survey

[evanny]

i had to make a survey for my studies. so i decided that i would do that by comparing 3 groups of respondents.
1. people who study about Japan
2. people who don't
3. and Japanese themselves
i have answers form the first two.
i have 6 simple questions with answers offered about katana. i did my best with what i have learned so far to translate the questions for japanese and i hope i did it right.
so. i would greatly appreciate anyone's help by answering these and sending me an answer in a form of a private message showing the number of the question and number of the answer.
1.刀はどんな代がありましたか。
室町時代
鎌倉時代
江戸時代
2.刀の長さは平均で何尺ですか。
一
二
三
3．大小の違いは何ですか
脇差と刀
小楯と刀
お辞儀と刀
4.刀でどんな鋼がありますか
玉鋼
不銹鋼
軽銀
5.家に刀はありますか
はい
いいえ
6. 剣術はオリンピックのスポーツの中でありますか。
はい
いいえ
............................
thank you.

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by evanny

2.刀の長さは平均で何尺ですか。
一
二
三

Egh. I'm too lazy to look it up—1尺 is approximately a meter, right?

[masaegu]

Originally Posted by KyleGoetz

Egh. I'm too lazy to look it up—1尺 is approximately a meter, right?

No, it's about 30 cm, almost equal to a foot.

[evanny]

masaegu, for giving out the answers i will be waiting for your reply also

[masaegu]

Originally Posted by evanny

masaegu, for giving out the answers i will be waiting for your reply also

The first question is a little unclear. What did you mean to ask? Can you rephrase the question?

[evanny]

時代 (jidai) was what i meant. like from what era...
also i am still not sure if in this cases どんな was the right choice.

[masaegu]

Originally Posted by evanny

時代 (jidai) was what i meant. like from what era...

Well, I had probably put it too vaguely in my last post. Thing is, even if you replace 代 by 時代, the sentence 「刀はどんな時代がありましたか」 still doesn't make much sense.

Are you asking "In which periods did the katana exist?"? That would be my best guess. In case that is what you meant to ask, can we choose more than one periods?

[evanny]

i prefer if you used one.
i know there are still disagreements about the exact period for katana since 太刀 (tachi) was its predecessor and very similar in respects. basically katana was simply shorter and wasn't hung from obi.

well, a hint. not long after "official" katana, a certain warrior class started wearing daishou as "official" weapons

[masaegu]

Originally Posted by evanny

i prefer if you used one.
i know there are still disagreements about the exact period for katana since 太刀 (tachi) was its predecessor and very similar in respects. basically katana was simply shorter and wasn't hung from obi.

well, a hint. not long after "official" katana, a certain warrior class started wearing daishou as "official" weapons

OK, I will send you my answers shortly.

[evanny]

Originally Posted by masaegu

OK, I will send you my answers shortly.

thanks.
by the way, if you know any other japanese who would have 20 secondes to spare, please ask them. so far i've received 2 replies...