--- Wazza <
biz_in_japan@...> wrote:
> Anyway on to my question:
>
> I've been doing a bit of research on samurai weapons
> and
> came across this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yari
> If anyone has the time, could they tell me how
> accurate it
> is?
>
> In most of my samurai books, they don't have much
> detail
> about yari and I really hate to use Wikipedia
> because of
> the amount of pure crap that's on it.
Warren--
You're smart to be wary of Wiki, but this seems okay
to me (at a glance, it jives with most of what I know
about Yari--I'm no expert though). It seems consistent
with what I've read in Bottomley & Hopson, which I
prefer as my source for info about weapons. The only
part I have a major issue with is:
"The original warfare of the Bushi was not a thing for
'commoners'; it was a ritualized combat usually
between two warriors who would challenge each other
via horseback archery and sword duels. However the
invasions of Mongols in 1274 and 1281 changed Japanese
warfare and weaponry."
This is a pretty simplistic view of things, and the
statement about warfare not being a thing for
"commoners" is a fallacy. "Commoners" simply aren't
mentioned in the chronicles and histories, because who
wants to read about Kichibei the grunt? Certainly no
one who wrote or read said chronicles. Footsoldiers
certainly did exist, and carried a variety of
polearms--notably before the mid-1400's they carried
the naginata. It's true that warfare changed after the
Mongol invasions, but it's not like in 1281 they
challenged each other to archery duels, and January
1st 1282 all of a sudden they started using yari.
I highly recommend finding a copy of "Arms and Armour
of the Samurai" by Ian Bottomley and Anthony P.
Hopson, who I mentioned above. It's a bit of a coffee
table book, but it does give a great outline of the
development and timeline of Japanese weapons, and
would tell you likely all you want to know about yari.
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