Firearms of Japan
Encyclopedia
Firearm
s were introduced to Japan
in the 13th century. Following an intense development, with strong local manufacture during the period of conflicts of the 16th century, Japan then almost completely abandoned firearms through a policy of forced disarmament, helped by a policy of seclusion, sakoku
. The usage of firearms in Japan would start again after 1854 with the resumption of contacts with the West and the accumulation of conflicts from that period.
Due to its proximity with China, Japan had long been familiar with gunpowder. Firearms seem to have first appeared in Japan around 1270, as primitive metal tubes invented in China and called Tetsuhō (鉄砲 Lit. "Iron cannon") seem to have been introduced in Japan as well.
These weapons were very basic, as they had no trigger or sights, and could not bear comparison with the more advanced European weapons which were introduced in Japan more than 250 years later.
in 1543. The tanegashima seems to have been based on snap matchlocks
that were produced in the armory of Goa India, which was captured by the Portuguese in 1510. The name tanegashima came from the island where a Chinese junk with Portuguese adventurers on board was driven to anchor by a storm. The lord of the Japanese island Tanegashima Tokitaka (1528–1579) purchased two matchlock rifles from the Portuguese and put a sword smith to work copying the matchlock barrel and firing mechanism. Within a few years the use of the tanegashima in battle forever changed the way war was fought in Japan.
From 1560, firearms were used in large battles in Japan.
In his memoirs published in 1614, the Portuguese adventurer turned author Mendes Pinto
placed himself in that first landing party, although this claim has been roundly discredited and in fact contradicts his claims to be simultaneously in Burma at the time. However, Pinto does appear to have visited Tanegashima soon thereafter.
between 1467 and 1573, as feudal lords vied for supremacy. Matchlock
guns were used extensively and had a decisive role in warfare. In 1549, Oda Nobunaga
ordered 500 guns to be made for his armies. The benefits of firearms were still relatively questionable however compared to other weapons. At the time, guns were still rather primitive and cumbersome. According to one estimate in 16th century Japan, an archer could fire 15 arrows in the time a gunner would take to load, charge, and shoot a firearm. Effective range also was only 80 to 100 meters, and at that distance a bullet could easily bounce off armour. Also, matchlocks were vulnerable to humid or rainy conditions as the powder would become damp. However firearms could be manned effectively by farmers or non-samurai
low-ranking soldiers.
The Japanese soon worked on various techniques to improve the effectiveness of their guns. They developed serial firing technique to create a continuous rain of bullets on the enemy. They also developed bigger calibers to increase lethal power. Protective boxes in lacquerware
were invented to be able to fire matchlocks in the rain,, as well as systems to accurately fire weapons at night by keeping a fixed angles thanks to measured strings.
As a result, in the year 1567 Takeda Shingen
announced that "Hereafter, the guns will be the most important arms. Therefore decrease the number of spears per unit, and have your most capable men carry guns". At the Battle of Nagashino
in 1575, 3,000 gunners helped win the battle, firing by volleys of 1,000 at a time, and concealed across a river and breastwork to effectively stop enemy infantry and cavalry charges while being protected.
Japan became so enthusiastic about the new weapons that it possibly overtook every European country in absolute numbers produced. Japan also used the guns in the Japanese invasion of Korea in 1592, in which about a quarter of the invasion force of 160,000 were gunners. They were extremely successful at first and managed to capture Seoul
just 18 days after their landing at Pusan.
, who established the Tokugawa Shogunate
, a powerful entity that would maintain peace and prosperity in Japan for the following 250 years. From the mid 17th century, Japan decided to close itself to interraction with the West through its policy of Sakoku
. The proliferation of guns was severely controlled, leading to their near-total abandonment. The reasons were numerous: the samurai themselves much preferred swords and disliked guns as they were challenging the traditional ways; after Tokugawa's victory guns were less needed as Japan's island nature and dense population protected it from invasion; and finally, the increasing political distance from the West in and of itself also affected the popularity of this eminently Western weapon. The Shimabara rebellion
in 1637 was the last major conflict in which firearms were used before modern times.
