A surgical shaft instrument has a shaft on whose distal end there is arranged a jaw mechanism having branches, at least one of which is movably mounted and on whose proximal end a handling mechanism is arranged, at least one handle part of which is movable for operation of the jaw mechanism, a transmission rod which is coupled at the distal end to the jaw mechanism and is coupled at the proximal end to the handling mechanism is provided and has a pulling element and a pushing element, such that the two elements are joined together at the ends, and one of the two elements is made of a superelastic alloy. The pushing element is made of the superelastic alloy and the pulling element is made of a non-superelastic material in the form of a cable or wire.
