A
common weapon in the days of
feudal Japan. The yari was a straight spear about six feet in length, a design common to many
schools of thought that involved pointing
sharp objects at other people and sticking them in the chest with said sharp objects.
There were a number of
dojos that taught yari
technique, but by far those who used the yari were the untrained
ashigaru, for the simple reason that spears are cheaper to produce by far than a
katana- and who would trust
an expensive piece of military hardware to an
untrained conscript? On the bright side, yari were also apparently a degree easier to learn how to use in the scant time that
ashigaru were permitted to train, and were more suited to the
swarming tactics often employed by their commanders.
In the same manner that knights used lances,
mounted samurai were able to make use of the yari (often of higher quality and a bit heavier, to make it more resistant to breaking). However, utilizing the spear never carried the same popularity that
kyudo (archery) or
kendo (swordfighting) had, and as such the
samurai who used a yari by choice was snickered at behind his back by others.