Firearms production and usage in Japan ceased for two centuries. Even new technological developments were not considered: in 1636 a Dutch
trade mission offered the Shogun
a dozen flintlock
pistol
s, without effect.
HMS Phaeton in 1808. Through the process of Rangaku
(the studying of Western science through the Dutch), airguns were developed by Kunitomo Ikkansai
circa 1820–1830. From 1828, experiments were made with flintlock
mechanisms.
The Nagasaki
samurai Takashima Shūhan
(高島秋帆) started to import flintlock guns from the Netherlands known as Gewehr
from the 1840s. He made the first modern Western military demonstration for the Tokugawa Shogunate
, in Tokumarugahara (North of Edo
) on 27 June 1841.
With the arrival of Commodore Perry in 1854 and the inescapable opening of the country to trade, rapid efforts were made at reequipping Japan with modern fireams. Old matchlock weapons were recovered and converted to flintlock mechanisms.
The mounting civil war in Japan and the opposition of various feudal lords against the Bakufu during the Late Tokugawa Shogunate led to serious rearming until the 1867 Boshin war
. At the same time technological progress was extremely fast in the West, with the introduction of the rifle
, breech-loading and even repeating firearms, so that Japanese armies were equipped with composite technologies, with weapons imported from countries as varied as France
, Germany
, The Netherlands, Britain
or the United States
, and coexisting with traditional Tanegashima guns.
During the Boshin war
, most Shogunate vassal troops used Gewehr
smoothbore guns. These guns were rather ancient and had limited capabilities, with an effective lethal range of about 50 meters, and a firing rate of about 2 rounds per minute. Much more effective Minié rifle
s were also used by the armies directly under the command of the Shogun
, the Bakufu troops. The Daimyo of Nagaoka
, an ally of the Shogun, possessed two Gatling guns and several thousand modern rifles. The Shogunate is known to have placed an order for 30,000 modern Dreyse needle guns
in 1866. In 1867, orders were placed for 40,000 state-of-the-art French Chassepot
rifles, a part of which reached Edo
by year end. Antiquated Tanegashima
matchlock guns are also known to have been used by the Bakufu however.
Imperial troops mainly used Minié rifles, which were much more accurate, lethal, and had a much longer range than the smoothbore Gewehr guns, although, being also muzzle-loading, they were similarly limited to two shots per minute. Improved breech-loading mechanisms, such as the Snider, developing a rate of about ten shots a minute, are known to have been used by troops of the Tosa Domain
against the Shogunate's Shōgitai
, at the Battle of Ueno
in July 1868. In the second half of the conflict, in the northeast theater, Tosa Province
troops are known to have used American-made Spencer repeating rifle
s. American-made handguns were also popular, such as the 1863 Smith & Wesson Army No 2
, which was imported to Japan by the Scottish trader Thomas Blake Glover
and used by the Satsuma forces.
For some time after the Meiji Restoration
, Japan continued to use imported weapons. The newly created Imperial Japanese Army
used firearms intensively against more traditional samurai
rebellious forces during the Satsuma rebellion
in 1877, with an average of 320,000 rounds of ammunition fired daily during the conflict. After the Satsuma rebellion, Japan relied extensively on the French Chassepot.
Japan finally developed its own model, the Murata rifle
, derived from the French Fusil Gras mle 1874
. This was Japan's first locally made service rifle, and was used from 1880 to 1898. An industrial infrastructure, such as the Koishikawa arsenal
had to be established to produce such new weapons.
Later, Japan developed the very successful Arisaka
series, which was used until the end of World War II
.
After the end of the war, the dissolution of the Imperial Japanese Army
, and the establishment of the Japan Self-Defense Forces
in 1947, Japan relied on M1 Garand
rifles given to it by the United States. Since the mid-1950s however, Japan's Defense Agency started to develop battle rifle
s of its own, such as the Howa Type 64
and assault rifle
s like the Howa Type 89
which has been gradually replacing the former.
