Truncheons - East Asian

[Timo Nieminen]

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