Jutte - Weapon of the feudal Japanese police

In the male-dominated population of Edo, competition was fierce. With increasing interactions between the various classes and the cramped quarters of a rapidly expanding urban environment, it is not surprising that tempers often flared and arguments erupted. Social justice during the Edo Period often meant violence. With an armed populace, minor disagreements frequently resulted in bloodbaths.

To maintain control, Edo Period police officers and their non-samurai assistants developed many unique weapons and arresting techniques against troublemakers, who were usually armed and frequently desperate. These included such items as a pole-arm implement with many metal barbed hooks to entangle the clothes of a suspect and immobilize them by forcing them to the ground. Wooden ladders and short staffs were also employed to capture an offender unharmed.

One of the more unique weapons of the samurai police was the jutte. Basically an iron truncheon, the jutte was popular because it could parry the slash of a razor-sharp sword and disarm an assailant without serious injury. Essentially a defensive or restraining weapon, the length of the jutte requires the user to get extremely close to those being apprehended.

A single hook or fork, called a kagi, on the side near the handle allowed the jutte to be used for trapping or even breaking the blades of edged weapons, as well as for jabbing or striking. The kagi could also be used to entangle the clothes or fingers of an opponent. Thus, feudal Japanese police used the jutte to disarm and arrest suspects without serious bloodshed. Eventually, the jutte also came to be considered a symbol of official status.

The jutte was known by many names. During the Edo Period, jutte or jitte was the more popular reference. The term consists of two kanji, one representing the number "ten" and the second representing "hand," thus suggesting a jutte gave the user the "power of ten hands."

Different written characters were also used to describe this rather unique police implement. For example, the term used during the Sengoku Era represents "truth." Although the name sounds nearly the same, the meaning, "truth hand," was possibly a reference to the weapon’s symbolic significance. Other interpretations include "ten levers," "ten even," "art hand," and roughly "ten hits" or "on target." More descriptive names for jutte are "bone axe," "iron sword," or "iron halberd."

Many various names, some which sound very similar but with different meanings, were often used to refer to the heavy iron truncheon during the feudal Japanese era.

A chambara (samurai drama) actor reenacts the role of a yoriki, or feudal Japanese police officer, complete with jingasa (lacquered helmet) and jutte, in this publicity still photograph.

The actual origins of the jutte are still a mystery. One popular idea is that the jutte evolved from a strange battlefield weapon commonly believed to have been designed by Goro Nyudo Masamune, a renowned swordsmith. Hachiwari or kabutowari (helmet splitter) were curved, pointed metal bars with a hook near the base of the handle. Worn by the samurai warriors like a dirk, hachiwari were probably used as a parrying weapon, held in the left hand while wielding a sword in the right hand, or to pierce through body armor.

Many Japanese and Westerners alike are familiar with the exploits of Miyamoto Musashi. His original name was Miyamoto Masana, but he was also sometimes known later in life as Niten. To improve his swordsmanship, Miyamoto Musashi traveled extensively throughout feudal Japan so that he could challenge other swordsmen. The founder of the Nito-ryu, or fencing with two swords, he was also an accomplished artist and author of the Book of Five Rings, an exemplary treatise on the strategy of swordsmanship.

Although not as well known as his more famous son, Miyamoto Musashi's father was also an accomplished martial artist. Miyamoto Munisai introduced a military art known as Jittetohri-ryu. This particular style, sometimes also referred to more simply as Tohri-ryu kenjutsu, utilized several military weapons including the use of both swords (nitoh-ken), the spear, and the jutte. Practitioners of Jittetohri-ryu were especially known for their juji-yari-jutsu, techniques involving the use of a spear with a distinctive cross-shaped blade. By all accounts, Miyamoto Munisai was also considered a master of the iron truncheon and jutte-jutsu.

The remaining jutte found today exhibit many different appearances. The lengths and materials are just as varied as the more decorative accessories. Some are definitely utilitarian and basically simple bars of forged iron. 

On the other hand, some jutte are very detailed and include intricate designs and decorations. In the latter case, jutte may include handles or even tsuba (hand guards) which appear almost identical to those used for the samurai sword. Infrequently, jutte may also incorporate gold or other precious metals used in inlay designs as further decoration. These highly decorated jutte were most likely more symbolic in nature and an emblem of office rather than intended to be used as an actual self-defense weapon. In this case, the jutte design was intended to impress others and was not necessarily functional.

The widely different styles may be due to the dual purpose of the jutte, both as a self-defensive implement and as a symbolic badge of office or rank. While the feudal police officers, the yoriki and doshin, carried their own individual jutte, some were apparently also loaned out on an as-needed basis to their non-samurai assistants. The latter were more likely the simple and easily constructed jutte since decoration served no real purpose.

Frequently, the police officer's assistants were also given their own jutte for extraordinary service, such as capturing a dangerous criminal, or to recognize their relative status as group leaders or village headmen. In addition to the early Japanese police, other high-ranking samurai also carried jutte as badges of their specific office. For example, the aratame, or official inspectors, also carried jutte for purposes of identification. These offices included the yado aratame (hotel and inn inspectors), kome aratame (rice inspectors), and sakoku aratame (cereal and other grain inspectors) among others. Since it was highly unlikely the aratame would actually use their jutte for self-defense purposes, the jutte was more symbolic, and therefore, usually more decorative than those carried by the police and their assistants.

Police forces in Japan carried and used the jutte long after the end of the Edo Period. In fact, some units and even individual officers carried the jutte for defense against unprovoked attacks until the early part of the twentieth century. As the police department underwent modernization, the jutte was eventually phased out.

In the early 1960s the Japanese police adopted a kind of modern version of the jutte called the tokushu keibo, a sort of spring-loaded baton. Pushing a lever in the handle caused the telescoped baton to extend automatically to approximately the length of a jutte. The Japanese police developed a series of techniques for disarming and restraining suspects using the tokushu keibo. The keibo-jutsu (police baton art) techniques are now part of their special taiho-jutsu (body arresting art). Many of these modern tokushu keibo techniques are based on similar techniques from the more ancient Japanese martial art styles utilizing the jutte, such as Ikkaku-ryu jutte-jutsu techniques from the Shinto Muso-ryu.