Firearm
A firearm is a weapon that launches one, or many, projectile at high velocity through confined burning of a propellant. This subsonic burning process is technically known as deflagration, as opposed to supersonic combustion known as a detonation. In older firearms, the propellant was typically...
s were introduced to Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
in the 13th century. Following an intense development, with strong local manufacture during the period of conflicts of the 16th century, Japan then almost completely abandoned firearms through a policy of forced disarmament, helped by a policy of seclusion, sakoku
Sakoku
was the foreign relations policy of Japan under which no foreigner could enter nor could any Japanese leave the country on penalty of death. The policy was enacted by the Tokugawa shogunate under Tokugawa Iemitsu through a number of edicts and policies from 1633–39 and remained in effect until...
. The usage of firearms in Japan would start again after 1854 with the resumption of contacts with the West and the accumulation of conflicts from that period.
Tetsuho
These weapons were very basic, as they had no trigger or sights, and could not bear comparison with the more advanced European weapons which were introduced in Japan more than 250 years later.
Tanegashima (matchlock)
The first documented introduction of the matchlock which became known as the tanegashima was through the PortuguesePortuguese people
The Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....
in 1543. The tanegashima seems to have been based on snap matchlocks
Snapping matchlock
Snapping Matchlock is a type of matchlock mechanism used to ignite early firearms. It was used in Europe from about 1475 to 1640, and in Japan from 1543 till about 1880.-Description:...
that were produced in the armory of Goa India, which was captured by the Portuguese in 1510. The name tanegashima came from the island where a Chinese junk with Portuguese adventurers on board was driven to anchor by a storm. The lord of the Japanese island Tanegashima Tokitaka (1528–1579) purchased two matchlock rifles from the Portuguese and put a sword smith to work copying the matchlock barrel and firing mechanism. Within a few years the use of the tanegashima in battle forever changed the way war was fought in Japan.
From 1560, firearms were used in large battles in Japan.
In his memoirs published in 1614, the Portuguese adventurer turned author Mendes Pinto
Fernão Mendes Pinto
Fernão Mendes Pinto was a Portuguese explorer and writer. His exploits are known through the posthumous publication of his memoir Pilgrimage in 1614, an autobiographical work whose truthfulness is nearly impossible to assess...
placed himself in that first landing party, although this claim has been roundly discredited and in fact contradicts his claims to be simultaneously in Burma at the time. However, Pinto does appear to have visited Tanegashima soon thereafter.
Sengoku period
Japan was at war during the Sengoku periodSengoku period
The or Warring States period in Japanese history was a time of social upheaval, political intrigue, and nearly constant military conflict that lasted roughly from the middle of the 15th century to the beginning of the 17th century. The name "Sengoku" was adopted by Japanese historians in reference...
between 1467 and 1573, as feudal lords vied for supremacy. Matchlock
Matchlock
The matchlock was the first mechanism, or "lock" invented to facilitate the firing of a hand-held firearm. This design removed the need to lower by hand a lit match into the weapon's flash pan and made it possible to have both hands free to keep a firm grip on the weapon at the moment of firing,...
guns were used extensively and had a decisive role in warfare. In 1549, Oda Nobunaga
Oda Nobunaga
was the initiator of the unification of Japan under the shogunate in the late 16th century, which ruled Japan until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was also a major daimyo during the Sengoku period of Japanese history. His opus was continued, completed and finalized by his successors Toyotomi...
ordered 500 guns to be made for his armies. The benefits of firearms were still relatively questionable however compared to other weapons. At the time, guns were still rather primitive and cumbersome. According to one estimate in 16th century Japan, an archer could fire 15 arrows in the time a gunner would take to load, charge, and shoot a firearm. Effective range also was only 80 to 100 meters, and at that distance a bullet could easily bounce off armour. Also, matchlocks were vulnerable to humid or rainy conditions as the powder would become damp. However firearms could be manned effectively by farmers or non-samurai
Samurai
is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...
low-ranking soldiers.
The Japanese soon worked on various techniques to improve the effectiveness of their guns. They developed serial firing technique to create a continuous rain of bullets on the enemy. They also developed bigger calibers to increase lethal power. Protective boxes in lacquerware
Lacquerware
Lacquerware are objects decoratively covered with lacquer. The lacquer is sometimes inlaid or carved. Lacquerware includes boxes, tableware, buttons and even coffins painted with lacquer in cultures mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere.-History:...
were invented to be able to fire matchlocks in the rain,, as well as systems to accurately fire weapons at night by keeping a fixed angles thanks to measured strings.
As a result, in the year 1567 Takeda Shingen
Takeda Shingen
, of Kai Province, was a preeminent daimyo in feudal Japan with exceptional military prestige in the late stage of the Sengoku period.-Name:Shingen was called "Tarō" or "Katsuchiyo" during his childhood...
announced that "Hereafter, the guns will be the most important arms. Therefore decrease the number of spears per unit, and have your most capable men carry guns". At the Battle of Nagashino
Battle of Nagashino
The ' took place in 1575 near Nagashino Castle on the plain of Shitaragahara in the Mikawa province of Japan. Forces under Takeda Katsuyori had besieged the castle since the 17th of June; Okudaira Sadamasa , a Tokugawa vassal, commanded the defending force...
in 1575, 3,000 gunners helped win the battle, firing by volleys of 1,000 at a time, and concealed across a river and breastwork to effectively stop enemy infantry and cavalry charges while being protected.
Japan became so enthusiastic about the new weapons that it possibly overtook every European country in absolute numbers produced. Japan also used the guns in the Japanese invasion of Korea in 1592, in which about a quarter of the invasion force of 160,000 were gunners. They were extremely successful at first and managed to capture Seoul
Seoul
Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...
just 18 days after their landing at Pusan.
Closed Japan (1631–1854)
The internal war in Japan was won by Tokugawa IeyasuTokugawa Ieyasu
was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan , which ruled from the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Ieyasu seized power in 1600, received appointment as shogun in 1603, abdicated from office in 1605, but...
, who established the Tokugawa Shogunate
Tokugawa shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...
, a powerful entity that would maintain peace and prosperity in Japan for the following 250 years. From the mid 17th century, Japan decided to close itself to interraction with the West through its policy of Sakoku
Sakoku
was the foreign relations policy of Japan under which no foreigner could enter nor could any Japanese leave the country on penalty of death. The policy was enacted by the Tokugawa shogunate under Tokugawa Iemitsu through a number of edicts and policies from 1633–39 and remained in effect until...
. The proliferation of guns was severely controlled, leading to their near-total abandonment. The reasons were numerous: the samurai themselves much preferred swords and disliked guns as they were challenging the traditional ways; after Tokugawa's victory guns were less needed as Japan's island nature and dense population protected it from invasion; and finally, the increasing political distance from the West in and of itself also affected the popularity of this eminently Western weapon. The Shimabara rebellion
Shimabara Rebellion
The was an uprising largely involving Japanese peasants, most of them Catholic Christians, in 1637–1638 during the Edo period.It was one of only a handful of instances of serious unrest during the relatively peaceful period of the Tokugawa shogunate's rule...
in 1637 was the last major conflict in which firearms were used before modern times.
Firearms production and usage in Japan ceased for two centuries. Even new technological developments were not considered: in 1636 a Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
trade mission offered the Shogun
Shogun
A was one of the hereditary military dictators of Japan from 1192 to 1867. In this period, the shoguns, or their shikken regents , were the de facto rulers of Japan though they were nominally appointed by the emperor...
a dozen flintlock
Flintlock
Flintlock is the general term for any firearm based on the flintlock mechanism. The term may also apply to the mechanism itself. Introduced at the beginning of the 17th century, the flintlock rapidly replaced earlier firearm-ignition technologies, such as the doglock, matchlock and wheellock...
pistol
Pistol
When distinguished as a subset of handguns, a pistol is a handgun with a chamber that is integral with the barrel, as opposed to a revolver, wherein the chamber is separate from the barrel as a revolving cylinder. Typically, pistols have an effective range of about 100 feet.-History:The pistol...
s, without effect.
