luckily real katana's couldn't pierce through iron and steel armor also they were slashing weapons which couldn't strike at weak points in the armor ( such as the weapons of greek roman and knights could )


so me think the knight stands a considerable chance seeing that both knights in real and samurai were equelly skilled with the blade but used different fighting patterns with the samurai looking far more dashing at first. But each standing in my view a considerable chance.

little history lessen: did you know that knights were actually great warlords just like their samurai counterparts.
who did give loyalty to a autority ( not always the king), and therefor gained equall rewards back. But because of their position they did have a lot of estate ( given by that autority for their services ) this meant that they had a lot to lose and defend.

therefor a knight litterly had to be the best of the best of the best, and they sure didn't wear all that thick plated iron like on the joustin. instead a warriors armor was not a luxery good but an essential weapon in combat.
Cos like i said, no steel can usually penetrate iron and especially steel armor. On the battle field it was far from the usuall one warrior vs another or lower ones like in video games. In real they had to fight in many situations opponends who were equally or worse far better in skill and numbers than themselfes. In such situations a knight litterly had to trust his life on his armor, it was far from just looking flashy. therefor a knight was as skilled with a shield and with his entire armor as a samurai with his swords.


also what i think is cool is how you portraited the knight, assuming that is chainmail he is wearing that is exactly how a knight in that time could look. Also a knight wasn't like the rolemodel like wearing heavy armor and shield,
at first a knight used chain mail and steel parts to protect himself, alongside with of course his shield wich like i said were essentially used

Later the knight got a huge and magnificent kind of gear. The plate armor! this baby was litterly thick inpenetrable layers of steel, wich in total weighted less that the average combat gear of a soldier nowadays, and was far better divided after that a knigh didn't use a shield anymore but his two skill full armes for whatever weapon he needed ( note: the effectiveness of weapons depended solely on the situation they were used within)

yeah sorry to bother you with all that history lesson but perhaps i thought you'd like to know

but if i may add two more sentes:

also a cool part was that sadly the design and material of the katana were not flawless, one wrong hit against it and it would litterly ( yes it would ) break but then again chinese weapons generally were too loose so no one could really be used to fight against armored opponents, that is why the greek romans and middevil knights used such seemingly dull but extremely effective weapons which surely could.

example: when the mongolians invaded japan hundreds of years ago they're country was saved because of they're bravery but primarely because of a huge hurricane which smashed the ships of the mongolians. The reason therefor was because the samurai were litterly getting they're asses taken. But why was that, sure the mongolians conguered all of the chinese kingdoms at that very time, usually sadly murdering entire populations to replase them with "sheep" (yeah the mongolians were nomad tribes after all) But still they're nomad live and especially the wars after that hardened them completely, but still the samurai were capable of handeling a few swords too despite the differences in skill and experience, so how come they were litterly getting they're dishes handed over to them . Simple the same weapons which they saw as they're soul and made them feel superior through it, the "katana". Like it said no real katana could penetrate steel or iron ( unless you believe all that manga crap just like you can believe fairy dust can make you fly )
But the mongolians "did" use iron armor, because like i said they were hardened to the extreme on the many battlefields and training as a youth, they well understood that armor was no luxery and especially no sign of cowardise (said that last cos samurai used a katana at an opponed not wearing armor at all, or very light at best) But essencial in war. So when the brave samurai charched at the mongolian onslaught, they could not even hit them, okay you could say he had to wait for the right moment, but no seasoned warrior would just wait for an opponed or give him an opportunity to strike him, and because the katana was a slashing weapon; he could never hope to strike the seasoned mongolian opponent who used his armor and advantage to every outmost skill ( giving the fact that real armor, like the onces they used, is designed not to hamper the movements and fighting proweness of the warrior at all)

so these poor brave samurai were litterly pwned, luckily that storm happened to pass by.

thank god they learned from this defeat and when the mongolians invaded a second time ( the mongolians tried to settle a peace treaty, but they're ambassadors once they arrived were litterly deheaded by the samurai, very honarable ) they used not katanas, but spears and the like to pierce they're armor. they still looked like they would loose, but then again hurricane came to pay a visit pretty nice story eh