Naginata made a fresh start as a sport after World War II and in its new form, "Rhythm Naginata", in which practitioners perform to rhythm such as music, was created. This study examines the process in which Rhythm Naginata was created and developed and the main instigators, and explores possibilities in the future development of Naginata as a field which demonstrates the diversity of budo arts. The budo arts were originally developed for combat. In post-war Naginata, however, Rhythm Naginata

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... me to be utilised in the training and acquisition of basic moves and techniques such as forms of etiquette through the traditional process of learning Kata. This is because modern budo arts aim for character building, and are practiced by people as popular forms of traditional physical exercise. In tracing the origins of Rhythm Naginata, we find that "Naginata-Mai" (dance) was performed in Shinto rituals throughout Japan for invoking rain or abundant crops. Naginata-Mai, which was an elegant system of exercise considered suitable for girls, was created by Ozawa Unosuke. He was an educator who invented bujutsu-taisō (martial art calisthenics) in the latter years of the Meiji era when Naginata had yet to be approved as an authorized field of study in the education system.