The is a

polearm A polearm or pole weapon is a close combat weapon in which the main fighting part of the weapon is fitted to the end of a long shaft, typically of wood, extending the user's effective range and striking power. Polearms are predominantly melee we ...

used by the

samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...

class and their retainers in

feudal Japan The first human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to the Paleolithic, around 38–39,000 years ago. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked pottery, was followed by the Yayoi period in the first millennium BC whe ...

Description and use

Although some sources place the origin of the sasumata in the

Muromachi The , also known as the , is a division of History of Japan, Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Ashikaga shogunate, Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate ( or ), which was officially establ ...

period, most sources discuss its use in the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

. In Edo period Japan the samurai were in charge of police operations. The ''sasumata'' (spear fork) together with the '' tsukubō'' (push pole) and the '' sodegarami'' (sleeve entangler) comprised the '' torimono sandōgu'' (three tools/implements of arresting) used by samurai police and security forces. Samurai police in the Edo period used the sasumata along with the sodegarami and tsukubō to restrain and arrest suspected criminals uninjured. The head of the sasumata would be used to catch around the neck, arms, legs, or joints of a suspect and detain them until officers could close in and apprehend them (using '' hojōjutsu''). The sasumata had a long hardwood pole usually around in length with sharp barbs or spines attached to metal strips on one end of the pole to keep the person being captured from grabbing the pole. The opposite end of the sasumata pole would often have a metal cap, or ''ishizuki'' like those found on

naginata The ''naginata'' (, , ) is a polearm and one of several varieties of traditionally made Japanese blades ('' nihontō''). ''Naginata'' were originally used by the samurai class of feudal Japan, as well as by ashigaru (foot soldiers) and sōhei ( ...

and other polearms.

Firefighting

There were also firefighting versions of the instrument known as a ''chokyakusan'', ''rinkaku'', ''tetsubashira'', or ''tokikama''. A similar weapon in China was known as a ''chang jiao qian'', and sometimes called a ''cha gan'' or ''huo cha'' (fire fork), which had a similar firefighting role. The sasumata type implements were used by firefighters to help dismantle burning buildings, raise ladders, and otherwise assist with their duties.

Modern use

Today, a modern version of the sasumata is still occasionally used by the police and as a self-defense tool. These modern sasumata are often made of aluminum, without the sharpened blades and spikes found on their medieval counterparts. They have been marketed to schools due to a growing fear of classroom invasions, which has prompted many schools in Japan to keep sasumata available for teachers to protect themselves and students and to detain a potential threat until the authorities can arrive. The introduction of sasumata to schools came to be popular after the

Ikeda school massacre The Ikeda school massacre (sometimes referred to as the Osaka school massacre) was a school stabbing and mass murder that occurred in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture, Japan, on 8 June 2001. Mamoru Takuma, a 37-year-old ex-convict with a history of m ...

in 2001. In November 2023, an employee of a jewellery store in Tokyo used a ''sasumata'' to drive off three robbers wearing motorcycle helmets, attracting nationwide interest and increased sales of the weapon.

Gallery

File:Sasumata.JPG, Edo period sasumata, used to capture criminal suspects and for crowd control File:Sasumata1.JPG, Edo period sasumata, used to capture criminal suspects and for crowd control File:Japanese_non-lethal_police_weapon.jpg, A modern sasumata

Citations

Sources

*Cunningham, Don. ''Taiho-jutsu:Law and Order in the Age of the Samurai''. Boston; Rutland, Vermont; Tokyo: Tuttle Publishing, 2004. *神之田常盛. ''剣術神道霞流''. 萩原印刷株式会社, 2003. *Mol, Serge. ''Classic Weaponry of Japan: Special Weapons and Tactics of the Martial Arts''. Tokyo; New York; London: Kodansha International, 2003.

External links

* {{Polearms Polearms of Japan Samurai police weapons Samurai polearms Ritual weapons Ceremonial weapons