General at the battle of Nagashino, 1575 holding a Yari in his right hand. Print from the Tsuki hyaskushi series ("100 aspects of the moon") by Taiso Yoshitoshi, 1887
Sōjutsu (槍術) or "the art of the spear" is a Japanese form of martial arts dedicated to the use of the Japanese spear or Yari (槍). An immensely popular school of martial arts during the Sengoku and Edo periods, Sōjutsu fell out of favour after the Meiji Restoration and now it is included as a supplementary skill in other Ko-ryū schools.
History[]
The Yari has held a very important place in Japanese Shinto mythology. Japan's numerous islands are said to have been created by salt water steadily dripping from the end of the "Heavenly Jeweled Spear" (Ame-no-Nuhoko), wielded by the twin gods Izanagi and Izanami. Nonetheless, the Japanese Yari during its early history was mostly based off of mainland designs, particularly those from China and were then known as Hoko Yari. These Hoko Yari were often hollow in order to be mounted on the wooden shaft, as opposed to having a tang and sometimes had a sickle shaped horn on one or both sides of the main blade, resembling the Chinese Ji. Yari were present but not popular amongst early Japanese armies in favour of straight swords and shields and later mounted archery during the Heian Period.
During the Kamakura and Nanboku-cho periods, the naginata was the primary weapon of choice for mounted and foot soldiers alike as it gave infantry a means of dismounting cavalry and its shape allowed mounted warriors to slash and stab easily from horseback. After the Mongol Invasions of Japan in the late 1200s, the Japanese saw the effectiveness of massed spears.
However, it was during the Sengoku period that the emphasis towards massed ashigaru ("light [of] foot") soldiers favoured the simpler Yari. Naginata were weapons that required space to use due to the practise of slashing and swinging cuts. The Yari could be easily mass-produced due to the low iron cost and when ashigaru fought together in a "wall" much like the Greek phalanx they could often counter samurai Cavalry. The introduction of matchlocks in 1543 lead to further improvements in "pike-and-shot" warfare which in turn lead to larger types of Yari.
After the battle of Sekigahara and the unification of Japan, largescale warfare mostly ceased and the primary conflicts were smaller and more urban in nature. This type of engagement favoured swords such as the Katana and Wakizashi. The Yari was a symbol of police during the Edo Period but its usefulness was questionable at best. By the time of the Boshin War, the Yari had instead become a symbol of Japan's antiquity and so practise in Sōjutsu fell out of favour now only surviving as a single component of larger Ko-ryū schools.
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