Naginata - 薙刀 (Halebard)
A naginata consists of a wooden shaft with a curved blade on the end, it is similar to the Chinese guan dao or the European glaive.Naginata often have a sword-like hand guard (tsuba) between the blade and shaft when mounted in a koshirae. The 30 cm to 60 cm long naginata blade is forged in the same manner as traditional Japanese swords. The blade has a long tang (nakago) which is inserted in the shaft (nagaye or ebu), the blade is removable and is secured by means of a wood peg (mekugi) that passes though a hole (mekugi-ana) in both the nakago and the nagaye (ebu). The nagaye (ebu) ranges from 120 cm to 240 cm in length and is oval shaped. The area of the nagaye (ebu) were the naginata nakago sits is the tachiuchi or tachiuke. The tachiuchi (tachiuke) would be re-enforced with metal rings (naginata dogane or semegane), and or metal sleeves (sakawa) and wrapped with cord (san-dan maki), the end of the nagaye (ebu) had a heavy metal end cap (ishizuki or hirumaki). When not in use the naginata blade would be covered with a wooden sheath (saya).
Originally, the naginata was used by warrior monks who would defend their shintoist temples from invaders. This weapon fell out of favor after the 14th century, when the temples were no longer a target. At any rate, the samurai did sometimes use the naginata while fighting at close quarters on horseback. The naginata was made from a short, curved blade, like that of the wakizashi, but instead of being attached to a normal sword hilt, it was attached to a long staff. The naginata staff could be anywhere from 38" to 4 feet long. This made the weapon extremely useful in close quarters, where it's wielder could keep sword-carrying attackers out of range. The age in which the naginata was most commonly used is the age in which the samurai were mostly archers, which meant that sword vs. naginata battles rarely took place.
Some schools of martial arts still use the naginata today, however, the modern naginata more resembles the european Halberd, with the blade resembling a scimitar moreso than a wakizashi.
Originally, the naginata was used by warrior monks who would defend their shintoist temples from invaders. This weapon fell out of favor after the 14th century, when the temples were no longer a target. At any rate, the samurai did sometimes use the naginata while fighting at close quarters on horseback. The naginata was made from a short, curved blade, like that of the wakizashi, but instead of being attached to a normal sword hilt, it was attached to a long staff. The naginata staff could be anywhere from 38" to 4 feet long. This made the weapon extremely useful in close quarters, where it's wielder could keep sword-carrying attackers out of range. The age in which the naginata was most commonly used is the age in which the samurai were mostly archers, which meant that sword vs. naginata battles rarely took place.
Some schools of martial arts still use the naginata today, however, the modern naginata more resembles the european Halberd, with the blade resembling a scimitar moreso than a wakizashi.