Lit hinawa, hinawa toushi ana and the military charging routine

[Rolland]

Since acquiring my first tanegashima two years ago, I've demonstrated it many times - mostly at shooting ranges. The interest was high because no one present had ever seen anything like it up close. The cheekpiece buttstock, in particular, is almost unknown to Europeans. My teppo was in shooting condition, so I usually ended with a target shot at 25 meters. Light charge of slow powder (20 gr 1.5 FG) and a 0.5" lead ball on a thick patch provided a great show.

 

In the next step, I wanted to realistically show how the teppo was operated in battle - the full cycle from firing to reloading. I've done this already with the arquebus, but there are detailed descriptions, for example, by Jacob de Gheyn or the Spanish. I assume, however, that the Japanese teppo routine was different, if only because of the way of handling the lit match, which is critical.

 

When loading, European arquebusiers and musketeers held their guns with their left hand, away from both the breech and the muzzle. A slow match, lit at both ends, was held between the fingers of the left hand.

 

 

The right hand was sufficient for other tasks, whether loading from a powder flask, „apostles”, or paper cartridges. However, Japanese soldiers who loaded from hayago, required both hands at the muzzle. Historical illustrations confirm this.

 

 

What was happening to the lit hinawa at that time? I can't imagine that while charging, the still lit hinawa was stuck in the hibasami?

 

Another mystery to me is hinawa toushi ana. The hinawa was threaded through it but what happened during charging? If the hinawa was removed with the hibasami, did it swing freely with the end lit, or was it pulled back through the hinawa toushi ana with only the short end sticking out?

 

I tried to find the answer by watching a lot of Japanese reenactment videos on YouTube. I never noticed the hinawa passing through the hinawa toushi ana, and the shooters always held the hinawa in their left hand in the "European" manner. This makes sense, as reenactment is about maximum safety, but I think it does not correspond to historical reality.

 

Some authors believe that a soldier could be taught to fire a matchlock in a few hours. I find this very doubtful as it's an unforgiving weapon. To be useful on the battlefield without harming himself or his comrades, the soldier had to master the entire procedure to blind automatism. This can only be achieved through (at least) many weeks of hard training. Furthermore, the entire unit had to be trained uniformly, ensuring everyone operated at the same pace and without interfering with one another. So I'm curious if there are any historical drill or training manuals that detail how Japanese soldiers actually operated their teppo in battle?

Edited Wednesday at 02:58 PM by Rolland

[Bugyotsuji]

These are all good questions, Roland. To answer in detail would take much time, but the hinawa handling secrets of each school of gunnery were slightly different, and may be found in scrolls which sometimes turn up. 
 

My training never mentioned use of hinawa-tōshi holes, (although my trusty Kumamoto gun does have such a passage through the upper stock) so it must have been an option for some, or perhaps a convenient place to put the cord while waiting for battle of even for storage or display. Not every gun has these holes.

 

The picture you have chosen above shows the hands the wrong way round. Perhaps this was a special technique for loading when squatting low. It is possible that they are loading before battle, and before lighting their matches.

 

Normally Japanese matchlock cord is of high quality and does not go out, so only one end is lit, the coil is kept on the left forearm, the gunner is standing, and the lit end is in the left fingers. (This changes for a matchlock pistol, and there are tricks for rainy weather.)

 

Cord can also be cut short (Kiri hinawa), with several kept on a special group stand, disposable, handed out for each shot.

There were also special metal tubes (called hinawa-ire, do-no-hi etc.) kept at the waist, which held burning cord, saving the time to light one in emergency situations.

 

If you can find a copy of Sawada Taira’s green book, there are many illustrations, though not so many showing burning cords.

 

PS I have been an active member of an old Japanese matchlock troop for over twenty years.

 

 

[Bugyotsuji]

 

[Rolland]

Piers,

 

Thank you so much. As always, you've opened my eyes to many things. In particular, I understand that there wasn't a universally accepted teppo drill, and different centers may have developed different routines.

 

I did some research on the illustration I used, and it doesn't look as period as I thought. It seems to be from a book on martial arts published in 1855: 武道芸術秘伝図會 初編, by Masatomi Ōmori and Utagawa Kuniyoshi. Judging by the "pavises" (Tate - 楯- is that the right term?) this could be a siege where ashigaru hidden behind shields try to suppress the defenders on the walls. The hands are of course reversed, but I assume it's a mistake by the artist, who was not a soldier. Nevertheless, I still assume that loading from hayago required the use of both hands.

 

I was intrigued by the mention of the hinawa-ire - it reminds me of European grenadiers who wore a similar device.

2 hours ago, Bugyotsuji said:

PS I have been an active member of an old Japanese matchlock troop for over twenty years.

Congratulations, being a practicing "historical shooter" myself, I have great respect for people who have acquired personal knowledge in this way that cannot be read in books or watched on YouTube.

 

[Bugyotsuji]

Roland, Sawada San seems to have used the same book you mentioned above.

 

As to the Taté shields, yes. Actually they soon found bundles of bamboo to be more effective against ball when larger guns were able to penetrate old-fashioned wooden shields. In Osaka Castle they also keep a heavy iron self-standing shield in the same shape as those above.

[Rolland]

Piers,

 

Thank you for the interesting information about shields. It seems that this book by Masatomi Ōmori/Utagawa Kuniyoshi was the source of illustrations for many other publications, including books by Perrin and Turnbull. I just bought an electronic publication on Amazon (for ~$3) that is apparently an excerpt from the aforementioned book.

 

 

Its main themes include teppo gumi crossing water obstacles, artillery and the use of teppo from horseback.  These are simple graphic scans without underlaying OCR text. The text on the illustrations is also scripted, so using an external OCR tool might not yield useful results. The text is therefore useless to me, but most of the publication are illustrations, and they are fascinating and of goof quality. I've seen some somewhere, but most are new to me. I particularly like the image of a samurai using a horse's head as a gun support. If the horse was calm, it might work well, but I doubt the horse liked it ...

 

 

Numerous images show soldiers firing teppo. In most, it is clear that the hinawa is threaded through the hinawa toushi ana:

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 12 hours ago by Rolland

[Bugyotsuji]

Well spotted!
As I said before, many guns do not have hinawa-tōshi ana so this must be an artist’s overall concept, but I suppose if you do, then it stops the cord from being blown around, especially if it’s raining and the ground is wet. I have a private theory that these holes became more common as the Edo period progressed.

 

As to the horse’s head, they must have trained them to put up with loud noises, although the quietest place is behind the barrel, relatively speaking. Even so the horse does look a bit uncertain.

 

Talking of horses, just today someone gave me a heavy bajōzutsu ‘carbine’ with an udé-nuki-no-kan hole in the stock. 1.7 cm bore