Any reviews on Shigeo Sugawa's "Tanegashima Book 2"?

[Flint62Smoothie]

Hey all:

 

I guess I am lucky enough to have an English version of his Book 1, acknowledging that there are eiting errors as a few have pointed out here. But has any other English speaker purchased his 2nd book and have any comments regarding its value?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Dale 

[Bugyotsuji]

I have one English book of his, and two of his books in Japanese. Although it is full of errors (as you say) of one kind or another, not only editing, it still contains plenty of useful stuff. Also popular but sadly misinformed is Giving up the Gun by Noel Perrin. 

 

The best illustrated book in Japanese is Sawada Taira's Nihon no Furuju (Old guns of Japan), but it's out of print, and they can be difficult and expensive to source. Full of mostly accurate information. Worth getting a copy though for the abundance of photographs alone!

 

Jan Pettersson and I have written a pretty comprehensive illustrated book on the Tanegashima, but we have not yet found a publisher to complete the work. We really need to get this into print!

[Flint62Smoothie]

Thank you! I just bought the Perrin book and am on the 'lookout' for the Taira book. I've done a TON of proofreading in my career if I may be of any asssitance on the book effort.

 

You are a wealth of information here and very responsive, and I greatly appreciate both of those traits! Cheers!

[Bugyotsuji]

Kind offer, Dale, appreciated. One of my sideline jobs has been proof-reading, so we are ok in that department. 

 

Back to your original question, though, Mr Sugawa is a tireless investigator, so for that reason alone (and the photographs) I would recommend getting his Book 2 in English, as part of a broader background. My instructor told me not to bother reading Sugawa as so much was plain wrong, back when he was new to the field and first writing books. "It would take too much time to sort out the good from the bad", he would say. This brought me into direct conflict with Eric (sadly no longer with us) who started Edo Period Corner Part II on this forum, and wanted me to tell him exactly what was wrong with it!

 

As to Noel Perrin, I am not here to teach my grandmother to suck eggs, but bear in mind that his subliminal message was/is that if Japan could give up guns, then surely the US could too. He seems to have overlooked that Japan continued to have a mass of guns right through the Edo Period, but they were strictly regulated, whether used within the various schools of gunnery, or for target practice at designated shooting ranges or in communities for hunting. Japan never 'gave up' guns. This 'continued-but-well-regulated' usage is something that Jan documents in our new book. Actually, although something is known about how guns originally reached Japan, we switch on a light and fill in the as-yet unknown gap from there onwards, between the arrival of guns in Japan in 1543 through to the end of Edo/beginning of Meiji.

[Flint62Smoothie]

Your book sounds fascinating! And thanks for the ‘heads up’ in interpreting the others. 

[Brian]

Look at self-publishing. In today's world, it really isn't that difficult, even if you want a high class product. There are lots of resources and print on demand. We're way past the point of just Lulu now

[Kiipu]

Just to clarify, only Sugawa's 1st matchlock book was translated into English.  The 2nd book is in Japanese only.

Sugawa Shigeo. The Japanese Matchlock: A Story of the Tanegashima. 1991. A translation of Nihon no hinawajū 日本の火縄銃.

 

In addition, are you aware of the Yonezawa book?

A New Book-Release!

[Flint62Smoothie]

20 minutes ago, Kiipu said:

Just to clarify ... the 2nd book is in Japanese only.

 

In addition, are you aware of the Yonezawa book?

A New Book-Release!

Oh, that's good to know then, thanks. And yes, I bought that other one, but haven't read it yet. Many thanks!

[Kiipu]

Dale, a very incomplete bibliography can be viewed via the NMB link below.  Hope this helps.

Bibliography of Early Japanese Firearms