Early Japanese firearm related images and information.

[estcrh]

Brian, would it be possible to pin this so that it will be permanently available for viewing at the top the threads.

 

Early Japanese firearms images.

 

Japanese matchlocks and equipment. http://www.pinterest.com/worldantiques/ ... rai-era-t/

 

Touch hole cannons used in Japan. http://www.pinterest.com/worldantiques/ ... le-cannon/

 

Western style firearms used from the Edo through Meiji periods. http://www.pinterest.com/worldantiques/ ... y-samurai/

 

Japanese firearms illustrations through the Meiji period. http://www.pinterest.com/worldantiques/ ... he-meiji-/

[b.hennick]

Thanks for the great resource. It must have taken a long long time to collect those images. Your efforts are greatly appreciated.

[Brian]

Eric,

Consider it done. Thanks for sharing.

 

Brian

[Toryu2020]

Awesome - a wonderful new world we are moving into.

 

Well done Eric.

-t

[estcrh]

Online research material.

 

Inatome gun manual, Gakushuin University Library. http://glim-els.glim.gakushuin.ac.jp/ki ... INA07.html

 

Inatomi gun manual, The New York Public Library. http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigi ... id=1918492

 

Inatomi gun manual, Bonhams. https://m.bonhams.com/auctions/21101/lot/458/

 

The process of teppo and cannon making, National Museum of Japanese History. http://www.rekihaku.ac.jp/english/publi ... tness.html

 

Secret Books on the Art of Gunnery, National Museum of Japanese History. http://www.rekihaku.ac.jp/english/publi ... tness.html

 

Marksmanship teachings, National Museum of Japanese History. http://www.rekihaku.ac.jp/english/publi ... tness.html

 

The Introduction of Guns in Japanese History, National Museum of Japanese History. https://www.rekihaku.ac.jp/english/exhi ... 61003.html

 

The Introduction of Guns in Japanese History, (downloadable pdf), National Museum of Japanese History. https://www.rekihaku.ac.jp/english/exhi ... 1003_e.pdf

 

The Impact of Firearms on Japanese Warfare, 1543-98 Delmer M. Brown, The Far Eastern Quarterly Vol. 7, No. 3 (May, 1948), pp. 236-253 http://www.pinterest.com/worldantiques/ ... e-1543-98/

 

Shigeo Sugawa's web site (English version). http://www.japaneseweapons.net/

 

Shigeo Sugawa's web site (Japanese version). http://www.xn--u9j370humdba539qcybpym.jp/

[BIG]

Hi Eric,

 

Thanks a Lot, together with the " Few " books you really opens a new nihonto

 

related World. So I Need Time to study.....

 

Best Regards

[estcrh]

Recommended reading material.

 

BOOKS IN ENGLISH.

 

 

Noel Perrin "Giving Up the Gun: Japan's Reversion to the Sword, 1543-1879".

 

Olof G. Lidin "Tanegashima-The Arrival of Europe in Japan"

 

Shigeo Sugawa "The Japanese Matchlock" (English version).

 

Rainer Daehnhardt "Espingarda feiticeira: A introdução da arma de fogo pelos portugueses no Extremo-Oriente = The bewitched gun : the introduction of the firearm in the far East by the Portuguese" (Portuguese and English in one book).

 

 

BOOKS IN Japanese.

 

Taira Sawada "Nihon no Furuju" (Japanese Antique Guns).

 

Shigeo Sugawa "The Japanese Matchlock I & II"

[Brian]

Found this one yesterday:

deleted

No doubt he has duplicated a large part of the Sugawa website, but looks like there are some new pics there.

 

Brian

[estcrh]

Updated comprehensive visual glossary of Japanese matchlock terms.

 

 

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/17/7b/81/177b81539988d77e00d3b07a8b2aea68.jpg

 

[Peter Bleed]

This truly is a wonderful set of resources.I happen to have a couple if items - including a gunner's powder mill - that might be worth adding to the images files. Are additions possible and welcome?

Peter

[Brian]

Nice one Eric, thanks.

[estcrh]

This truly is a wonderful set of resources.I happen to have a couple if items - including a gunner's powder mill - that might be worth adding to the images files. Are additions possible and welcome?

Peter

Peter, post them on the forum so we can see and discuss what you have.

[ROY RICKETTS]

Many thanks for the visual glossary on match lock terms I now have an understanding of what others are referring to.

[Janrudolph]

Good day to all. I'm hoping to interest you in the image of a matchlock that I found on the tsuba of my wakizashi. Please see the images below. Johan

[Janrudolph]

[Bugyotsuji]

Many thanks Johan. To me this suggests a hunting scene with the dog and matchlock and accessories lying on the ground, the presence of the hunter and the prey inferred rather than depicted.

