Malae5

Has anyone seen this barrel since this was posted? If so, please send me a message. I am very interested in this barrel stylistically and would love to have a chance to discuss it with the owner. Regards Gene

Hi all, A member posted an image of a teppo barrel or something similar seemingly mounted in a cannon form now almost a decade ago at the Glendive Montana Gun Show. I am looking for this piece if anyone has seen it anywhere or knows who may have it I would be deeply appreciative and happy to pay a finders fee. Attached is an image of it. It's quite distinctive looking. Looks like a detached barrel which may have had a touch hole added at the top and which was mounted in a 19th or 20th-century sort of odd mounting. If anyone has any information on this piece or where it is I would be deeply interested in it. Thanks Gene

Yes that's correct. The swelling in the breech on continental East Asian matchlocks is thicker to account for the force generated in that area. However, and again I may be wrong in my interpretation of images, I tend to see the Japanese teppos having breeches of generally similar thickness to the remainder of the barrel, though in a few limited cases there is a gentle swelling.

I did find an excellent presentation by Jan Pettersson on early teppos and it does appear many of the known examples have no swollen breeches. Here is the link: https://nbthkebscandinavia.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/e6968-pettersson_16th_century_matchlocks.pdf

Thank you. I think you can see pretty clearly in the top two photos especially, as the barrels gently slope until it reaches (seemingly) the thicket point. It's also possible that the way it's seated in the stock is deceptive and it doesn't swell but I tend to think these do swell gently. I'm mainly interested in whether this type of form was attributed to particular regions or barrel makers, or even if these can be attributed to earlier periods or not, or even if there is some cross-cultural influence on the barrel forms. I would love to see some pictures of some of the earliest known and documented teppo to see what the earliest barrel forms took. Many years ago the Government of Portugal provided to Japan as a gift a recreation of the Indo-Portugeuse matchlock that would have been the progenitor of the earliest Tanegashima. Interestingly, this has a non-swollen breech, or seems to not have a swollen barrel. Pictures attached (pulled from a Vikingsword post).

This is quite interesting. Here are a few examples of teppo culled from the web where there is noticeable but quite slight swelling. I think the tendency is that the larger barrels have more of a strengthened breech than the longer thinner barrels. I can't really find any examples with swollen breeches that are of the longer form. I also attach some images of the Malaysian and Chinese matchlocks which generally do have swollen breeches.

Yes, the breech and not the muzzle.

Hi all, I'm learning more about teppo barrels and their construction and am interested if anyone has thoughts on different types of barrels. Generally, I tend to see barrels that have less swollen breeches than one tends to find on other Eastern matchlock barrels (i.e. Malaysia, China, and India). I have seen some teppo barrels with swollen breeches but generally with a more gentler swelling than one tends to find on continental Asian matchlocks. Were there teppo barrels that were closer to the east Asian construction with swollen breeches? Also, were there particular schools associated with that kind of construction? Any insights would be greatly appreciated. Regards Gene

Thank you all and I appreciate the input from the more seasoned collectors.

Thanks everyone for the kind replies and advice. I've seen a variety of pieces on Japanese sites that seem like good potential acquisitions. Yes, there are pieces in the U.S., UK, and Europe, but simply put, one should "shop around" so Japan seemed like a natural place to look for these types of pieces. Regards Gene

Hello Can anyone explain the process to ship antique teppo from Japan to the U.S.? Regards Gene

That's great. Thank you!

Does anyone have a link to the Clive Sinclaire article "Gifts, Presentations and special swords" http://www.to-ken.comnoted in the previous post? Regards