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Old 14th October 2012, 05:35 AM   #1
Timo Nieminen
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Default Truncheons - East Asian

Some truncheons, mostly Japanese.

#1: Chinese iron ruler (tie chi). Polyhedral pommel and guard. Supposedly antique. 718g.

The rest are all Japanese (in style).

#2: Naeshi or naeshi jutte or nayashi jutte. Basically, a jutte without the hook. The Japanese version of #1. 787g. Iron with some brass (or similar) decoration (the splotch at about 11.5" is one of three brass splotches). Supposedly antique.

#3: Jutte (or jitte). Wooden handle. Supposedly antique. 315g.

#4: Brass jutte, 397g. Early/mid 20th century?

#5: Jutte, modern replica (by Hanwei, China). 357g.

#6. Kabutowari (or hachiwari). Sometimes described as a swordbreaker, sometimes described as a can-opener for opening armour. The name means "helmet breaker". Supposed to have been a battlefield weapon, rather than a police or civilian weapon like the other ones. Held with the hook in front, with the "blade" curving away from the wielder. Modern, for martial arts use. 594g.
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Old 14th October 2012, 05:50 AM   #2
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#7: Tessen or tenarashi, or tenarashi tessen. Specifically a gunsengata tenarashi (war fan shaped tenarashi). A fan-shaped truncheon. This imitates the flat (non-folding) fans used for signalling in battle. "Tenarashi" means "hand trainer", so these might be more intended for training than use (due to their weight). 784g. Supposedly antique, probably modern.

#8: Tessen or tenarashi, a sensugata tenarashi (folding-fan shaped tenarashi). Has fake folds along the sides to look more like a real fan. 878g. Supposedly antique, perhaps modern.

#9: Tekkan, or tetsu-ken (iron sword). Apparently these were used by merchants who were restricted in what weapons they could legally carry. Supposedly antique, probably 20th century. Sometimes these are described as tea-room swords, intended to allow the habitually-armed (i.e., samurai) to retain the appearance of a sword in the tea room where they were not supposed to have a sword (also being usable as a truncheon). 384g.

Some of the supposedly "hidden" weapons are not very well hidden. For example, some "fan knives", knives with handle and scabbard having the appearance of a folding fan (like #8 above), are very obvious. Perhaps weapon-like enough to let everybody know the wearer was armed, while providing sufficient excuse for the police to not arrest?

#10: Some modern jutte. The differences between these and the older ones (and the Hanwei replica) are clear. These have welded-on hooks (clearly electro-welded) and simple geometry - there is no taper at all (these are usually made from round bars, like these, but sometimes hexagonal stock is used). The bottom one has a hook like a sai hook. Sometimes modern jutte like these are offered as antiques. Top to bottom: 455g, 319g, 374g.
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Old 14th October 2012, 05:52 PM   #3
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http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=11673

HERE IS A LINK TO AN OLD POST WITH SIMULAR INFORMATION. WHEN OLD WAYS ARE CHANGED BY NEW LAWS ATTEMPTS ARE ALWAYS MADE TO MAINTAIN THE OLD TRADITIONS AND RIGHTS BY THE SOCIETIES. I HOPE THE LINK WORKS AS THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I HAVE FIGURED IT OUT AND TRYED TO DO IT.
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Old 12th October 2014, 02:02 AM   #4
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Some more.

A jian (usually translated as "mace", 鐧 (traditional), 锏 (simplified), Pinyin jiǎn), photographed next to the iron ruler (鐵尺 (traditional), 铁尺 (simplified) , Pinyin tiě chǐ) above. Antique, 1660g. It's swingable, but a heavy pig. It's a little heavier than my heaviest one-handed sword (which is 1.6kg, and also a pig).

Then two modern reproductions. The top one is cast, and since it's knobbly, is probably a bian ("whip", 鞭, Pinyin biān). 1875g. The bottom one is quite light, at 999g. Both of these came as matched pairs; the partner of the bottom jian is currently disassembled for inspection and cleaning.

Finally, a backscratcher, or zhua .I've seen two different characters for this, 撾 (traditional)/挝 (simplified) and 抓, both pronounced zhuā (Pinyin), meaning "beat/strike" and "scratch/claw/grab". Sometimes tie zhua 鐵抓, iron claw. "Zhua" seems to be used both for short one-handed versions and 6-8' polearms. Modern reproduction, 736g. An antique one can be seen at http://www.oriental-arms.com/item.php?id=4313
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Last edited by Timo Nieminen; 12th October 2014 at 02:13 AM.
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Old 9th August 2015, 07:29 PM   #5
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i picked up a 'vintage' showa (1926-1988) hatchiwari/kabutowari saturday, on it's way now from japan. roughly 25 in. LOA in the saya, looks about 22 in. out of it , 'blade/hook' about 14.5 in. in mounts and saya. 645grams in saya. metal fittings look untarnished - gold/gold plated? i would assume 'late' showa & more ceremonial than not, tho 645 grams of steel hitting you might smart a bit. pics mostly upside down of course. . more photos in my jitte/jutte thread.
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Old 9th August 2015, 07:38 PM   #6
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my edo jitte/jutte from same thread i just mentioned...
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Old 15th September 2020, 10:35 AM   #7
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Hmm... When brass knuckles became prohibited weapons, suddenly "belt buckles" having the same size and form began to appear on the market (as well as Formica and Arborite knuckles). A couple of size 000 horseshoes might also work. In regions where the good, old-fashioned sap, cosh, blackjack or slungshot became frowned upon, virtually identical items of leather and lead began to appear, marketed as "book weights". When anti-personnel landmines became "bad", one country I know of simply changed the nomenclature of it's inventory to "anti-personnel explosive charge".
The ingenuity of Homo Sapiens in solving problems associated with settling differences of opinion, and clarifying relations between individuals and/or groups is absolutely marvelous.
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