalantly by comparison if the prey runs because they've evolved to always be the biggest kid on the block. Nothing on their evolution would prepare them for that blade or the best swordsman of that era.
The strength of the blade is it's an offensive multiplier that extends the users deadly range without the ability to take damage. The tiger barely has that at all, a few inches at best.

Is there any evidence of master swordsman who lived off winning millisecond duels fighting tigers in gladiator arenas? No, their preferred weapons were already spears, and sheilded swordsman. Not even used in japan much. Why would they even use a single sword anyway when that's not what their warring culture trained with? They dont train from childhood to make a single lightning fast blow.
The spear or sword/shield combo would have gotten almost no votes for the tiger. The swordsman is still winning in this case and he's 550lbs lighter.

Theres no evidence that the armor would be ripped apart with ease either. All we know is that I can withstand blunt force and slashing punishment from the video I posted. More than likely the armor would slow the killing attacks down greatly and that's not a good thing when a master swordsman just needs milliseconds.

 

[Romulus]

'murder machines'




LOL get real, dude if a tiger attacks a legendary samurai the tiger will be flopping around on the ground limbless like a fish out of water within 2 seconds

Lol, I still haven't seen a video of a tiger with crazy speed. Definitely not slow. I just think the bigger tigers are just so big and stealthy that they just pounce on easy slower targets that dont put up much of a fight.
The best fight I saw a tiger in was a much smaller bear that and the tiger struggled and ran away. That bear looked at least 200lbs lighter and slower.

 

[Romulus]

This is a book that features accounts about the kukri & tiger fighting from "The Uncivilized Races of Men in All Countries of the World", by J.G. Wood, M.A., F.L.S.; Vol.2 of 2 volumes; J.B. Burr Publishing Co., Hartford, Connecticut, (1878). Describing kukris & the Gurkha technique for hunting tigers with a large knife.

Perhaps no better proof can be given of the power of the weapon, and the dexterity of the user, than the fact that a Ghoorka will not hesitate to meet a tiger, himself being armed with nothing but his kookery. He stands in front of the animal (see the next page), an as it springs he leaps to the left, delivering as he does so a blow toward the tiger. As the reader is aware, all animals of the cat tribe attack by means of the paw; and so the tiger, in passing the Ghoorka, mechanically strikes at him.

The man is well out of reach of the tiger's paw, but it just comes within the sweep of the kookery, and, what with the force of the tiger's stroke, what with the blow delivered by the man, the paw is always disabled, and often fairly severed from the limb. Furious with pain and rage, the tiger leaps round, and makes another spring at his little enemy. But the Ghoorka is as active as the tiger, and has sprung round as soon as he delivered his blow, so as to be on the side of the disabled paw. Again the tiger attacks, but this time his blow is useless, and the Ghoorka steps in and delivers at the neck or throat of the tiger a stroke which generally proves fatal.

Like I was thinking earlier, the paw would take the damage first, which is directly related to balance and attack. Double whammy if injured. These guys had no armor either and the knife was much shorter than the katana. We're talking about Bengals vs Siberian tigers though, big difference in mass.

 

[MastaKiiLA]

99 of 100.

I refuse to believe there is any situation this guy wins beyond some 1 in 100 (or 1 in a million) situation where the tiger lands on him and his katana perfectly severs it's spine/cerebellum. Even then the weight of it from the pounce will probably crush the guy so badly he'd die anyway.

Tigers are literal murder machines. They are the perfect killers. I would be more likely to bet on a guy in swim trunks defending himself from a shark with a katana.



This.

The amount of sheer force/velocity from a 700lb+ animal is enough to crush someone instantly. Then you have the claws, teeth, and rage.

I think tigers can leap some absurd fucking distance as well. It would close on the samurai and obliterate them within 1 second.

Humans have been killing off animals for centuries, long before the invention of gunpowder. As already mentioned, lions and tigers were pitted against men for sport in ancient times. I think you underestimate how humans rose to the top of the food chain, back when we only had sharpened stones as weapons. Humans are the most vicious killing machines on the planet. An armored one with a honed blade that probably exceeds the reach of the tiger, is formidable. Unarmed? Sure, that samurai is toast. With gear and sword? That tiger is in some trouble. I assume Siberia was inhabited long before gunpowder came to town.

