This Jutte (Jitte) weapon weighs 1.10 lbs. and is approximately 16" long. It has a red wrapped handle with an attached double red tassel.
A Jutte (Jitte) was use 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.