The sasumata, also known as the "man catcher," was a type of military fork. It consisted of a curved, two pronged blade mounted on a long pole (usually about 2 meters long), near the end of the pole were spikes so that the pole could be swung from side to side and cause damage as well as catch people on the inside of the fork. It was primarily used to capture an opponent and do a minimum of damage.
It is thought that many of the non-lethal martial arts weapons, such as this, the tonfa, jitte, and manriki gusari, were used by the police to capture rogue swordsmen. The sasumata is unusual in that I cannot think of an analogue in farming or other hinin (peasant) work, but perhaps there is some analogue. Please /msg me if you know more. (I tried my best to find one, through web and book searches.)