Quote History Quoted:
This is exactly what we are talking about. A single curved edge with a tsuba for hand protection may win in one area: cutting. Outside of that the longer blades of the Euro swords with their better crossguards or basket hilts and 2 edges is far superior to the Katana in a fight.
View Quote
unless you're in a crowd, or need to draw in a hurry, or don't want an extra 6" of blade and 2" of pommel tangling you up, or want the
option to use a second hand on the hilt.
this is what people are ignoring--as with your AR, that length is helpful for some things, but comes with a penalty for others. i'd bet damn near anything that your go-to AR is a carbine, not a 20", even though you're giving up substantial performance. but what you gain with the shorter barrel may more than offset what you lose in measurables, no? so maybe oversimplification is a bad idea when assessing weapons.
that said, you'll get no argument from me on the cross vs the disc--the western tsuba is unquestionably superior. but absolutely nothing prevents you from mounting a cross on a katana, so that's a complete nonissue.