Jitte, Edo period

[Timo Nieminen]

Originally Posted by kronckew

a tsuba is not much hand protection. then that begs the question why do waks and katana/tanto/tachi not have decent guards? they obviously had seen spanish/portugese rapiers for centuries. even a more primitive extended 'd' guard like they finally used in the 20th C. would be better & still allow two handed use. ah, well, they had many weapons weird and wonderful for the western collector. .

More of a guard than the typical shashka, Philippine sword, dha, stiletto, kukri, and in some ways, better than a Medieval European cruciform sword. Sometimes "better" isn't better. (But sometimes it is; I should post a photo of interesting battle damage on a kukri.)

[kronckew]

more info from my vendor in japan: (confirming timo's post above)

A jitte (十手, literally "ten hands") is a specialized weapon that was used by police in Edo period Japan.

It is also spelled jutte.

In Edo period Japan the jitte was a substitute for a badge and represented someone on official business and was carried by all levels of police officers.

You can see it in Japanese historical play.

interesting video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2oJVgCsn7M

[estcrh]

Originally Posted by kronckew

more info from my vendor in japan: (confirming timo's post above)



interesting video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2oJVgCsn7M

Kronckew, the quote you posted came from Wikipedia, the article about Jutte was recently changed to "Jitte" by some well meaning editors that had no knowledge of Japanese weapons, they were knowledgable about Japanese and ignored the correct Western use of the terms "jutte" and "Jitte". The article most probably will eventually be renamed to "Jutte".

Jutte: Japanese Power of Ten Hands Weapon, George Kirby (Author), Mike Lee (Author), 1987. The study of the use of the jutte weapon is a logical extension of the jujitsu student's training, as that knowledge can be applied to a variety of weapons and thereby enhance that weapon's capabilities. The jutte is weapon ideally suited to the study of extending the art of jujitsu. Fully illustrated with sequential photos.

[estcrh]

From Serge Mol, "Classical Weaponry of Japan".

[estcrh]

Here is a rare weapon, it is actually part jutte and part jitte.