The Naginata - A naginata consists of a wooden shaft with a curved blade on the end; it is similar to the Chinese guan dao[4] or the European glaive.[5] Naginata often have a sword-like hand guard (tsuba) between the blade and shaft when mounted in a koshirae. The 30 cm to 60 cm long naginata blade is forged in the same manner as traditional Japanese swords. The blade has a long tang (nakago) which is inserted in the shaft (nagaye or ebu). The blade is removable and is secured by means of a wooden peg (mekugi) that passes through a hole (mekugi-ana) in both the nakago and the nagaye (ebu). The nagaye (ebu) ranges from 120 cm to 240 cm in length and is oval shaped. The area of the nagaye (ebu) where the naginata nakago sits is the tachiuchi or tachiuke. The tachiuchi (tachiuke) would be reinforced with metal rings (naginata dogane or semegane), and/or metal sleeves (sakawa) and wrapped with cord (san-dan maki). The end of the nagaye (ebu) had a heavy metal end cap (ishizuki or hirumaki). When not in use the naginata blade would be covered with a wooden sheath (saya).[3]
Posted on: Sun, 30 Jun 2013 05:19:16 +0000
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