View source for Sōjutsu

{{Short description|Form of Japanese martial art}}
{{singlesource|date=November 2016}}
{{infobox martial art
| image        = Estampe-p1000685.jpg
| imagecaption = [[Sengoku period]] [[samurai]] with a spear (''[[yari]]''). ''[[One Hundred Aspects of the Moon]]'', by [[Tsukioka Yoshitoshi|Yoshitoshi]]
| name         = '''Sōjutsu'''<br>(槍術)
| focus        = [[Weapon]]ry ([[yari]]/[[Spear]])
| hardness     = Non-competitive
| country      = Japan
| creator      = Manemu Jiefu
| parenthood   = Historical
| olympic      = No
}}

{{nihongo|'''Sōjutsu'''|槍術|}}, meaning "art of the spear", is the [[Japanese martial art]] of fighting with a {{nihongo|[[yari|Japanese spear]]|槍|yari}}.

==Origins==
Although the spear had a profound role in early [[Japanese mythology]], where the islands of Japan themselves were said to be created by salt water dripping from the tip of the spear Ame-no-Nuhoko (Heavenly jeweled spear), as a weapon the first spear prototypes were brought from mainland Asia.  These early versions were not seen as suitable by the Japanese, who later redesigned them once technology permitted.<ref name="Draeger-Bujutsu">{{cite book
| last = Draeger
| first = Donn F.
| author-link = Donn F. Draeger
| title = Classical Bujutsu: Martial Arts and Ways of Japan
| publisher = Weatherhill
| orig-year = 1973| year = 2007
| location = Boston, Massachusetts
| pages = 71–72
| isbn = 978-0-8348-0233-9
}}</ref>

==Use and popularity==
The [[Yari]] was a popular weapon throughout the feudal period of Japan,<ref>Antony Karasulas (2004)Zaimokuza Reconsidered: The Forensic Evidence, and Classical Japanese Swordsmanship, World Archaeology, 36, 4, Debates in World Archaeology pp. 507-
518</ref> being cheaper to produce and requiring less training than other contemporary battlefield weapons, and lending itself to close formations of [[ashigaru]] troops, in conjunction with firearms upon their adoption in Japan. The height of sōjutsu's popularity was immediately after the Mongol invasions of the 13th century, who themselves used spearmen in great numbers.<ref name="Draeger-Bujutsu"/>

The Japanese ultimately modified the heads of their spears into a number of different variations, leading to the use of the spear both on foot and from horseback, and for slashing as well as the primary use of attacking with thrusts.<ref name="Draeger-Bujutsu"/>

==Modern practice==
Sōjutsu is typically only a single component of curriculum in comprehensive traditional (''[[koryū]]'') schools. The still extant [[Tenshin Shōden Katori Shintō-ryū]] claims to be the first school to include sōjutsu in its formal curriculum, and another very well known school of sōjutsu is the [[Hōzōin-ryū]]. While today there are very few schools still teaching sōjutsu, at one time there were as many as 450.<ref name="Draeger-Bujutsu"/>

==See also==
* [[Aikido]]
* [[Jō]]
* [[Jūkendō]]
* [[Naginata]]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

{{Japanese martial arts}}
{{Martial arts}}

{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sojutsu}}

[[Category:Ko-ryū bujutsu]]
[[Category:Spears of Japan]]
[[Category:Japanese martial arts]]
[[Category:Ninjutsu skills]]