If you tell a Japanese person you are practicing sôjutsu he will usually ask you "soj… what?" If you then say "yari" (spear) he will usually respond by saying "I see! …Spear." illustrated with a throwing gesture.
No wonder. Even in Japan almost nobody knows what sôjutsu is or that sôjutsu still exists nowadays. And if people have an idea at all what sôjutsu is, it is usually informed by TV series and movies which often draw a picture of the use of spears that has absolutely nothing in common with reality.
At best people remember scenes from the films of Kurosawa Akira showing platoons of spearmen working as units with long spears, very long spears.
We are very sorry but there is no English translation for this article available yet .
Es gibt unglaublich viele verschiedene Arten von Speeren, sowohl was die Länge betrifft als auch was die Klingenform oder die Montierung angeht. Dies sind auch genau die drei Kriterien, nach denen sich Speere klassifizieren lassen.
1: Saya - The scabbard covering and protecting the blade, when the spear is not in use. There has been a great variety of designs for yarizaya,
especially during the Edo era, that went much further than functional
necessity demanded for at that time the yari was not only a weapon but
also a symbol of status and rank.
Late
April to mid May one of the Hamburg spear-enthusiasts has been to Japan despite the
Eyjafjallajökull. During
his stay he had not only the opportunity to train in Hôzôinryû
Takadaha Sôjutsu in Nara
and Higashiôsaka, but could watch several Bujutsu
demonstrations of
various old schools, including those at the
Shimogamo shrine in Kyoto.
Sôjutsu in general 
