I thought at first that he might have just held the katana and let the ball slam into it, cutting the projectile in half. But from the video, it appears he slices in the same direction as the ball’s flight, which means that his blade must have been traveling way faster than 100 mph.
If he was 30 feet away from the launch site and the ball was moving 100 mph, he would have had about 0.2 seconds to draw his sword, aim, and slice. Considering the average human reaction time is somewhere between 0.5 and 0.75 seconds (and that’s just REACTION time), that is an incredible feat.
Considering the average human reaction time is somewhere between 0.5 and 0.75 seconds (and that’s just REACTION time), that is an incredible feat.
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...
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.
“it appears he slices in the same direction as the ball’s flight, which means that his blade must have been traveling way faster than 100 mph.”
No, the blade did not have as far to go.