That would be this
shown here with samurai for scale, whose weapon it was
A naginata could be over twelve feet in length, butt to blade tip. Other than the obvious uses — stabbing, slicing, hooking, clubbing, kneecapping charging horses, disemboweling and/or beheading their riders — the naginata user’s advantage was by how far it extended the user’s reach over an opponent armed with a sword. The naginata was also the only weapon women were allowed to use in medieval Japan. Read more here.
The naginata is the weapon of choice for Silk and Song’s samurai, Gokudo. His quick hand on the, er, shaft may have in part led to his banishment from Chipangu, and to his intersection with my plot.
Which I will be signing at 2pm on December 2nd
at the Poisoned Pen Bookstore in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Click here to pre-order.
Chatter By the Shores of the Middle Sea Everything Under the Heavens naginata Silk and Song The Land Beyond