An unusual scene. Sadly, as is frequently the case with Ukiyo-e, Netsuke and other Japanese arts, I do not think the artisan had a very good understanding of matchlocks!!! 

[Bruce Pennington]

On 9/13/2014 at 2:10 PM, Brian said:

Found this one yesterday:

xxxx

No doubt he has duplicated a large part of the Sugawa website, but looks like there are some new pics there.

 

Brian

Brian,

When I click on that link, I had to download and add something to my Firefox browser.  Now when I click on it again, all I get are ads.

[Brian]

Link was taken over and is now dead. Not sure why you installed anything? That's always a no-no. Check your Firefox addons and remove any plugin.
I deleted the links.

[Fabian23]

Does anyone have an idea of what the first Portuguese matchlocks to enter Japan looked like? I'm trying to figure out how much the Japanese modified the ergonomics/general layout.

 

I doubt any survived but maybe just maybe in a museum or temple somewhere?

[Bugyotsuji]

It’s as you say, Fabien, and some of us have spent years tracking down the answer to this.  The quick answer must be yes, they were Portuguese snapping matchlocks with the sprung-and-released serpentine falling forwards, away from the shooter. All subsequent Japanese matchlocks, large and small, follow this remit, with a myriad of detail, geographical and gun school variations.

Sawada Taira in Nihon no Furujū calls this age, from 1542-1600, (roughly the first 50 years), the Dark Age, because so little has survived, and even less is dated. There are a few photos of guns or parts of guns in his book that have been passed down with attached stories.

The museum in Tanegashima has two guns in their large collection which they confidently call ‘original’ but this story must be taken with a pinch of salt. Ian Bottomley says there is at least one quite original gun in the Tokugawa Art Museum in Nagoya, which they do not show people.

 

Something I discovered, or realized, as they were staring everyone in the face, is that early dated Goto Kinko work showing designs of guns and accessories, must actually be among the very first illustrations of imported (or careful copies of) Western guns, before the luxury of subsequent Japanese modifications. 
 

Find examples of forward snapping Portuguese matchlocks from Goa (and Africa) and you’ll be seeing roughly what reached Japan, before the Japanese sensibility started refining the concept.

 

The oldest Japanese matchlock guns I have handled tend to be rather spartan, functional but heavy in relation to the bore.

 

(This is all covered in the book Jan and I have written. Hoping it can more forward…)

 

 

[Fabian23]

Thanks!

 

I assume these were also "check-weld only" stocked rather than shot from the shoulder?

 

I ask this because for example we see both in this excellent video from Prof.  Németh

The 265 early 16th century tinder lock firearms of Pilsen

[Matsunoki]

2 hours ago, Bugyotsuji said:

This is all covered in the book Jan and I have written.

Is the book available Piers

[Bugyotsuji]

Lovely video! Yes, some of these are the ‘German’ forward-snapping matchlocks I had heard about. Great find! The lock mechanism is very similar but the stock and butt are more like guns of the English Civil War, quite different from Japanese matchlocks which also have cheek-piece butts, not for use against the shoulder, as you say.

The bore measurements are interesting. The 15mm light guns correspond roughly to Japanese military matchlocks.

[Bugyotsuji]

13 minutes ago, Matsunoki said:

Is the book available Piers

Sadly no, Colin. It’s with Jan and he was still editing it last time I heard. It needs a kick-start. The world needs this book!!!

[Fabian23]

38 minutes ago, Bugyotsuji said:

Lovely video! Yes, some of these are the ‘German’ forward-snapping matchlocks I had heard about. Great find! The lock mechanism is very similar but the stock and butt are more like guns of the English Civil War, quite different from Japanese matchlocks which also have cheek-piece butts, not for use against the shoulder, as you say.

The bore measurements are interesting. The 15mm light guns correspond roughly to Japanese military matchlocks.

My question was rather, did the original Portuguese matchlocks also have cheek-piece butts or was that a Japanese adaptation? I can very much imaging that a european shoulder-butt was not well suited to Japanese armour and helmets of the time.

[Bugyotsuji]

That is a very good question, Fabien. When (and where) did the Japanese fishtail butt start? There is a Chinese link to fish, and dragons.

 

Here are some early gun photos. 
伝来銃 Denrai Jū is the expression for the fabled beast, the actual two gun(s) which arrived on Tanegashima Island.

 

 

Top right 暗黒期 = Dark Age

Apologies to Sawada San, using for educational purposes.

[Bugyotsuji]

Trying to sleep as I must be up at 4:00. Can’t believe how many people have chosen today of all days to get in contact! 

 

The two on the left are in the museum in Tanegashima. The top one may be an original barrel, but it was in a fire and rebuilt in Meiji. The bottom one looks to be a sort of copy maybe from mid-Edo.