Japanese Spears: Polearms and Their Use in Old Japan

Average Customer Rating: List Price: $70.00 Asia Trips Trips Price: $56.00 Your Savings: $ 14.00 ( 20% ) Subject To Change Without Notice Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Manufacturer: Global Oriental
Binding: Hardcover Dewey Decimal Number: 796 EAN: 9781901903560 ISBN: 1901903567 Label: Global Oriental Manufacturer: Global Oriental Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 288 Publication Date: 2004-09 Publisher: Global Oriental Studio: Global Oriental
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Editorial Reviews: Of all the weapons of the Japanese samurai, the sword is best known and valued for its perfection of design and as a work of art; and yet, from the warrior's perspective, the more humble halberd or straight spear were the dominant weapons of the battlefield until displaced by the widespread introduction of firearms in the late 16th century. This fully illustrated study of "naginata" and "yari" records the many variations of spear design from the ancient period when warrior chieftains settled in Japan from the Asian mainland, down to the fall of the Tokugawa in 1868 that marked the close of the feudal period. In addition, it offers the reader valuable insight into the historical attitude of the Japanese warrior to warfare and examples of how these often splendid weapons were used in the bujutsu - the arts of the battlefield.
Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: Japanese Spears: Polearms and Their Use in Old Japan Comment: This is well written and researched. Provides extensive information on Japanese spears/polearms but its utility is greatly limited by absence of the names/time periods and signatures of spear makers. The names of smiths and the kanji for their names would make this book steller. Customer Rating: Summary: Good reference, detailed history, but hard to use the pictures Comment: The book is very well prepared and historicaly well based. The writer deeply investigated the context between the history of the polearms and the history of the imigrant nations. The book richly describe the culture of the polearms as Naginata, Yari, Nagimaki weapons and their existing and historical forms. We can read about also the religional background of the weapons. The book also shows the practical martial use of polearms in limited sections. There is no any word about the forging and crafting processes, so who are interested in it, had to choose an another book. I realy enjoyed to read the book, as a "fan" of the Japanese nations and weapons. The only bad thing what I have experienced, that it was realy difficult to connect to the pictures in the secdond section of the book. There are realy detailed, labelings and explanations of the origin of the written resources, but there is no any direct link for ex. numbers or identification codes to the pictures. I had to use the Japanese names for identification, but sometimes it realy makes nervous. For any cas the book is recommended for the ones who are fan or interesting for the Japanes polearms. I think it worth the price. Customer Rating: Summary: Great resourse material. Comment: This was recomended by my sensei and its full of info and history. More Reviews