It's not all about the swords!
Another interesting post by your Dae-- So many posts in a few days, I'm surprised by so much activity, considering how lethargic I am for every other issue of my life XD
Anyway, I wanna profit of my recent updates of Tra i Fiori to talk about an issue that really intrigues me in these days, Japanese weaponry.
While drawing Kouyo and Mizume pumping out their "fighting spirit", I decided to go with a traditional rendition of samurai warriors.
Avoiding the popular opinion, though, I decided to portray them wielding polearms instead of the more "common" katana.
--I swear that I didn't that for some kind of Freudian intermission, also if I can't stake my subconscious on it x'D --It was actually a ponderate choice!
First of all, I'd like to point out that polearms were weapons efficiently used on the battlefield, during actual fights between armies.
You'd rarely see a samurai fighting with another samurai with their swords in such situations, because keeping a distance and killing more people than possible in one stroke was the point of the whole thing.
For example, the badass Kouyo, the maple spirit, is wielding a yari, or a Japanese spear (or better, "a Japanese blade mounted on a spear", as Wikipedia likes to point it out).
Because yari are practical but one must also be quite skilled to drain their full potential, and a skilled warrior was definitely better than an untrained one, I decided to use it for Kouyo.
You wouldn't tell by his long, shiny hair, but Kouyo is actually pretty badass.
Thinking of a yari makes me think of rough fights on the battlefield, it makes me think of people like Maeda Toshiie and Kenji: Sengoku delinquents in outrageous clothes. --Then yeah, Kouyo is not that "outageous" in his clothes and appearance, but I still believe that it suit his "wild" character.
In the picture, Kouyo is using a jūmonji yari, that compared to a common spear, sports two curve blades around the central lance: those were multifunctional bits that allowed a good number of tricks: they could hook necks, the opponent's weapons, they could grab a horseman by their clothes and, obviously, they could be used to block an attack from another spear.
As for our pretty, hysterical Mizume, the sakura spirit, I picked a beautiful naginata.
I love naginata, they are so elegant and pretty!
When thinking of a refined warrior, I always figure them with one of these elegant blades held over their head.
Compared to the yari, that all in all was still a weapon associated with lower classes of warriors, the naginata has more of a noble tradition, and it's interesting to note that it's constructed exactly as a katana, with its mekugi, the nagako, the tsuba and all that stuff.
The naginata was traditionally used against cavalry, and on the battlefield it was particularly vicious 'cause it was mostly used to attack the legs and feet of the opponents.
Later on, expecially during the Edo period, it started to get the reputation of a typical weapon for women: it came natural that in the Showa period it was supposed to be part of the menu for girls' physical education at school, and 'til then it's considered the sport of choice of well-educated women... Because of that I thought that it was the perfect weapon for Mizume ^_^
Originally posted at http://daeva-neesan.dreamwidth.org/543593.html
If you want, please comment there :3
Anyway, I wanna profit of my recent updates of Tra i Fiori to talk about an issue that really intrigues me in these days, Japanese weaponry.
While drawing Kouyo and Mizume pumping out their "fighting spirit", I decided to go with a traditional rendition of samurai warriors.
Avoiding the popular opinion, though, I decided to portray them wielding polearms instead of the more "common" katana.
--I swear that I didn't that for some kind of Freudian intermission, also if I can't stake my subconscious on it x'D --It was actually a ponderate choice!
First of all, I'd like to point out that polearms were weapons efficiently used on the battlefield, during actual fights between armies.
You'd rarely see a samurai fighting with another samurai with their swords in such situations, because keeping a distance and killing more people than possible in one stroke was the point of the whole thing.
For example, the badass Kouyo, the maple spirit, is wielding a yari, or a Japanese spear (or better, "a Japanese blade mounted on a spear", as Wikipedia likes to point it out).
Because yari are practical but one must also be quite skilled to drain their full potential, and a skilled warrior was definitely better than an untrained one, I decided to use it for Kouyo.
You wouldn't tell by his long, shiny hair, but Kouyo is actually pretty badass.
Thinking of a yari makes me think of rough fights on the battlefield, it makes me think of people like Maeda Toshiie and Kenji: Sengoku delinquents in outrageous clothes. --Then yeah, Kouyo is not that "outageous" in his clothes and appearance, but I still believe that it suit his "wild" character.
In the picture, Kouyo is using a jūmonji yari, that compared to a common spear, sports two curve blades around the central lance: those were multifunctional bits that allowed a good number of tricks: they could hook necks, the opponent's weapons, they could grab a horseman by their clothes and, obviously, they could be used to block an attack from another spear.
As for our pretty, hysterical Mizume, the sakura spirit, I picked a beautiful naginata.
I love naginata, they are so elegant and pretty!
When thinking of a refined warrior, I always figure them with one of these elegant blades held over their head.
Compared to the yari, that all in all was still a weapon associated with lower classes of warriors, the naginata has more of a noble tradition, and it's interesting to note that it's constructed exactly as a katana, with its mekugi, the nagako, the tsuba and all that stuff.
The naginata was traditionally used against cavalry, and on the battlefield it was particularly vicious 'cause it was mostly used to attack the legs and feet of the opponents.
Later on, expecially during the Edo period, it started to get the reputation of a typical weapon for women: it came natural that in the Showa period it was supposed to be part of the menu for girls' physical education at school, and 'til then it's considered the sport of choice of well-educated women... Because of that I thought that it was the perfect weapon for Mizume ^_^
Originally posted at http://daeva-neesan.dreamwidth.org/543593.html
If you want, please comment there :3