advantages and disadvantages

[Pokie]

so a naginata...wud that be more effective against a sword ? because it is longer ? wat are advantages and disadvantages of a naginta over a sword ?

[xvikingx]

Obviously length is the greatest advantage it has over the sword. Although once the kendo-ka can get with in striking distance the naginata-ka has pretty much had it. As far as shiai goes you can't do much in close combat with a naginata (when up against a kendoist). In short a kendo-ka has to take advantage of his/her speed and must watch out for sune cuts.

I assume you are asking about shiai and not real fighting.

[Pokie]

ahh yes !! are there such competitions ? between naginata and shinai ?

[xvikingx]

Yeah... well kind of. I have yet to see any official competitions but I have seen a couple of "goodwill" conpetitions. Good fun to watch.

[Simon]

This kind of question is kind of loaded... A naginata against a _sword_? If you look at some of the older forms from Naginata (Tendo Ryu) you'll see that the choice of weapon changes. As soon as the sword moves within the Naginata maia (and removes the advantage from the naginatas length) the naginata weilder can stop using the naginata and change the maia again so that their short sword (carried in the belt) has the advantage. So the question becomes which weapon should be used at which distance?

If you choose to look at the question of Naginata vs Shinai the answer becomes much the same, depends on the distance. A naginata is not as effective (generally speaking) at a close maia. So in Naginata vs Shinai the naginata has the most advantage at a larger distance whereas the shinai works well at a shorter distance.

That said the person with a shinai is probably not used to receiving sune and so that can swing the odds. Of course the naginata person probably is not so used to taitare (sp? - body crashes) and so the kendoist may be able to use this to their advantage.

Sheesh I ramble.... if the question is real weapons, few people would limit themselves to a single weapon I believe and so is moot. If the question is about a school / style it really depends on the ability of each peson to recognise the weaknesses in their style and the opponents and create / take those chances.

[Phlebas]

I have a cool little video clip of Naginata vs Kendo, but I have no personal website where it could be downloaded. It's only about 1.4 megs, so if someone wants it I could email it to you... PM me if interested. It's a .wmv file.

The clip is about 2 minutes of sparring and takes place at the 2001 Kyoto Takai. The kendoist seems to hold a modified chudan kamae, with the shinai lowered to almost horizontal. The naginata guy/gal has a REALLY fast tsuki thrust and scores some nice hits. The kendoist is far from helpless as well; he/she has an excellent lunge and seems to score some nice men strikes. I don't know much about naginata -- perhaps he/she is using modified kamae/grip too... I'd like to know. I don't remember where this clip came from, but it's pretty interesting.

[Shelgeyr]

That sounds like the same clip that can be downloaded from the "Goodies" section

<<<<<< Points at the side links bar

[xvikingx]

Last weekend for the first time I saw a kendo sune cut (against naginata-ka);... rather funny looking it was. Simon has it quite right, its all about maai.

[etherknot]

Originally posted by Shelgeyr
That sounds like the same clip that can be downloaded from the "Goodies" section

<<<<<< Points at the side links bar
Heh I always get a kick out of listening to the audio in that file. At about 0:42 seconds in right after the tsuki hit you can hear one of the spectators:
"yeeeah"
Like it's just so satisfying :)

[Phlebas]

So that's where I got it! My poor memory just made an ass out of myself. : ) Cool clip, anyway.

So is that a "normal" way to hold a naginata, or is the practicioner modifying his/her kamae or grip? Does anyone know?

[Nagi David]

We've made great shiai, naginata against shinai at the end of the last world championship... let's hope they will be on the DVD

[cpt_Picard]

Some videos Kendo vs Naginata are http://www.kendo.euweb.cz/text/textik/fots/sagawa/nagkenvideo.htm We made them in February 2003 on a joint seminar of Kendo & Naginata with Baba-sensei and Sagawa-sensei in Prague.