Wednesday word: 十手 (jitte or jutte)

[trellia-chan.livejournal.com]

十手: (spelled "jitte" or "jutte" in the English alphabet)  Pronounced "joot" or "joo-te"

Literal Japanese translation: "ten hands."



The jitte was a weapon that was carried by police in Edo Period Japan. It was carried by all ranks of police officers during official business and also served as a substitute for a badge. It is also the subject of Jittejutsu (十手術), a martial art developed by law enforcment officers meant to disarm and apprehend criminals (who were usually carrying a sword.)

In the anime franchise Lupin III, the character Inspector Koichi Zenigata often carries an antique jitte passed down from his ancestor, Heiji Zenigata, a police officer in the Edo period from a completely unrelated series of fictitious stories.

Comments

[fieryphoenix.livejournal.com]

I forgot about that in Lupin III! That's neat how it doubled as a badge.

Admittedly I'm not terribly familiar with the Japanese language, but a better approximation of the pronunciation would be "joot-tay" or "jeet-tay", unless I'm wrong and it got absorbed into English with an altered pronunciation, like karaoke.

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

I'm not finding an English dictionary with the word, so I assume it came over with the Japanese pronunciation of either jeet-tay or joot-tay (the variation comes from how 十 meaning 10 has alternate pronunciations, either of which is valid here).

---L.

[trellia-chan.livejournal.com]

I thought the same thing, but I'm going based on how I am repeatedly hearing it pronounced in Japanese media by Japanese people. :-) They sound like they are actually downplaying the "e" in "te" so that it comes out as "joot."

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it does get downplayed.

---L.

[trellia-chan.livejournal.com]

I would have thought the same thing, but I keep hearing the word pronounced "joot" *in* Japanese, not English.

[trellia-chan.livejournal.com]

Also, geek-out moment. ;-) Zenigata's jitte featured heavily in the 1998 TV special "Crisis in Tokyo." I just love Zenigata!

[fieryphoenix.livejournal.com]

I am so woefully behind on my anime-watching. ;_; I MUST RECTIFY THIS

[theidolhands.livejournal.com]

*pins a ribbon on you* Excellent word, excellent explanation!

[trellia-chan.livejournal.com]

^_^ The other commenters are making me question the pronunciation, and it seems wrong to me, but it's how I keep hearing the word when spoken by Japanese characters!