Hoko yari

Hoko yari in an older form of Japanese spear or yari based on a Chinese spear. and thought to be from the Nara period.[1][2]

Appearance and use

The hoko yari was thought to be a guard's spear used in the defense palisades and gates. Hoko yari were mounted on a six-foot pole and had an eight inch blade with either a leaf-shape or waved or wavy edge that was shaped like the Malay kris. Hoko yari had a sickle-shaped horn projected on one or both sides of the blade.[3] The hoko yari had a hollow socket like the later period fukuro yari for the pole to fit into rather than a long tang.[4]The sickle-shaped horn projecting on one side or both sides of the hoko yari blade, showed that the prime object of this weapon was to thrust back an enemy.[5]

References

  1. ^ Japan and China: Japan, its history, arts, and literature, Frank Brinkley, T. C. & E. C. Jack, 1903 p.156
  2. ^ The connoisseur's book of Japanese swords, Kōkan Nagayama, Kodansha International, p.49
  3. ^ Japan and China: Japan, its history, arts, and literature, Frank Brinkley, T. C. & E. C. Jack, 1903 p.156
  4. ^ Modern Japanese swords and swordsmiths: from 1868 to the present, Leon Kapp, Hiroko Kapp, Yoshindo Yoshihara, Kodansha International, 2002 p.18
  5. ^ Japan and China: Japan, its history, arts, and literature, Frank Brinkley, T. C. & E. C. Jack, 1903 p.156