Medieval Japanese Spear

Naginata were originally used by the samurai class of feudal japan as well as by ashigaru foot soldiers and sōhei warrior monks.

Medieval japanese spear. The naginata is the iconic weapon of the onna bugeisha a type of female warrior belonging to the japanese nobility. Japanese long bladed weapons played an important role during the war. Yari is the term used for traditionally made japanese blades that are in the form of a straight headed spear. There is a martial art that teaches how to weld a spear known as sojutsu.

This versatile weapon resembles the halberd used by european soldiers. Samurai swords were slightly curved and blades varied in length but it became common for elite samurai to carry two swords a long and a short one. Spears and other long bladed weapons such as japanese polearms are known as yari. Makura yari pillow spear.

The shaft goes through a hollow metal tube that allowed the spear to be twisted during thrusting. But unlike the halberd the naginata had no axe and was usually longer than the six foot 1 8 meter european polearm. The hoko spear was used in ancient japan sometime between the yayoi period and the heian period but it became unpopular as early samurai often acted as horseback archers. This style of sojutsu is typified in the school owari kan ryū.

This pair became known as the daisho great and small from the 1580s ce and were usually made to match in terms of colour and decoration. Medieval japan employed spears again for infantrymen to use but it was not until the 11th century in that samurai began to prefer spears over bows. Kuda yari 管槍 tube spear. Mochi yari hand spear a long spear used by ashigaru and samurai.