A Japanese answer to school invasions: the sasumata

**jubei33** · Posted On: 6/10/2008 3:34am

here's a picture of one of the ones at school. They have a nifty hook for snagging feet and clothes and such. Some of the other versions have a bolt at the bottom of the arc to ensure compliance. kind of hurts to get jabbed in the ribs with something like that. Though there seem to be many different sizes most of the heads I've seen are around 35-45 cm range. You might be able to just order one online cheaper rather than build one. But if you were looking to go that route for kicks you could use a pipe bender to get the proper arc at a hardware store and just bolt that one on top of a long pole.

**DdlR** · Posted On: 6/10/2008 6:31am

Good call; I'll see what's available locally re. pipe bending.

Google is showing me all sorts of sasumata designs ...

**nightowl** · Posted On: 6/10/2008 6:31am

Nifty. You mentioned doing a drill with these in school- hazarding a guess are you/did you teach/ing english in Japan? If so (or even not) do you know were these things are located? Ideally you'd have more than one per classroom like fire extingushers I suppose....except cooler.

**jubei33** · Posted On: 6/10/2008 3:41pm

Originally Posted by nightowl

Nifty. You mentioned doing a drill with these in school- hazarding a guess are you/did you teach/ing english in Japan? If so (or even not) do you know were these things are located? Ideally you'd have more than one per classroom like fire extingushers I suppose....except cooler.

Yeah thats what I'm doing. Its pretty fun, too. I like teaching the kids and playing soccer, tag and such with em. rugrats, the lot of em'. :)

generally, they're supposed to have a sasumata in each classroom, but that's not always the case. I've never had one in my classroom and even if i did the kids would be sasumata-ing each other daily (in the butt probably). We have drills once of twice a year and its up to the PTA how many and how its done. I have one this Friday, actually. It'll probably be a little more realistic since we just had this huge stabbing party in Tokyo a couple days ago. its pretty stupid....

I go to the school that has pictures of me wrestling with 'a psycho' today. I'll see if they'll let me post them. I don't know what the rules are on that, might be an issue being that its school related.

**Wounded Ronin** · Posted On: 6/10/2008 4:18pm

I still think pepper spray would be way easier for non-combat-trained Japanese teachers to use.

**DdlR** · Posted On: 6/10/2008 4:32pm

Originally Posted by Wounded Ronin

I still think pepper spray would be way easier for non-combat-trained Japanese teachers to use.

I found a promotional video (in Japanese, naturally) that shows a can of pepper spray stored in a locked box next to a sasumata on the wall, and some very, very basic, slow-motion demonstrations of how to use both weapons together.

Basically, it shows five teachers advancing towards the camera in a shoulder to shoulder line, the four on the outside pointing sasumata like spears and the one in the middle holding the pepper spray. The next sequence shows three of the teachers pinning the "scary man" up against the wall with the sasumata while a fourth aims the pepper spray.

BTW, there's also apparently an instructional DVD called "How to Sasumata" on the market in Japan.

**maofas** · Posted On: 6/30/2008 12:13pm

Excellent. These should be standard issue in all NYC public schools, except instead of being used for intruders you'd use them to herd the students out of the hallways and into class.