European Knight vs. Japanese Samurai

For the sake of reducing the variables beyond the martial ability of each warrior, lets say that they are fighting on an open, flat plane, and that there are no obstacles to get in their way. Edit: Having exceeded the character limit of 7,000 by an aditional 15,000, I will be cutting down my argument significantly. I will provide the entire thing after the debate. Armor http://upload.wikimedia.org... A set of full plate armor weighed around forty to sixty pounds, and barely restricted the movement of its wearer². To put this into perspective, a modern soldier’s kit often contains well over a hundred pounds of gear³. Additionally, the armor’s weight was spread out across the wearer’s body, as opposed to a modern kit that sits on the waist. The result was a knight that could run, jump, somersault and climb with nearly as much ease as an unarmored soldier. Although myths about the wearers of these armors are prevalent, the reality is not only that a knight off horseback could fight with ease, but that scores of unmounted men at arms (not knights) would wear full or three quarters plate armor into battle to great effectS08;. Often, the armor worn by these non-noble foot soldiers was tempered, although probably of lesser make than that of a KnightS11;: “Plate-armor for foot combat was well-balanced, maneuverable, and sometimes even made of tempered steel. It was well-suited for fighting in, and is far from the awkward, lumbering cliché...” Unlike the knight’s suit of tempered steel, designed to provide maximum protection with minimum weight and interference, the Samurai’s O-Yoroi was made of small iron plates woven together, or “lamellar.” Iron is significantly weaker than steel in similar quantities, and as such it could not be forged into the wide plates that make up O-Yoroi’s European counterpart. The result was that, to be of any effectiveness, the suits were often just under seventy poundsS09;, and this is after taking into consideration the fact that Knights were significantly largerS10;. “In reality, most samurai were quite tiny... usually very slim and ranging from 160 to 165 centimeters (5’3″ to 5’5″) in height. For comparison, European knights of the same period probably ranged from 180 to 196 centimeters (6′ to 6’5″).” Additionally, it was made to be loose fitting and boxyS09;, so that it would fit a rider on horseback. As such, it was heavily restricting in terms of the motion of its wearer. This was exacerbated due to lack of articulation. Full plate had completely articulated joints, meaning that the range of motion allowed was nearly complete. Steel plate, often over a foot tallerS10; than its Japanese counterpart, was also often twenty pounds lighter, and provided a much fuller range of motion. However, even more critical is the protection provided by it. As O-Yoroi was a lamellar design, it was completely vulnerable to the thrust of any kind of narrow blade, which would be able to go straight through the woven joints between each iron plate. As a result, the Knight would be able to strike anywhere he wished and expect to cause significant harm. In addition to this, one must remember that in order to force through the joints in plate armor, one needed a narrower thrusting blade, something the Europeans understood fully when designing their weapons. However, the Japanese Katana was primarily designed for cutting, and although still a decent thruster, the tip was wider than that of the longsword, and would have difficulty entering. It’s curved design made it far better at cutting, but cutting blows were completely ineffective against plateS11;. “A complete suit of fully articulated rigid plate-armor, which has been described as unequaled in its ingenuity and strength, was nearly resistant to sword blows and required entirely different specialized weapons to effectively defeat it. With its tempered steel and careful curved fluting it was just invulnerable to sword cuts-even... those of the exceptionally sharp katana.” Indeed, no sword from any place or time period was designed to slice or hammer through solid steel. Even the largest greatswords, often over sixty inches in length and in excess of six pounds, were not capable of the task, instead being used to combat unarmored spearmen or pike wieldersS12;. As the above quote explains, it took a special kind of blade in the hands of an experienced swordsman to effectively defeat plate. To summarize: O-Yoroi Armor: -At 70lbs or so, was much heavier, even though it was made for a much smaller warrior -Lamellar design meant it was easily defeated by a rigid thrusting blade -Lacked articulation and was boxy in design, rendering it much more restrictive in movement -Iron instead of steel -Evolved with exposure only to other Japanese weapons, which were primarily designe to cut Steel Plate: -At 40-60lbs and made for a large individual, full plate was much easier to wear -Plated provided weak points only at the articulations, and even these areas were well protected against all but the finest thrusting weapons -Tempered steel design impervious to cuts, even from swords that were thrice the weight of the katana -Evolved with exposure to all types of weapons, including ones similar in design to the katana (ex. the grosse messer or kriegsmesserS13;) -Articulation meant greater range of motion Finally, I will leave you with a quote that furthers my pointsS11;: “(some high-ranking 16th century samurai lords actually owned pieces of contemporary European armor, gifts and purchases which they even wore into battle -they did not prize them merely as exotica)." Sources 1. http://www.medieval-life.net... 2. http://www.metmuseum.org... 3. http://www.youtube.com... 4. http://www.metmuseum.org... 5.(Page 94) http://books.google.com... 6. (number two) http://listverse.com... 7. (“The Armor”) http://www.thearma.org... 8. http://www.thearma.org... 9. http://www.albion-swords.com... 10. (1.2 - anatomy of the longsword) http://fursantiago.timduru.org... 11. http://www.thearma.org... 12. http://www.coldsteel.com... 13. http://i1115.photobucket.com... 14. http://fc09.deviantart.net... 15. http://www.youtube.com... 16. (Technical Versitility) http://www.thearma.org...