Women training with naginata

[george trotter]

Hi all,

recently the subject of women's naginata/nagamaki came up in relation to the shape of a "wakizashi" thread. I thought you would all like to see a WWII postcard showing these naginata. This is from a series of patriotic postcards of WWII. It was published in Ginza in 1943 and again in 1944. The caption reads:

"Deciding the coming conflict". "As part of the responsibilities/duties of womenfolk to the Homeland, these girls enter a new term at Middle High School with training in the Ministry of Education's Naginata Training Course".

You can clearly see naginata and nagamaki together. Many are full size "male" weapons but some (eg front row from left, woman #5,6,7, and others) are holding the smaller woman's naginata. By the look of the instructor's face, I would say she knows how to handle herself in a conflict.

It is interesting to see the use of naginata, as most will be more familiar with the famous photo of housewives training with sharpened bamboo staves.

Regards, George Trotter

[Stephen]

great pix! do you mind if i post this on another board?

[Jean]

Fantastic picture George, but as already stated in another post, I am waiting for any articles or historical references mentioning such things as Women's naginata forging - Koto times were war times, it would have meant women's platoons to justify a Naginata women's mass forging.

 

I believe that, as with spears, there were all naginata size; I doubt if there were any market in the past for Naginata's women forging.

 

This does not exclude the fact that some noble women did not have Naginata specially ordered but it should have been the exception

[george trotter]

Hi Jean and Stephen,

Yes, great picture. This photo may be the last time naginata training was ever done for war...to protect the homeland...a truly historic photograph.

Jean, as you can see, a reasonable number of these naginata/nagamaki are "women's size". I agree with you that they would not be forged in great numbers like men's naginatas, but as mentioned in the original "naginata/wakizashi" post a few weeks ago,the women dancing the samurai women's naginata dance told us, each samurai house had one or more womens and mens naginatas resting on a rack inside and above the main sliding entrance screen. It was the duty of samurai women to immediately reach for them to defend the entrance /approach path to the house when the men were away. As she also showed us the dance/kata for "receiving the mounted attack" mainly while jumping to the side, slashing the horse's legs as it passed and killing the rider from the rear as the horse fell, this suggests that they also had field tactics for cavalry, but I suppose this was limited to resisting mounted intruders in the main courtyard or garden of the house. The point is, there must have been a lot of women's naginata as every samurai house would have had some? Perhaps these ones in the photo were brought from home by the students of old samurai families?

 

Stephen, I found this postcard in a veteran's collection of photos from occupied Japan...he gave it to me...I thought long and hard before I posted it as, the web being what it is, it is only a matter of time before someone rips it off for commercial gain...so, thank you for asking permission. Please use it...I hope your other friends enjoy it.

I forgot to say in the original post, that the caption said that the learning of naginata kata by women was compulsory/required curriculum for high school girls by the Mombusho (Min. of Educ.) at that time.

I'm glad you found it interesting.

Regards

George.

[Carlo Giuseppe Tacchini]

Perhaps these ones in the photo were brought from home by the students of old samurai families?

 

We should consider the possibility they'r wooden ones for training because shafts and blades shares the very same color in this black and white picture.

 

Just a suggestion.

 

BTW if you're interested in women's weapons training during WWII it's worth to search for Nitta Suzuyo, Toda-Ha Buko-Ryu.

[Brian]

I also expect these were wooden or training weapons. I can't prove it though, but makes sense.

 

Brian

[Jean]

George,

 

What I was saying is that women used Naginata but I doubt that there were forged on purpose as Boy's swords are, in fact it was commonly used by women and warrior monks from Kamakura and on, till Tokugawa shogunate were it became almost exclusively used by women. During Nambokucho/Muromachi there were upto 425 Naginata training schools

 

During Koto times, women samurai were trained in Naginata fighting, some of them becoming very famous, and they were using all type of blades from Nagamaki to Naginata, from a foot long to more than three feet. All depended of their morphology and their ability. I think it is an error to attribute small and slender naginata as Women's ones. When trained, they were able to use whatever naginata felt under their hands.

 

Wooden Naginata used by women for training have wooden blades not far from 50 cm

 

Here under 3 pictures :

 

Mrs Shimada, head of the Jikkishin-Kage ryû, trained one of the purest form of this martial art.

 

If Naginata, in its art form, is almost exclusively represented by women, a lot of ryû, Maniwa-Nen, Katori or Araki-Ryû, still trained in Naginata according the old rules

[george trotter]

Hi all,

Thanks for all your comments. I had never thought of the possibility that the weapons in the photo might be wooden ones...but quite possible of course, and we can't tell from the photos really, except I would say that the "blades" do seem correct in shape and thin-ness for real blades.

 

Jean, I do not have much knowledge of naginata/nagamaki making and use, I only repeated what the dancing ladies told us 30 years ago at university. The naginata they used were small...but I suppose it is only my memory that says she called them "women's naginata", maybe my memory is failing? Maybe as you say there is no such thing? just naginata made to order in various sizes, some made small for use in small rooms and corridors, but not specifically called "women's naginata"...I don't know... I wonder if one of our members in Japan could ask about this and let us know some further information?

 

Carlo, thanks for the training site...I will check it out.

 

Regards,

George.

[masterofweapons]

Wow that is very interesting!! Thanks for all the great info everyone!!!