Posted on 10/15/2015 5:21:55 AM PDT by JoeProBono
TOKYO, A Japanese swordsman dubbed a modern-day samurai sliced a 100 mph fastball in half 30 feet away from where it was launched by a pitching machine.
Isao Machii, who previously made headlines when he dueled a sword-wielding robot and sliced a shrimp traveling 80 mph through the air, drew his sword after the ball was fired from the pitching machine and sliced it in half in midair.
Video of the stunt, posted to YouTube by Oricon News, shows the ball was clocked at 100 mph in the air and was fired from a machine 30 feet away from where Machii was standing.
The video closes in on some of the remains of the baseball, which appears to have been sliced almost exactly in half.
What could he do with a Louisville Slugger?
The reaction at the end of the scene is one of the best parts of the scene - moves on, just taking care of business.
“What we don’t see is the number of failures to achieve this one success?”
Exactly. This is a YouTube video. All it shows is that he did it one time.
It does not show that he can do it on demand.
If you do things enough, some of them will be spectacular.
I have made a few amazing shots in my lifetime. Shoot enough, and some of the shots will be amazing.
As a lifelong swordsman, including iaido (what he is doing, drawing and cutting), this is incredible. His technique is flawless. I do this sometimes tossing walnuts up in the air and drawing and cutting, but as you point out, he has insufficient time to even REACT, let alone aim, draw, and cut...
"Get 3 coffins ready..."
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"My mistake... Make that 4 coffins."
I don’t find this all that impressive after closer study. First the ball was aimed at where the sword would be, so all the guy had to do was begin to draw the sword and the ball would be sliced in two. Second, the intent to draw the sword has to precede the firing of the ball, because you correctly point out that human reaction is physically limited by the speed of neural processing and action potential conduction along the nerves. Third, you haven’t seen the 10 or 20 or more failures that preceded this acceptable result.
Some pitcher from the 70s or 80s told a story about George Brett. I think it was Scottie McGregor but I'm not sure. Anyway, he was golfing with George Brett. Brett had already teed off and had moved the golf cart down the fairway. Someone hit a tee shot down the fairway and yelled to warn Brett who grabbed a golf club. Brett ran and got into position and took a baseball swing at the golf ball before it landed and lined it halfway back to the tee box. The pitcher concluded the story but asking 'how am I supposed to throw a baseball by this guy?'
In response to your question and based on this story, I'm guessing with some practice could do quite well.
"It's simple physics. Calculate the velocity V in relation to the trajectory T in which G gravity, of course, remains a constant."
I'm sure if he hit it, Elvis Andrus would drop it.
That it takes considerable practice — and failures — to achieve this performance in no way diminshes the success. A pianist practices for weeks on a piece. A golfer drives thousands of balls and putts, and not every one of them goes where he wants. And show me any athlete who doesn’t practice.
The ball is indeed fired at where the swordsman will strike, but a pitcher throws at roughly where a batter will swing and the batter misses the pitch more often than he hits. He’s a lot farther away from the mound than 30 feet and few pitchers can consistently throw at 100 mph. And a batter doesn’t have to draw his bat from a scabbard, then cock and swing; he stands at the ready.
As I pointed out, the swordsman cut WITH the ball’s flight, not against it.
This is a remarkable accomplishment, any way you “slice” it.
And who hasn't dropped one or two that could have been caught? eh, eh?
What we need is some of them Jap samurais that can slice and dice.
But is it Japs who have trouble with pronouncing the "R" sound... or is that the Chinese?
I can't keep up with it all (but try, to distract myself from the daily papers -- good gawd almighty the world seems like its not just going to hell, but flying there!)
Regardless of the preparation, this is extraordinary. The katana was sheathed. We don’t ask Nelson Cruz to do that.
There’s another video of him slicing a BB in two pieces. Amazing, no matter how much prep was involved.
I also enjoy going to the circus and watching those acts. No doubt they didn’t take people off the street and make them do that at gunpoint for the very first time.
These kinds of things always bring up some questions. Like was it on his first try? Or was it after multiple fails? Seems like any halfway decent ballplayer could do the same thing as long as the sword was sharp enough...they do it all the time with bats.
Thanks - makes sense. And even if he’d used a genuine replica Hattori Hanzo sword, I strongly doubt he’d be able to cut a real baseball in half, especially one-handed.
But consider:
The video closes in on some of the remains of the baseball, which appears to have been sliced almost exactly in half.
Thanks, that one is for footballs. But baseballs are a little further down.
Now I’m going to spend an hour to find out how various things are made...
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