A traditional Naginata stretching nearly 7 feet.
The naginata was a bladed polearm weapon and was sometimes a wife's wedding gift if she married a samurai. The art of using the naginata was called Naginatajutsu.
Construction[]
A naginata consists of a oval wooden staff with a short sword's blade one end. Some were made custom to have a staff as long as its user was tall, and a blade a foot or two long, making this weapon longer than its user was tall.
Usage[]
A naginata was used mainly as an anti-cavalry weapon. Due to its length, one could knock a samurai off of his horse and finish him off with the blade. It had an advantage over a sword, at range, naginata would easily rule out any advantage of upper body strength and keep its wielder out of their opponent's reach.