I am not entirely sure about that, but I wouldn't think so. I only saw them practise briefly during the breaks on a seminar, includin some light acrobatics, and it did seem different, well, very different to my notion of japanese arts. They had very low stances in the forms I politely asked to show me ^^ and different pacing. The form was very fast, not with kime that karate people would do, but rather speeding from one technique to another. They also put emphasis on qi. Which may not necessarily be a sign of chinese martial art, I suppose, but still. They did practise with nunchaku, though. I guess it really was a mixture of styles, but the shaolin kung fu was probably the main portion.
Just like in Europe names often broadly cover a range of variances which we tend to want to class with more specificity.
I don't disagree that there are overlaps between the weapons in the same area of the world over a number of years. I guess I am stating, at least in my perspective, that the stylized versions of the weapons , as used today, do not look that similar. Thus I would not expect a horse cutter and a naginata, in their present form, to be mistaken for each other... ''There is nothing new under the sun... '' Good point though that many designs repeat themselves over time... LFD