Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 2.djvu/182

JAPAN centre of art influence, and the sword of every samurai advertised the standard that had been reached by the glyptic experts in his chief's dominions.

Spear and halberd were among the weapons of the ancient Japanese as well as sword and bow. The oldest form of spear (hoko) was derived from China. Its handle measured about six feet and its blade eight inches, the latter being sometimes leaf-shaped, sometimes wave-edged like a Malay kris. At the point of junction of blade and hilt a sickle-shaped horn projected on one side or on both, showing that the prime object of the weapon was to thrust back an enemy. In fact the hoko served almost exclusively for guarding palisades and gates. In the fourteenth century a true lance (yari) came into use. Its length varied greatly and it had a hog-backed blade, about five inches long, tempered so finely as almost to rival the sword in quality. This too was a Chinese type, and, like the hoko, its first employment did not extend beyond operations of defence, but in the latter part of the Military epoch it acquired greater importance. The halberd also came from China. The term "halberd" is a defective translation, for the Japanese nagi-nata (literally, long sword) was not a pole terminating in a battle-axe and spear-head as the English name implies. It was a cimeter-like blade, some three feet in length, fixed on a slightly longer haft. Originally the warlike monks alone em- 156