 

[lachesis]

The video is specifically suited for the long sword. Armor penetration, but I have seen katana cut through steel plates completely. Tigers have no armor. The curved blade is specifically suited for flesh. Like the tiger.

The issue is you're cutting through 2 human spines in that test with one swipe, and loads more flesh, probably 5x more than a tigers paw or leg.
That's really all the swordsman needs. And we're talking about the very best swordsman of that time, and likely the very best katana too.
Tigers don't approach small prey that fast when they're stationary either. They're almost nonchalantly by comparison if the prey runs because theyve evolved to always be the biggest kid on the block. Nothing on their evolution would prepare them for that blade or the best swordsman of that era.
The strength of the blade is it's an offensive multiplier that extends the users deadly range without the ability to take damage. The tiger barely has that at all, a few inches at best.

A katana, or any war swords for that matter - is optimized to hurt/cut/penetrate/kill human being in a close proximity. A katana isn't a bad sword - quite good one in fact, and I find it the most beautiful one too - but it's not the best of everything or be all in one, and certainly no light saber that can sever limbs with mere wick. There ones that can cut better, ones that can penetrate better etc etc.

The video you've posted, there's a blade that cut thru 7 people in half. TBH, I would congratulate the person who did that, than the Katana itself. That's some loose standard of measurement. Too many variables to begin with. Where it was cut, alignment of bones and its density, how big were the people were, etc. Impressive, nonetheless. (Wet rolled tatami mats "feels" like same amount of force cutting thru one's arm? Not too sure if that's the right way to measure... and who's arm? 5'2" small guy, who's smaller than my 14 year old daughter - or 6'6" Musashibo Benkei or Arnold's arm? Who sets these types of standards anyway?)

Katana's shallow curved angle is proven that it doesn't enhance the cutting power much either - very negligible level. It would need to be much rounder like other types of round blades. What gives Katana its cutting power is the sharpness and added weight in the front, not the roundness of the blade. Due to it's shape, it didn't penetrate as well as some other types of swords either. As much as I love Katana, I think it's necessary to really know what it can do and cannot do, and not every swing in battle can be a full powered swing too, especially when you are surprised or have very little time to prepare.

And in OP, it's mentioned tiger is "charging" to the Samurai, 20m away? I thought it meant that the tiger already initiated the attacking motion in high speed. From 20m, Tiger can get to the guy in 1.5 second or so. Samurai is "surprised" but able to draw his blades, correct? Unknown rushing creature - he'd most likely use Seigan posture - If gutsy, Jodan maybe?

Unlike that brave Ghoorkha, who grew up and knew tigers habbits and all - that poor Samurai couldn't have known what it could. Say if the Samurai studied and killed at least a few tigers, perhaps I would give Samurai much better chance... but Samurai doesn't know anything about Tiger. That's a big difference. Experience dealing with a Tiger. Human knowledge and adaptation dealing with any given situation, comes from previous experiences, which unfortunately a Japanese Samurai, in any normal situation couldn't have.




Seems like there's a video about strongest human w/ sword vs tiger, exactly. Although not 100% agree with this guy, but pretty close to my own thoughts.

 

[Romulus]

A katana, or any war swords for that matter - is optimized to hurt/cut/penetrate/kill human being in a close proximity. A katana isn't a bad sword - quite good one in fact, and I find it the most beautiful one too - but it's not the best of everything or be all in one, and certainly no light saber that can sever limbs with mere wick. There ones that can cut better, ones that can penetrate better etc etc.

