Is naginata the perfect melee weapon? >the reach of a spear

>>34652251
if you are a woman you also can masturbate with its blunt side

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>>34652257
Is this the reason why it's considered a womanly weapon ?

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>Not a Bec de Corbin or other knightly Polearm.

>>34652297
>not just enjoying any long reach weapons

>>34652251
"X on stick" types of weapons are generally good.
Many cultures used some version of Axe/Sword of stick like naginata because their versatility.
However those types of weapons don't fare well against armor or pikes.

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>>34652277
Jokes aside, if anyone's curious...

The naginata first ended up in female hands so that there'd at least be someone who could try to defend the home when the man was away serving the lord. As the wife of the house would most likely be weaker than the male brigands she'd be ill advised to get too close, and so a polearm was the natural choice, and in Japan at that time that meant the naginata.

As time went on Japanese warfare shifted focus towards large and tightly packed formations. With that the various swings and cuts that work well with the naginata stopped being useful, there wasn't room for them, and so various spears and pikes took over for warfare. The women weren't out in formation however, even with the local housewife union out in force it'd still be more of a skirmish, so they had no real reason to switch over. On the contrary even, a large cutting weapon can be useful when you're outnumbered, as large sweeping cuts makes for a lot of space around you where people don't want to be. So, through some combination of those reasons (and probably a bit of pure conservatism as well), the women kept using the naginata when everyone else didn't.

This was the further emphasised culturally in the late 19th and early 20th century, as the military leadership made kendo mandatory in school for boys, while girls were once again handed the naginata in order to foster suitable womanly virtues like having an aptitude for severing people's shins.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64cmdEUl_jc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wem9KZeFKEA
And as you may find yourself caught out in clothing less suitable for fighting: https://youtu.be/CQ6wBhq0SdY?t=59s

>>34652332
Well, the pike's largely a spike on a stick. But yes, I see the point, it seldom belongs together with the other polearms, it really is a separate category.

hello yes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jz9bnH_YOxg

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>>34652251
>Is naginata the perfect melee weapon?
No, that would be the pole-axe

>>34652443
I'm curious, were there variations of the naginata? Like the yari has numerous types mostly based around which spear head is used?

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>>34652857
>File: 1498044178590.jpg (81 KB, 602x903)

dat armour looks poorly fitted as fuck.

Spears in general are awesome.

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>>34652251
Polearms in general are good melee weapons.

>>34652977
Nothing like a spike on a stick to take a dirt farmer and turn them into a threat.

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>>34652332
Polearms confirmed for
V E R S A T I L I T Y
E
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S
A
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Y

>>34652857
made for a completely different reason, this thread is bad. there is no objectively "best" melee weapon

>>34652905
has the right idea tho

>>34652251
>use the blunt end to peacefully subdue peasant you _dont_ want to kill
The ishizuki most of the time wasn't blunt but a sharpened small pike, like most polearms for that matter.

>>34652888
Well there is variation among the styles. The latter styles tends to use a slender and shorter version (7ft) compare to the older ones(8ft) (this is a simplification of course). Then you have stuff like Higo-ko-ryu which has a naginata that is pretty much half shaft and half blade, more like an oversized nagamaki, with a somehow straight blade but for a slight curve at the end.
Two styles at least (Toda-ha Buko-ryu and Shingyoto-ryu) use the Kagitsuki naginata, a naginata with a softer metal (like bronze iirc) bar near the blade as a crossguard to block, trap and deflect incoming attacks.
There are probably more.

>>34652251
It's the opposite, it takes away the radial alignment of shaft and the point and gives you instead a short curved edge.

I do not deny that you can injure or kill someone with it, but the combination of a shaft and a blade does not make it a perfect weapon, or even a good weapon.

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>>34652443
>As the wife of the house would most likely be weaker than the male brigands she'd be ill advised to get too close, and so a polearm was the natural choice, and in Japan at that time that meant the naginata.

>>34652443
>girls were once again handed the naginata in order to foster suitable womanly virtues
>like having an aptitude for severing people's shins
my fucking sides

>>34652251
For unarmored/partially armored combat yes it is.

>>34654017
sorry, forgot to take my name off from a shitty thread, you're alright op

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>>34652443
This, naginata's distance made up for the difference in strength between genders.
Female samurai (onabugeisha) typically had naginata or yumi bows for this reason, along with a small blade for killing themselves if captured.

Also,
>girls were once again handed the naginata in order to foster suitable womanly virtues like having an aptitude for severing people's shins.
kek

>>34654033
>Female samurai (onabugeisha) typically had naginata or yumi bows for this reason, along with a small blade for killing themselves if captured.
I would say that daughters or wives of samurai (not sure if you could actually call a woman a noble's retainer but maybe I lack imagination) actually wielding weapons would be of a high-status. Naginata and bow are the typical high-status/famous past weapons so it kinda make sense, symbol wise that women are handed naginata. This in the warring states era at least, as time went on, in the 18-19th century, you have women's village fighting union armed with spears and naginata.

A bow and a naginata demands quite a bit of strenght to begin with, much more than for swords or spears, so I don't know how strong the physical strenght argument holds.

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>>34654077
Difference in physical strength regards up close encounters with men. If a woman were to use a katana there is a higher chance for the man to overpower or grab her due to how close the combatants are to each other.
The naginata keeps the opponent at bay, making strength not an issue unless you've already lost the fight.

Also iirc yumi bows have very low draw weight. Modern day 5'0" Asian girls with no combat experience (obviously) have little problem using them in sports.

It has a long arc, thus it has a long traveling time which makes it easy to block and dodge.

>>34652857
He looks tired. Maybe his feet hurt too

>>34654963
I think he used to be an adventurer.

>>34654928
And that's why the center of percussion should go in a straight line. Also there are those neat things called thrusts...

>>34655012
So you want to make it for the most part a thrusting only weapon
Really the greatest weapon of all time

>>34652332

Tell me the back spike of a Halberd with dat leverage won't puncture armor.

>>34652251
The Chinese guan dao is better.

t. Chang

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>>34652257
>if you are a woman
Welcome to /k/ buddy

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>>34654033
>naginata's distance made up for the difference in strength between genders.
What are you implying, shitlord ?

>>34652257
I have an ass you fucking fag