Yari

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Originally Posted by Timo Nieminen

Is it correct to say that kikuchi yari are yari because they're mounted like yari, rather than being mounted like naginata (in which case, they'd be short straight naginata)?

Timo, here is what Ian Bottomley has to say about this very subject.

Its strange but yari as such were not really popular until the late Muromachi / Momoyama. Kikuchi yari, probably named after te Kikuchi family who were big noises in Higo province, were however used before other types and you come across references during the Kamakura and probably the late Heian when the most popular staff weapon was the naginata. I've pondered on this and suggest that kikuchi yari are really a type of naginata that you can thrust with - in other words they are essentially naginata in general form but without the curve. Ian Bottomley