Gunbai: Ancient Japanese Warfare

Naginata (薙刀) - The Samurai's Glaive  A typical foot soldier of the early Kamakura period carrying a naginata, from the Heiji Monogatari Emaki ( 平治物語絵巻 ). When it comes to Japanese (and in particular, Samurai) polearms, there are few examples as  iconic  as the  naginata (薙刀) , also written  長刀 , always  erroneously  translated into English as the  Japanese halberd  (which technically it is not, at least in it most common variation: the correct translation is  glaive )   . The naginata is a polearm with a curved blade of various shapes,  usually  in between 30 to 100 cm, mounted on an oval shaft of 90-180 cm  by means of a lengthy tang inserted  into a slot in the haft, and held in place by pegs. This polearm has been  the main weapon of foot soldiers  from the late Heian period to the early Muromachi period, it was  wielded from horseback  by the Samurai ...

Nagamaki (長巻) - A unique Japanese sword One of the few artistic representation of the Nagamaki; on the centre left, a fleeing warrior is holding said weapon while running from a cavalry charge. From the Kiyomizu  Dera Engi Emaki ( 清水寺縁起絵巻 ) The Nagamaki ( 長巻 ) is a unique sword design found only in Japan, with very few exceptions. The name itself means "long wrapping" and there is a very specific reason behind it that I'm going to explain in this article. Before discussing the weapon itself, it should be clarified why it is considered a sword ; despite having the length required to be classified in the polearms category, the nagamaki is used as a sword , which means that both hands   are in a fixed position and the weapon is held in the same way a sword is held, with few-to-none hands changing along the handle. The closest example of this weapon found outside Japan is the European Spetum , although this weapon was used as a polearm rather than as a sword. Hi...

Hoko (鉾) - Early Japanese Spears  A double edge Hoko spear, from  後三年合戦絵巻 The Hoko ( 鉾 ) also written with the character  矛 ,   is an old type of spear used in Japan from antiquity until the 14th century, when the most known Yari ( 槍 ) was introduced. I wanted to dedicated a short and brief article to this early spear due to its importance, since almost every polearms developed in Japan owes its origins to this weapon. The Hoko was probably derivative of early Chinese spear design which might have been introduced during the Yayoi period ( 弥生時代 ), although most of the survivals were found inside Kofun burials. These spears were initially made of bronze and later on, when Iron Age started in Japan, they were made of iron and steel as well. The differences between Hoko and Yari Now let's address the "elephant in the room" . Japanese language is somewhat hard to translate into other languages, and to make things even worse, there is a relevant flaw inside Ja...