Samurai Police

That's an incredible weapon, Nick, and I can well understand why the little hook being there to stop the blades.

Thanks Okamido. Did this weapon influence the development of the later sai, basically a larger version of the jutte with two hooks?

It also looks very similar to the jitte

After the Meiji Restoration Samurai police remained in the emperor's service, tasked with arresting Samurai who refused to relinquish their privileges. Although many of the Shinsengumi were assassinated or killed in battle, there was no shortage of eager recruits. 

More weapons of the Samurai Police. The spiky one is designed to tangle in a suspect's clothes so he could be brought in alive. The police would restrain his neck with the forked sticks so he couldn't get close and attack them
Samurai Antique World

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Police and community in Japan

Originally posted by Nick1986 More weapons of the Samurai Police. The spiky one is designed to tangle in a suspect's clothes so he could be brought in alive. The police would restrain his neck with the forked sticks so he couldn't get close and attack them Samurai Antique World

That's a good collection. Here are a couple of more variations as well:

Originally posted by Nick1986 Here's a reconstruction of Samurai police uniforms. They chose deliberately bright colors so they would be recognised in battle and strike terror into the hearts of their enemies

Actually that is only really true of the Shinsengumi (who are the ones pictured above); they were a sort of ''counter-terrorist'' squad that was created to fight imperialist rebels against the Tokugawa bakufu. They really only appeared late in the Edo Era, just before the Meiji Restoration. Most police officers (doshin) and patrolmen (okappiki) wore more subdued colours: