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View Full Version : Did muskets exist in Sengoku Jidai?



08-24-2001, 05:43
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Tachikaze
08-25-2001, 03:39
Could you elaborate on what constitutes a musket?

Japanese used matchlocks with small stocks towards the end of the period. I've never seen a reference to them using flintlocks before 1615.

NOLA_Jay
08-29-2001, 14:52
One Book I have called Secrets of the Samurai mentions muskets, being used.
One section of the book reads as follows:
"It is reported by some historians that only the introduction of modern methods of warefare, such as the use of fireamrs (muskets and heavy guns imported by the Portugese, Dutch, and Spanish emissaries), made it possible for Nobunaga, in the sixteenth century, to effectively dislodge the militant clergy from their hitherto unassailable positions of power." from Secrets of the Samurai: The Martial Arts of Feudal Japan, by Oscar Ratti and Adele Westbrook, page 139.

Now the Sengoku revised Edition book by Anthony J. Bryant & Mark T. Arsenault the follwing is stated in the Missle Weapon description section.
"Teppo
The teppo (matchlock) is a recent arriver on the military scene in Japan. The first one was introduced in 1542, and they were soon in domestic production. The teppo is also called tanegashima, after the island where the Portugese first them ashore to Japan.
Unlike the bow, the matchlock is weather-sensative. For this reason, gunsmiths created a box-like device which covers the lck area to keep out precipitation. The actual match may be several shaku lung, with excess wrapped around the butt stock.
Full-sized teppo weigh about four kilograms (nine pounds). In addition to the full-sized midels, however pistols are commonly found. These pistols range from one shaku in length (rare) to weapons that are really little more than cut down muskets than pistols. Teppo Bores varry from a common caliber of about .67 up to 2 inches in diameter.", Sengoku Revised Edition, by Anthony J bryant & Mark T. Arsenault, page 174.

They also mention on page 174 of Sengoku Revised another type of matchlock called the Odeppo (also called hinawa ozutsu) wich is a large matchlock handcannon resmbeling a mortar.

Still need to dig out some other books I have on firearms, ut that is a start.