is the term for a traditionally-made Japanese blade (日本刀;

nihontō A is one of several types of traditionally made swords from Japan. Bronze swords were made as early as the Yayoi period (1000 BC – 300 AD), though most people generally refer to the curved blades made from the Heian period (794 – 1185) to t ...

) in the form of a

spear A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fastene ...

, or more specifically, the straight-headed spear. The

martial art Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; and the preserv ...

of wielding the is called .

History

The forerunner of the is thought to be a derived from a Chinese spear. These are thought to be from the

Nara period The of the history of Japan covers the years from CE 710 to 794. Empress Genmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō (present-day Nara). Except for a five-year period (740–745), when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the c ...

(710–794). The term appeared for the first time in written sources in 1334, but this type of spear did not become popular until the late 15th century. The original warfare of the was not a thing for commoners; it was a ritualized combat usually between two warriors who would challenge each other via horseback archery. In the late Heian period, battles on foot began to increase and , a polearm, became a main weapon along with a ''yumi'' (longbow).Basic knowledge of naginata and nagamaki.
Nagoya Japanese Sword Museum, Touken World The attempted

Mongol invasions of Japan Major military efforts were taken by Kublai Khan of the Yuan dynasty in 1274 and 1281 to conquer the Japanese archipelago after the submission of the Korean kingdom of Goryeo to vassaldom. Ultimately a failure, the invasion attempts are of m ...

in 1274 and 1281 was one of the factors that changed Japanese weaponry and warfare. The Mongols employed Chinese and Korean footmen wielding long pikes and fought in tight formations. They moved in large units to stave off cavalry. Polearms (including and ) were of much greater military use than swords, due to their significantly longer reach, lighter weight per unit length (though overall a polearm would be fairly hefty), and their great piercing ability. In the Nanbokuchō period, battles on foot by groups became the mainstream and the importance of further increased, but were not yet the main weapon. However, from the

Onin War Onin may refer to: * Ōnin, a Japanese era ** Ōnin War The , also known as the Upheaval of Ōnin and Ōnin-Bunmei war, was a civil war that lasted from 1467 to 1477, during the Muromachi period in Japan. ''Ōnin'' refers to the Japanese era duri ...

in 15th century in the

Muromachi period The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by ...

, large-scale group battles started in which mobilized (foot troops) fought on foot and in close quarters, and ''yari'', (longbow) and (Japanese matchlock) became the main weapons. This made and obsolete on the battlefield, and they were often replaced with and short, lightweight .Arms for battle - spears, swords, bows.
Nagoya Japanese Sword Museum, Touken WorldKazuhiko Inada (2020), ''Encyclopedia of the Japanese Swords''. p42. ''歴史人'' September 2020. pp.40-41. Around the latter half of the 16th century, holding pikes () with length of became the main forces in armies. They formed lines, combined with soldiers bearing firearms ''tanegashima'' and short spears. Pikemen formed a two- or three-row line, and were trained to move their pikes in unison under command. Not only but also

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They ...

fought on the battlefield with ''yari'' as one of their main weapons. For example, Honda Tadakatsu was famous as a master of one of The Three Great Spears of Japan, the ''

Tonbokiri The is one of three legendary Japanese spears created by the famed swordsmith Fujiwara Masazane, said to be wielded by the ''daimyō'' Honda Tadakatsu, a leading general of Tokugawa Ieyasu. The spear derives its name from the myth that a dragon ...

'' (蜻蛉切). One of The Three Great Spears of Japan, the ''Nihongō'' ( :ja:日本号) was treasured as a gift, and its ownership changed to Emperor Ogimachi,

Shogun , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakura ...

Ashikaga Yoshiaki "Ashikaga Yoshiaki" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 625. was the 15th and final '' shōgun'' of the Ashikaga shogunate in Japan who reigned from 1568 to 1573.Ackroyd, ...

Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period. He is regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. Nobunaga was head of the very powerful Oda clan, and launched a war against other ''daimyō'' to unify ...

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Cour ...

, Fukushima Masanori, and so on, and has been handed down to the present day.''歴史人'' September 2020. pp.128-135. With the coming of the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was character ...

the had fallen into disuse. Greater emphasis was placed on small-scale, close quarters combat, so the convenience of swords led to their dominance, and polearms and archery lost their practical value. During the peaceful Edo period, were still produced (sometimes even by renowned swordsmiths), although they existed mostly as either a ceremonial weapon or as a police weapon.

Description

were characterized by a straight

blade A blade is the portion of a tool, weapon, or machine with an edge that is designed to puncture, chop, slice or scrape surfaces or materials. Blades are typically made from materials that are harder than those they are to be used on. Histor ...

that could be anywhere from several centimeters to or more in length. The blades were made of the same steel () from which traditional

Japanese sword A is one of several types of traditionally made swords from Japan. Bronze swords were made as early as the Yayoi period (1000 BC – 300 AD), though most people generally refer to the curved blades made from the Heian period (794 – 1185) to t ...

s and arrowheads were forged, and were very durable. Throughout history many variations of the straight blade were produced, often with protrusions on a central blade. blades often had an extremely long

tang Tang or TANG most often refers to: * Tang dynasty * Tang (drink mix) Tang or TANG may also refer to: Chinese states and dynasties * Jin (Chinese state) (11th century – 376 BC), a state during the Spring and Autumn period, called Tang (唐) ...

(; 中心); typically it would be longer than the sharpened portion of the blade. The tang protruded into a reinforced hollow portion of the handle ( or ) resulting in a very stiff shaft making it nearly impossible for the blade to fall or break off. The shaft ( or ) came in many different lengths, widths, and shapes; made of hardwood and covered in lacquered

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, ...

strips, these came in oval, round, or polygonal cross section. These in turn were often wrapped in metal rings or wire (), and affixed with a metal pommel (; 石突) on the butt end. shafts were often decorated with inlays of metal or semiprecious materials such as brass pins, lacquer, or flakes of pearl. A sheath (; 鞘) was also part of a complete .

Variations of blades

Various types of points or blades existed. The most common blade was a straight, flat design that resembles a straight-bladed double edged

dagger A dagger is a fighting knife with a very sharp point and usually two sharp edges, typically designed or capable of being used as a thrusting or stabbing weapon.State v. Martin, 633 S.W.2d 80 (Mo. 1982): This is the dictionary or popular-use def ...

. This type of blade could cut as well as stab and was sharpened like a razor edge. Though is a catchall term for 'spear', it is usually distinguished between , which have additional horizontal blades, and simple () or straight spears. can also be distinguished by the types of blade cross section: the triangular sections were called and the diamond sections were called . * have a point that resembles a narrow spike with a triangular cross-section. A therefore had no cutting edge, only a sharp point at the end. The was therefore best suited for penetrating armor, even armor made of metal, which a standard yari was not as suited to. There are two types of : , blades with a triangular, equilateral cross section, and , with a triangular, isosceles-shaped cross section. * , a blade with a diamond shaped cross section. * were mounted to a shaft by means of a metal socket instead of a tang. The socket and blade are forged from a single piece. * were one of the rarest types of , possessing only a single edge. This created a weapon that could be used for hacking and closely resembled a . are the only which use a . * had a very broad, "spade-shaped" head. often had a pair of holes centering the two ovoid halves. Yari-p1000609

* , also called , looked something similar to a

trident A trident is a three- pronged spear. It is used for spear fishing and historically as a polearm. The trident is the weapon of Poseidon, or Neptune, the God of the Sea in classical mythology. The trident may occasionally be held by other mar ...

or partisan, and brandished a pair of curved blades around its central lance. It is occasionally referred to as in modern weaponry texts. ** , a with one side blade pointing down and one side blade pointing upwards. ** , a with the two side blades pointing down. ** , a with the two side blades resembling a pair of buffalo horns. * gets its name from a peasant weapon called (lit. "sickle" or "scythe"). 片鎌槍, Katakama yari

* had a weapon design sporting a blade that was two-pronged. Instead of being constructed like a military fork, a straight blade (as in ) was intersected just below its midsection by a perpendicular blade. This blade was slightly shorter than the primary, had curved tips making a parallelogram, and was set off center so that only 1/6 of its length extended on the other side. This formed a rough 'L' shape. * barely looked like a spear at all. A polearm that had a crescent blade for a head, which could be used for slashing and hooking. * was a key-shaped spear with a long blade with a side hook much like that found on a

fauchard A fauchard is a type of polearm weapon which was used in Europe from the 11th through the 17th centuries. In later use fauchards became ornamental and ceremonial (''fauchard de parade''), growing in size until some examples were almost too h ...

