In case you think you know everything, ask yourself what grade you got in the college’s spear-fighting class.

Naginata students from Chiba, Japan came to the college to train with students and demonstrate the art of Naginata Thursday and Friday at the South Gymnasium.

Students from Helen Nakano’s Naginata class got to spar with students from International Budo University.

“My students have only been practicing for five weeks,” Nakano said. “The instructor of IBU, Yasuko Kimura, was very pleased because she was surprised at what they learned in a short time.”

Naginata was created by the Japanese as a form of self-defense before gun powder and cannons were invented.

After gun powder was invented, Naginata was taught only to women so they could protect their households while the men were off in battle.

The IBU students have been practicing for about four years and are high-ranking Naginata fighters.

“All the students here from IBU are twenty-one years old,” Nakano said. “They are also all juniors at IBU, which teaches both men and women, even though they only brought women.”

For Nakano, arranging the Japanese students to visit the campus was as simple as calling her former instructor, Yasuko Kimura.

“We both thought it would be a great idea to put both classes together, so I e-mailed the president of IBU and then made arrangements to put this together,” Nakano said.

Students in Nakano’s class were given this opportunity, because other Naginata classes had never had the chance to attack a real Naginata fighter aside from their classmates.

“It was a treat for me that the IBU students came down just to train with us,” George Paver, Naginata student, said. “I’m a beginner and have no talent, but I learned a lot today.”

Naginata is for anyone that wants to learn how to defend themselves with a spear or a stick.

Those who already learned other types of Japanese fighting disciplines may also learn from Naginata.

“I took Tae Kwon Do for a few years before this. It is not the same, but now I get to learn how to fight with a weapon,” Simone Ableine, 23, said.

Nakano has been teaching Naginata at the college since 1998.

“I teach Naginata every Tuesday and Thursday morning,” Nakano said.

Nakano teaches from 8:30 a.m. to 9:55 a.m.

“Anyone is welcome and you don’t have to be young to do this,” she said.