Japanese warrior woman with a large Naginata. A naginata is a pole weapon that was traditionally used in Japan by members of the samurai class. It consists of a wood shaft with a curved blade on the end, similar to the Chinese Guan Dao or European glaive or Russian sovnya. Usually it also had a sword-like guard (tsuba) between the blade and shaft as depicted on this card. During the Edo Period, as the naginata became less useful for men on the battlefield, and became a symbol of the social statu