. This could be used to catch another weapon, or even dismount a rider on horseback. * possessed some of the most ornate designs for any spear. Running parallel to the long central blade were two 'crescent moon' shaped blades facing outwards. They were attached in two locations by short cross bars, making the head look somewhat like a

fleur-de-lis The fleur-de-lis, also spelled fleur-de-lys (plural ''fleurs-de-lis'' or ''fleurs-de-lys''), is a lily (in French, and mean 'flower' and 'lily' respectively) that is used as a decorative design or symbol. The fleur-de-lis has been used in the ...

. * , an old form of possibly from the Nara period (710–794), a guard's spear with pole and blade either leaf-shaped or waved (like keris); a sickle-shaped horn projected on one or both sides at the joint of blade. The had a hollow socket like the later period for the pole to fit into rather than a long tang. * , a broad described as being "leaf shaped" or "bamboo leaf shaped". * (alao known as ), a straight double edged blade.''The connoisseur's book of Japanese swords''
Kōkan Nagayama, Kodansha International, 1998, P.49 * (), an extra long blade. * *

Variations of shafts

A shaft can range in length from , with some in excess of 6 metres. * : long, a type of pike used by . It was especially used by

Oda clan The is a Japanese samurai family who were daimyo and an important political force in the unification of Japan in the mid-16th century. Though they had the climax of their fame under Oda Nobunaga and fell from the spotlight soon after, sever ...

beginning from the reign of

; samurai tradition of the time held that the soldiers of the rural province of Owari were among the weakest in Japan. Kantō was a chaotic place; Kansai was home to the Shogunate, and the Uesugi, Takeda, Imagawa, and Hojo clans, as well as pirate raiders from Shikoku. Additionally, Kyushu was home of one of the most warmongering clans in Japan, the Shimazu clan. Because of this, Nobunaga armed his underperforming soldiers extra-long pikes in order for them to be more effective against armoured opponents and cavalry, and fighting in groups and formations. * , a long spear used by and samurai. * . The shaft goes through a hollow metal tube that allowed the spear to be twisted during thrusting. This style of is typified in the school . * . A with a short simple shaft that was kept by the bedside for home protection. * . A with a short shaft that was used by samurai and police to help capture criminals. ''Taiho-jutsu: law and order in the age of the samurai''
Author, Don Cunningham, Publisher Tuttle Publishing, 2004, , P.44

Gallery

File:Kikuchi yari 99.jpg, File:Sasaho tsukuri hira sankaku yari.jpg, File:Sansaku yari 9.jpg, File:Ryo shinogi fukuro yari.jpg, File:Yari tachiuchi or tachiuke.JPG, or , the reinforced upper part of the shaft.

Popular culture

* ''

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' is an American media franchise created by the comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It follows Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael, four anthropomorphic turtle brothers (named after It ...

'' features yari spears being used by the Shredder in the 1990 film and the 2014 film. One was also used by Jei, a

wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

sorcerer in the 2012 TV series. * '' Power Rangers Samurai'' features the Green Ranger Mike Fernandez using the Forest Spear which is themed on a yari. * ''

Sengoku Basara is a series of video games developed and published by Capcom, and a bigger media franchise based on it, including four anime shows, an anime movie, a live action show, a magazine series, a trading card game, and numerous drama CDs, light nov ...

'' franchise features Sanada Yukimura uses a red yari as main weapon throughout the franchise.

References

External links

Nihonto message board forum

{{Pole weapons Spears of Japan Blade weapons Samurai polearms