I thought Japanase steel wasn't all that impressive in absolute terms, rather it was impressive because of the very bad quality ingredients they started with. I

I thought Japanase steel wasn't all that impressive in absolute terms, rather it was impressive because of the very bad quality ingredients they started with. It also made ownership of a sword (katana) and accompanying paraphernalia only accessible to a small caste of elite warriors. Both the raw materials and the process were hard to come by. My understanding is that historically the best steels were made in India/Southern-India where wootz steel comes from and that for more than 2000 years the rest of the world was almost bargain tier in comparison. To the degree that samples of wootz steel were brought back to Europe even in the 18th century in an attempt to replicate the process. I'm only an amateur metalworker though so I hope someone more knowledgeable can correct any errors.