A Beautiful Matchlock Pistol (Bajōzutsu)

[estcrh]

Eric,  Needham quotes from the Chinese book 'Chhou Hai Thu Pien' published in 1562 ( Needham J. Science and Civilisation in China, Vol5, Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Part 7: Military Technology; The Gunpowder Epic, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1986)  that illustrates guns introduced by the Portuguese that are identical with those used in Japan. The Chinese called these guns 'bird beaked guns', one illustration being of the stock / pistol grip of such a gun with the image of a bird's head superimposed. It then goes on to say that they were sometimes called 'bird guns' and adds that this is still the name used for what we call a shotgun. Whilst the Chinese knew of these guns they didn't adopt them, preferring to use Turkish guns as a model. It looks as if the Japanese used the same terminology.

Ian Bottomley 

Ian, when I searched with the kanji that Piers provided ( 鳥銃  Tori Ju ie "Bird Guns) information on Chinese guns was brought up as well as Japanese guns.

[Bugyotsuji]

Without getting into too much detail, there has always been a conscious difference in the use of this term in Japan. In general what is called a Hinawa-Ju or a teppo (from Teppau) in Japanese, was called something closer to a fire lance or bird gun in Chinese. The spoken and written words which were commonly and popularly used to refer to old guns were always clearly differentiated between the two cultures.

 

Quite apart from the Chinese usage, the expression Tori-ju is very rarely used here, and I was astonished to hear it not so long ago for the first time. When it was used in my presence I noticed a slightly pejorative sense, as though there was a clear mental difference between army guns and bird guns (hunting guns). There it was too, in your illustrations, Eric. Perhaps it was legal to sell 'tori-ju'. Larger guns were only permitted within the remit of the Ryu-ha, or schools of gunnery, practiced as a martial art, as Eric's earlier Japanese article mentions. Sawada's book is full of this consciousness, and I am beginning to sense that this discrimination between types of guns has existed in the Japanese subconscious for hundreds of years. Based possibly on some law perhaps, or did some law find it convenient to base itself upon an existing divide?

[Bugyotsuji]

This reminds me of the idea in Japan that there is a clear difference between Nihon-To, and all other 'knives' of the domestic and agricultural variety.

[estcrh]

Quite apart from the Chinese usage, the expression Tori-ju is very rarely used here, and I was astonished to hear it not so long ago for the first time. When it was used in my presence I noticed a slightly pejorative sense, as though there was a clear mental difference between army guns and bird guns (hunting guns). There it was too, in your illustrations, Eric. Perhaps it was legal to sell 'tori-ju'. Larger guns were only permitted within the remit of the Ryu-ha, or schools of gunnery, practiced as a martial art, as Eric's earlier Japanese article mentions. Sawada's book is full of this consciousness, and I am beginning to sense that this discrimination between types of guns has existed in the Japanese subconscious for hundreds of years. Based possibly on some law perhaps, or did some law find it convenient to base itself upon an existing divide?

 

 

Piers, The National Museum of Japanese History is of the opinion that the first guns in Japan were in fact meant for hunting and that it was twenty years after the fact that guns became a military asset. 

 

 

The theory that guns were introduced to battle, transformed old fighting techniques and also had a profound impact on the style of castles immediately after their arrival in Japan must be corrected in the following way. Soon after they were introduced to Japan, guns were sent as gifts among persons of influence and were used by professional hunters for hunting birds and animals. Their use in battle increased along with the growing scale of battles and the development by gunsmiths of techniques that were useful in a military situation. This occurred around 20 years after guns had been introduced. The notion that guns are the same as weapons is a concept that stems from modern warfare. Because this makes a lot of sense it is only natural that no disquiet whatsoever is provoked when these kinds of theories are advocated. However, a close examination of historical materials and documents related to guns and documents on the art of gunnery show no evidence that guns were immediately employed for military purposes. This suggests that the guns that were brought to Japan were not military guns but hunting guns. As such, soon after their introduction they were used as gifts and as hunting instruments.

[IanB]

Eric,  You are absolutely correct. It is noticeable that hunting equipment such as guns, horses and dogs were common gifts between European monarchs. Similarly Capt. Saris handed out highly decorated guns to both Tokugawa Ieyasu and Hidetada and that the English factory sold a considerable number of this type of gun whilst it operated in Japan. Clearly the Japanese gun trade concentrated on military matchlock weapons at this time and that flintlocks and / or snaphaunces were considered as suitable high class gifts amongst the Japanese nobility.

Ian Bottomley. 

[Bugyotsuji]

Well, I cannot say anything really, except generally agree, but wonder if it was all really so clear cut. The first usage of teppo in battle is recorded in the encyclopedia as 1549 at Kajiki Castle in Kyushu, and first proper use at Iwatsurugi Castle in 1554, so perhaps they were used mainly for hunting animals, and it took a little time for them to really prove their worth on the battlefield, to like Oda Nobunaga who could establish a system for using them.

 

百科事典に記載されており、ヤフー、Googleで、｢鉄砲伝来｣を検索しても、伊集院忠朗と記載されています。伊集院忠朗は、伊集院城を居城とする島津貴久の家臣で、薩摩統一戦、加治木城を攻めた時に、日本最初となる鉄砲を発砲!! これが、日本人第一号、鉄砲実戦使用者となった訳です。１５４９年伊集院忠朗、日本初、鉄砲実戦使用 = first use in battle, 1549 by Shimazu retainer Ijuin Tadaaki, at Kajiki Jo.

http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q1066645845

 

実戦での最初の使用は、薩摩国の島津氏家臣の伊集院忠朗による大隅国の加治木城攻めであるとされる。九州や中国地方の戦国大名から、やがて天下統一事業を推進していた尾張国の織田信長が1575年（天正3年）に甲斐武田氏との長篠の戦いをはじめとする戦で、鉄砲を有効活用したとされ、鉄砲が戦争における主力兵器として活用される軍事革命が起こる。

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%89%84%E7%A0%B2%E4%BC%9D%E6%9D%A5

 

First effective use in battle in 1554年 by Ijuin Tadaaki at Iwatsurugi Jo、忠朗は岩剣城を攻めたが、このとき、忠朗の進言で島津軍は初めて鉄砲を実戦に投入して本格的に使ったという。http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BC%8A%E9%9B%86%E9%99%A2%E5%BF%A0%E6%9C%97

[Dr Fox]

It is of note that bird shooting in Japan took off in a big way. Shooting cranes became a must do sport, to such an extent that the crane fast approached becoming extinct. Luckily there were some conservation minded people around, that halted the practice. But for a while it was touch and go.

[Bugyotsuji]

The 'Portuguese' guns on the wrecked Chinese junk at Tanegashima would in all likelihood have been reasonably large bore military guns, and these would surely have set the pattern for the frenetic activity that followed throughout Japan. Diplomatic exchange guns would have happened at the highest level, almost in another world.

Had a long chat in the Shinkansen bullet train to Tokyo yesterday with someone who knows his oats, and I felt the best I can do at the moment is take the quotation above from the National Museum of Japanese History and add it to the mix of theories out there. "Always keep a measure of doubt and eventually the truth will be somewhere in between" is my motto, perhaps first instilled in me at college in the USA.