Tanegashima (gun)

Japanese ashigaru firing hinawajū. Night-shooting practice, using ropes to maintain proper firing elevation.

Tanegashima (種子島), most often called in Japanese and sometimes in English hinawajū (火縄銃, "matchlock gun"), was a type of matchlock-configured[1] arquebus[2] firearm introduced to Japan through the Portuguese Empire in 1543.[3] It was used by the samurai class and their ashigaru "foot soldiers", and within a few years its introduction in battle changed the way war was fought in Japan forever.[4] It, however, could not completely replace the yumi (longbow). Although the Japanese developed various techniques to improve the gun's shortcomings, specifically its slow rate of fire and inability to fire in the rain,[5][6][7] it remained inferior to the yumi in these respects, and the latter continued to be an important weapon on the battlefield.[8][9] After Tokugawa Ieyasu destroyed the Toyotomi clan in the siege of Osaka and established the Tokugawa shogunate, the relatively peaceful Edo period arrived, and the use of tanegashima declined.

  1. ^ East Asia: A Cultural, Social, and Political History, Authors Patricia Ebrey, Anne Walthall, James Palais, Publisher Cengage Learning, 2008, ISBN 978-0-547-00534-8 P257
  2. ^ Lidin, Olof G. (2002). Tanegashima: the arrival of Europe in Japan. NIAS Press. p. 4. ISBN 978-87-91114-12-0.
  3. ^ Tanegashima: the arrival of Europe in Japan, Olof G. Lidin, Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, NIAS Press, 2002 P.1-14
  4. ^ Noel Perrin (1979). Giving up the gun: Japan's reversion to the sword, 1543-1879. David R Godine. ISBN 9780879237738. Retrieved 2011-09-22.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Perrin p.17 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Perrin p.18 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference teppo was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ 弓・弓矢の基本知識 (in Japanese). Nagoya Japanese Sword Museum Nagoya Touken World. Archived from the original on 4 December 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  9. ^ 弓矢を学ぶ（弓編） (in Japanese). Nagoya Japanese Sword Museum Nagoya Touken World. Archived from the original on 4 December 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2022.