Yari

[Timo Nieminen]

Originally Posted by kronckew

i seem to remember that naganata and yari hafts had a flat area near the grip to aid in edge alignment, i would assume vertically for the nags and horizontal for yaris

Naginata hafts were oval-section, not round. That gives the edge alignment (also stronger with less weight in the direction needed when a cut hits something more solid than expected).

I don't know how common flat areas were/are on yari hafts. I've seen hafts without such, even for yari you might care about blade alignment with. (Equilateral triangular section and square section yari might as well have round hafts; you won't care about blade alignment. Also often cavalry lances, so the "usual" flat area near the butt won't be near the hand.)