enemy in close combat, but after the Onin War in the 15th century, large groups of mobilized infantry called asigaru began to equip themselves with yari (spear) yumi (longbow) and tanegashima (gun), making naginata and tachi (long sword) obsolete on the battlefield and often replaced with nagamaki and katana. From the Edo period, naginata has been recognized as a martial art practiced by women in the samurai class. Yari A yari (やり or 槍) is a Japanese polearm that was traditionally used by members of the samurai class. There are various types of yari, which have different names depending on the shape of the blade attached to the end of the wooden shaft. For example, 'Jumonji yari' refers to a yari with a cross-shaped blade, and 'Sasaho yari' refers to a yari with a blade shaped like a sasa leaf. During the Sengoku period, a large group of ashigaru in a formation used yari as one of their main weapons and exerted tremendous power on the battlefield. Honda Tadakatsu a vassal of Tokugawa Ieyasu, had gained a reputation as a master of one of the Three Great Spears of Japan, Tonbokiri. Woldo The Korean woldo was a variation of the Chinese guan dao. It was originally used by the post-classical Shilla warriors. Wielding the woldo took time due to its weight, but in the hands of a trained soldier, the woldo was a fearsome, agile weapon famous for enabling a single soldier to cut down ranks of infantrymen. The woldo was continually in use for the military in Korea with various modifications made over the decades. Unlike the Chinese with the guan dao, the Koreans found the woldo unwieldy on horseback, and thus, it was specifically tailored to the needs of infantrymen. The Joseon government implemented rigorous training regimens requiring soldiers to be proficient with swordsmanship, and the use of the woldo. Though it was never widely used as a standard weapon, the woldo saw action on many fronts and was considered by many Korean troops to be a versatile weapon. Recently, a contemporary revival in various martial arts in Korea has brought interest into the application of the woldo and its history. Guandao A guandao or kwan tou is a type of Chinese polearm. In Chinese, it is properly called a yanyue dao (偃月刀), 'reclining moon blade'. Some believed it comes from the late Han Era and was supposedly