Chinese ‘Chai’ mace

The ‘Sai’ truncheon appears in East Asia, including China, Okinawa and Indonesia. While the Japanese term for ‘Sai’ means ‘hairpin’, the Chinese word for hairpin is ‘chāi’ (釵) or sometimes referred to as: ‘鐵尺’ which stands for ‘iron ruler’. In Indonesia, a wide variety of terms is used including ‘tekpi’ and ‘chabang’. The ‘Sai’ is a trident-inspired weapon created for constabulary forces to disarm and control and later on preferred among martial arts practitioners. They come in several varieties, the regular trident shape with two bars pointing forward functioning as guard. The other, like this example, is generally referred to as the ‘manji sai’ which points to the swastika symbolism integrated in the guard. One bar pointing forward, the other pointing backwards which at the same time functions as a knuckle bow. The cross section of the rods are often segmented, octagonal or round and both bronze as iron was used.

This example:

An interesting example with typical features like a fork-shaped guard and segmented rod, which ends up in a blunted spear tip which is riveted to the octagonal pommel and surrounded with ribbed horn handle to provide excellent grip. The horn grip was accompanied by two brass ferules on both ends.

‘Chai’ like these can be confidently dated around the mid to late 19th century.