The video you've posted, there's a blade that cut thru 7 people in half. TBH, I would congratulate the person who did that, than the Katana itself. That's some loose standard of measurement. Too many variables to begin with. Where it was cut, alignment of bones and its density, how big were the people were, etc. Impressive, nonetheless. (Wet rolled tatami mats "feels" like same amount of force cutting thru one's arm? Not too sure if that's the right way to measure... and who's arm? 5'2" small guy, who's smaller than my 14 year old daughter - or 6'6" Musashibo Benkei or Arnold's arm? Who sets these types of standards anyway?)

Katana's shallow curved angle is proven that it doesn't enhance the cutting power much either - very negligible level. It would need to be much rounder like other types of round blades. What gives Katana its cutting power is the sharpness and added weight in the front, not the roundness of the blade. Due to it's shape, it didn't penetrate as well as some other types of swords either. As much as I love Katana, I think it's necessary to really know what it can do and cannot do, and not every swing in battle can be a full powered swing too, especially when you are surprised or have very little time to prepare.

And in OP, it's mentioned tiger is "charging" to the Samurai, 20m away? I thought it meant that the tiger already initiated the attacking motion in high speed. From 20m, Tiger can get to the guy in 1.5 second or so. Samurai is "surprised" but able to draw his blades, correct? Unknown rushing creature - he'd most likely use Seigan posture - If gutsy, Jodan maybe?

Unlike that brave Ghoorkha, who grew up and knew tigers habbits and all - that poor Samurai couldn't have known what it could. Say if the Samurai studied and killed at least a few tigers, perhaps I would give Samurai much better chance... but Samurai doesn't know anything about Tiger. That's a big difference. Experience dealing with a Tiger. Human knowledge and adaptation dealing with any given situation, comes from previous experiences, which unfortunately a Japanese Samurai, in any normal situation couldn't have.




Seems like there's a video about strongest human w/ sword vs tiger, exactly. Although not 100% agree with this guy, but pretty close to my own thoughts.

I agree, maybe the mats aren't a great comparison for cutting through flesh and bone, but it can't be that far off. It's good for training I guess. What would greatly assist the cutting power is the tiger's forward momentum. That would increase the already deep penetration of the blade greatly. You have a honed swing of a master combined with tons of force coming AT the master. That's huge. Even just a deep muscle-tendon slice could cripple the tiger, no need to lop it off. At that point, he can't grab the samurai or run. That two-paw grab is vital to their kill ratio.

Tigers don't do anything other than charge, so the samurai doesn't really need to know much other than to react to the linear threat. They don't sidestep, fake, or anything. In this case, it's just a charge. The master is going to attack the first thing in range, just like parrying swords, spears, or arrows that come at him. The outstretched paw would be the first thing in range of that sword and that will be a gushing wound. I think in modern times we don't realize how good ancient people were with weapons because in warring times that's pretty much all they would do is perfect their craft.

Now, the samurai could miss, but I haven't seen any evidence in videos of tigers being lightning fast. Siberians just seem to overpower their prey and aren't worry much about reaction time. Get close and outmuscle. The only time I see bursts of speed is if the prey is running. Frontal attacks seem much slower. And when the tiger sees the tiny human, it'll look like an easy kill. That's a big disadvantage in itself because the tiger has no choice but to underestimate him. They see things based on size alone.

Speed-wise, the samurai has seen full sprint horses, arrows, spears flying at him for years. There's even a word for the skill of deflecting arrows with a katana in mid-flight but I forget the name. And this isn't some "good" samurai either, he should have died dozens of times before, but he's faster and more precise than other top tier warriors.

I honestly don't feel like the katana is some end-all sword either, I think it's great at some things, decent at others. Fighting a seasoned European knight would probably be a death sentence many times. But I think a samurai is perfectly suited for that split-second movement against a linear, charging threat. He would probably badly injury a tiger's more nonchalant frontal attack paw. That injury would probably lead to retreat and end with tiger's death. Bleed out and follow up strike from the sword. Now, if the tiger stays with the assault, he would have a better chance, but they seem skittish whenever a real threat is presented. Which by that point, it might not matter because it's bleeding badly. The skill set and katana just wouldn't make any sense to a tiger and would be a total surprise. Curious, how many times out of 1000 do you think the tiger out beat the master swordsman?