The , literally meaning "ten-hand" (i.e., the weapon with the power of ten hands), is a specialized weapon

Weapon

A weapon, arm, or armament is a tool or instrument used with the aim of causing damage or harm to living beings or artificial structures or systems...

.

In Edo period

Edo period

The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....

 Japan the jutte was a substitute for a badge and represented someone on official business and was carried by all levels of police officers including high ranking samurai police officials and low-rank samurai

Samurai

is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...

 law enforcement

Law enforcement agency

In North American English, a law enforcement agency is a government agency responsible for the enforcement of the laws.Outside North America, such organizations are called police services. In North America, some of these services are called police while others have other names In North American...

 officers (called okappiki or doshin). Other high ranking samurai officials carried a jutte as a badge of office, including hotel, rice and grain inspectors (aratame). It is the subject of the Japanese martial art

Japanese martial arts

Japanese martial arts refers to the enormous variety of martial arts native to Japan. At least three Japanese terms are often used interchangeably with the English phrase "Japanese martial arts": , literally meaning "martial way", , which has no perfect translation but means something like science,...

 of juttejutsu

Juttejutsu

is the Japanese martial art of using the Japanese weapon jutte . Juttejutsu was evolved mainly for the law enforcement officers of the Edo period to enable non-lethal disarmament and apprehension of criminals who were usually carrying a sword...

.

Parts of the jutte

• Boshin, the main shaft of the jutte which could be smooth or multi sided. The boshin of most jutte were usually iron but some were made from wood.
• Sentan, the tip or point of the jutte.
• Kagi, the hook or guard protruding from the side of the jutte. Jutte may have more than one kagi with some jutte having two or three kagi.
• Kikuza (chrysanthemum seat), if the kagi is attached to the boshin through a hole in the boshin, the protrusion on the opposite side is called a kikuza.
• Tsuka, the handle of the jutte which could be left plain or wrapped with various materials.
• Tsukamaki, the wrapping on the handle tsuka. Materials such as ray skin same' , leather, and cord were used for tsukamaki on juttes.
• Kan, the ring or loop at the hilt of the tsuka. A cord or tassel could be tied to the kan.
• Tsuba, a hand guard present on some types of jutte.
• Koshirae. Jutte can occasionally be found housed in a sword type case hiding the jutte from view entirely, this type of jutte can have the same parts and fittings as a sword including:seppa, tsuba, menuki, koiguchi, kojiri, nakago, mekugi-ana and mei.

Additional information and technique

Jutte may have a small spear tip or blade attached to the tsuka and hidden in the boshin. Jutte could be highly decorated with all manner of inlays and designs or very plain and basic depending on the status of the owner and the jutte's intended use. Jutte could range in length from around 12 inches to over 24 inches.
The modern jutte is about 45 cm (18 inches) long with no cutting edge and a one-pronged tine kagi, about 5 cm long starting just above the handle tsuka and pointing toward the tip sentan. A popular misconception is that the kagi is used to catch a sword. It could possibly be used for this purpose, but the kagi's proximity to the hand would make it rather dangerous. When faced with a swordsman, a more likely use for the kagi would be to capture and arrest the blade after blocking it with the boshin. The kagis more common use is to hook into clothing or parts of the body like the nose or mouth, or to push into joints or other weak points on the body. It also could be used to hook the thumb while holding the weapon backwards, to allow different techniques such as punches and blocks, very similarly to a sai

Sai (weapon)

The sai is a traditional Okinawan martial arts weapon. The basic form of the weapon is that of a pointed, dagger-shaped metal truncheon, with two curved prongs called yoku projecting from the handle...

. The jutte can also be used in much the same manner as other short sticks or batons, to strike large muscle groups and aid in joint manipulation.

History

In feudal Japan, it was a crime punishable by death to bring a sword into the shogun

Shogun

A was one of the hereditary military dictators of Japan from 1192 to 1867. In this period, the shoguns, or their shikken regents , were the de facto rulers of Japan though they were nominally appointed by the emperor...

's palace. This law applied to everyone except the shogun's sons and hatamoto

Hatamoto

A was a samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate of feudal Japan. While all three of the shogunates in Japanese history had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred to as gokenin. However, in the Edo period, hatamoto were the upper vassals of the Tokugawa...

, including the palace guards. In effect several kinds of non-sword, defensive weapons were carried by these palace guards, but jutte was particularly effective and ultimately it evolved to become the symbol of a palace guard's exalted position.

Other jutte types and similar weapons

• Karakuri jutte
• Marohoshi
• Naeshi or nayashi jutte have no hook or kagi.
• Tekkan
  Tekkan
  The Tekkan or "iron sword" is a Japanese weapon, used during the Edo period until the beginning of the 20th Century.This weapon was an iron truncheon, and could closely resemble a wakizashi sized sword with a blunt iron blade or they could be a cast iron version of a hachiwari .Tekkan became very...
  
  
• Hachiwara
  Hachiwara
  The , meaning 'helmet breaker' or 'skull breaker' was a type of knife-shaped weapon, resembling a jutte in many respects. This weapon was carried as a side-arm by the Samurai class of feudal Japan.-Types:...
  
  

In popular culture

Notable examples of jutte featured in fiction include: Classic Japanese cinema, trading card games, in manga and anime and in video games.

See also

• Juttejutsu
  Juttejutsu
  is the Japanese martial art of using the Japanese weapon jutte . Juttejutsu was evolved mainly for the law enforcement officers of the Edo period to enable non-lethal disarmament and apprehension of criminals who were usually carrying a sword...
  
  —the martial art of using the jutte
• Sai
  Sai (weapon)
  The sai is a traditional Okinawan martial arts weapon. The basic form of the weapon is that of a pointed, dagger-shaped metal truncheon, with two curved prongs called yoku projecting from the handle...
  
  —a similar weapon, which resembles a jutte with a second prong and is used in Okinawan kobudō
  Okinawan kobudo
  Okinawan kobudō is a Japanese term that can be translated as "old martial way of Okinawa"...
  
  

External links

• http://www.samuraiweapons.org/Jutte_Samurai.php
• http://www.e-budokai.com/weapons/index.htm
• http://shinseidojo.wordpress.com/2009/10/06/roles-and-techniques-of-the-police-during-the-edo-period-1603-1867-by-dr-kacem-zoughari/