The Japanese use of cannon

[Tomisama]

Just a few points in time to hopefully demonstrate the high probability that there were cannon being used in Japan (agreed, as siege weapons), in at least the last 30 years of the Ran no Jidai.


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1510 Saw the first documented Chinese firearm delivered to Japan. Some say this was a matchlock, some a pole cannon.

Most certainly over the next 33 years, many more found their way from the mainland.

1543 Portuguese matchlocks in Japanese hands.

Remember that Japan had no isolation policy in those days, and with the European and Asian traders ready to do business, the Japanese manufacturing their own, and the needs of a country at war. Well, it didn’t take long…

1553 Estimated 100,000 guns in Japan

1570 The earliest documentation of Japanese manufacturing their own cannon.

1600 Estimated 300,000 guns in Japan.

How many cannon do you think there would be by then?

Oh yes, a little something extra was donated near the very end of the conflict.

The cargo of the ship "Erasmus" was a windfall of Dutch and English weaponry of the time. The ship was of 400 ton class and had 26 cannon. The cargo had 550 matchlocks , 5,000 cannon ball and 5,000 lbs of gun powder as well as chain-shot and shrapnell. The ship itself had a figurehead which was described as Eramus holding a book in his hand and was sometimes called the "Charity". This windfall of weaponry and gunpowder was probably used by Tokogawa Ieyasu at the Battle of Sekigahara.

http://www.artsales.com/ARTistory/Xa...liam_Adams.htm