The samurai would win unless the ming is an extremely strong man with lots of muscles.I practice fencing and i know that the style of the samurai's sword will make him faster against the ming and will also allow him to hit with more strenth.

What kind of fencing do you do?

Also, how does the samurai get past the Ming soldier's shield?

Ah, OK.

I think you mean "saber".

You still haven't told me how the samurai will cope with the opponent's shield. 

The Ming Soldier will win with firearms, which were not widely used in Japan but in China.

Beside, Ming solders got better martial abilities.

On the contrary, Coolstorm, it was the Japanese who made a great use of firearms during the Imjin War--they used copies of the Portuguese arquebus, which was superior to the handguns used on the Asian Continent at that time.

Feel free to elaborate on that...

the samurai will strike so much speed that the ming will not have time to prevent them with it's shield.(correct me if i'm wrong because i don't know if the ming carries a special shield)

the continent of asia doesn't mean China tho. Ming China even during its last years manufactured the highest quality firearms in the world during the 16th century. the manchu, however, didn't have as high variety of firearms as the ming and didn't use as many firearms as the ming either except for the cannons.

during the first sino-japanese war fought in korea in 1580's, japan sufferred higher causaulty than the ming. ming china devoted 3400 cannons into the battles with half of troops equiped with a variety of firearms. japan, on the other hand, had a limited number of small scale firearms with very few cannons.

even the defeated ming general, chueng chun kon, who fled to taiwan after the manchu took over could easily take down the dutch on the island, who had previously defeated the portugese.

Thank you, Warhead.

In the world?  Hardly the case, my friend.

That honor would go to Europe--esp. the English, Flemish, Germans, & Venetians for heavy artillery, and the Spanish & Italian states for small arms. 

Allow me to explain.

The samurai is trying to hit (cut or thrust) the Ming swordsman.

The Ming swordsman's shield is between the Ming swordsman and the samurai.

This is a problem for the samurai.

Originally posted by akýncý Ýs the ming's shield extremely large that it will cover up his whole body?

Like most shields worn on the arm, it's large enough that it's presence cannot be ignored.

not yet. that would be true for the 18th and 19th centuries, but during the 16, and 17 centuries, china was still the lead.

an example would be the easy defeat of the russians by the manchus in 1650's that extended china's territories to current day's russian far east. the russians suffered heavy causualties after heavy bombardment.

beside, sarmuria and ming soldiers did fight and the samurias got slaughtered.

why fight about it if it did happen. don't overestimate the samuria because of "the last samuria".

I don't know where you're getting your information from, but you are completely wrong.

The Chinese were totally impressed with the superiority of European artillery back in the 16th century.

Acutally, the samurai inflicted huge casualties on the Chinese, and the Imjin War weakened the Ming Dynasty to such an extent that it paved the way for the Manchus to come in, early in the 17th century.

LOL, I began studying martial arts and the history of the samurai long before that Tom Cruise movie, so don't go making assumptions. 

This is a myth. Told by a certain author who relies entirely on Japanese and secondary english sources.

Fact is, the Ming army had been fighting the Manchurians, Mongols and massive rebel armies when the Japanese invaded. These wars were far more costly.

Uhh...no. While the late Ming military had declined. The army in Yongle the time was far superior to the Japanese armies. Anyone who says otherwise is spouting anti-sino propaganda.

And kiddo, you should give reasons why the Japanese military had superior orginasation, considering the Japanese military was based on old Chinese models

Of course the Samurais will win. But Samurais Vs. Ming swords man is really an invalid comparison. It's like comparing knights to Roman infantries.

Both Knight and samurai are of noble class during their time period. They live by a code, and receive fief from their lord, supply their own weapons and armor. Of course they were better trained than the general infantryman. >>

Samurai has high military rankings, where as Ming swords men are just regular infantryman. You can't compare unit commanders unit it self, or comparing high military officers to privates. Samurais are noble man, while Ming swords men are peasant conscript. >>

I am not well versed in history, but I am sure that entire Japanese army wasn't made of samurais only. You're really making a false comparison here, can't compare apple to apple seeds. >>

You should compare Samurai with its equivalent Chinese noble class warriors, usually, well....  there isn’t any. Chinese high offices are open to both noble and peasants. >>

But if you really want to compare, then you should compare Samurais with Chinese army generals. Like comparing Knights to Centurions.>>

I agree with Yue Fei. It is an asymetrical analysis.  More like compariing a Templar Knight to a Saracen infantryman.  I think 10 swordsmen vs. 1 samurai would be the usual ratio.  The Japanese military at the era was more feudal, while the Chinese military during the Ming more resembled a modern military in organization. 

I assume that we are comparing the Chinese and Japanese at the time of the Imjin War (1590s)  We compare Hideyoshi's army with the late Ming army, which is not elite.

In terms of:

Armor - Japanese

Size - Chinese

Firepower - Chinese

Swords - Japanese

Raw Martial Arts - Chinese, might be a little biased but what the heck

Morale - Japanese

Navy - Chinese (although Korean tops both in the Imjin war)

Cavalry - Chinese

Tactics - Tied

Leadership - Tied

Yes The China's millitary was advanced only in terms of centrallized organization paid by the emperor, any able men can rise through the ranks to the General, and any noble man can't afford his own army.

In terms of armor, the Japanese used leather same as the Chinese.

swords - while samurai swords are well made, I don't think Japan are capable of providing a fine samurai swords for each of their soldier. So on average, every nations' swords are on the same level.

Raw martial art - I don't think it really matters, what counts is the physical fitness, Chinese average troops has no advantage on martial art over armies of any other culture, that's why the barbarians wins, they lose because they have no discipline.

Moral - China during that time was pretty corrupt so....

Navy - I don't think China has a navy during that war, as most of the naval victories were by the Koreans

In general, Ming army was of little impact on Imijin War. I recall some sources say the Ming army was more troublesome than the Japanese army, which I don't doubt.