Resuming the study of firearms
A few Japanese started to study and experiment with recent Western firearms from the beginning of the 19th century especially as a means to repel the visits of foreign ships, such as the British frigateFrigate
A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...
HMS Phaeton in 1808. Through the process of Rangaku
Rangaku
Rangaku is a body of knowledge developed by Japan through its contacts with the Dutch enclave of Dejima, which allowed Japan to keep abreast of Western technology and medicine in the period when the country was closed to foreigners, 1641–1853, because of the Tokugawa shogunate’s policy of national...
(the studying of Western science through the Dutch), airguns were developed by Kunitomo Ikkansai
Kunitomo Ikkansai
was a Japanese gun manufacturer of the early 19th century, who, after having spent several months in Edo where he could get accustomed with Dutch wares, built Japan's first reflective telescope in 1831. It was of the Gregorian type....
circa 1820–1830. From 1828, experiments were made with flintlock
Flintlock
Flintlock is the general term for any firearm based on the flintlock mechanism. The term may also apply to the mechanism itself. Introduced at the beginning of the 17th century, the flintlock rapidly replaced earlier firearm-ignition technologies, such as the doglock, matchlock and wheellock...
mechanisms.
The Nagasaki
Nagasaki
is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Nagasaki was founded by the Portuguese in the second half of the 16th century on the site of a small fishing village, formerly part of Nishisonogi District...
samurai Takashima Shūhan
Takashima Shūhan
was a Japanese samurai and military engineer. He is significant in having started to import flintlock guns from the Netherlands at the end of Japan's period of Seclusion, during the Late Tokugawa Shogunate. Throughout his life Takashima Shūhan was one of those early Japanese reformists who argued...
(高島秋帆) started to import flintlock guns from the Netherlands known as Gewehr
Gewehr
Gewehr is the German word for a military rifle. Previous to the 1840s, rifled guns were not widespread, usually muzzle-loading and termed Büchse, as they are still in German hunting jargon today...
from the 1840s. He made the first modern Western military demonstration for the Tokugawa Shogunate
Tokugawa shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...
, in Tokumarugahara (North of Edo
Edo
, also romanized as Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of the Japanese capital Tokyo, and was the seat of power for the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868...
) on 27 June 1841.
With the arrival of Commodore Perry in 1854 and the inescapable opening of the country to trade, rapid efforts were made at reequipping Japan with modern fireams. Old matchlock weapons were recovered and converted to flintlock mechanisms.
Conflicts up to the Boshin war (1867)
Boshin War
The was a civil war in Japan, fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and those seeking to return political power to the imperial court....
. At the same time technological progress was extremely fast in the West, with the introduction of the rifle
Rifle
A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the...
, breech-loading and even repeating firearms, so that Japanese armies were equipped with composite technologies, with weapons imported from countries as varied as France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, The Netherlands, Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
or the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and coexisting with traditional Tanegashima guns.
During the Boshin war
Boshin War
The was a civil war in Japan, fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and those seeking to return political power to the imperial court....
, most Shogunate vassal troops used Gewehr
Gewehr
Gewehr is the German word for a military rifle. Previous to the 1840s, rifled guns were not widespread, usually muzzle-loading and termed Büchse, as they are still in German hunting jargon today...
smoothbore guns. These guns were rather ancient and had limited capabilities, with an effective lethal range of about 50 meters, and a firing rate of about 2 rounds per minute. Much more effective Minié rifle
Minié rifle
The Minié rifle was an important rifle in the 19th century, developed in 1849 following the invention of the Minié ball in 1847 by the French Army captains Claude-Étienne Minié of the Chasseurs d'Orléans and Henri-Gustave Delvigne. The rifle was designed to allow rapid muzzle loading of rifles, an...
s were also used by the armies directly under the command of the Shogun
Shogun
A was one of the hereditary military dictators of Japan from 1192 to 1867. In this period, the shoguns, or their shikken regents , were the de facto rulers of Japan though they were nominally appointed by the emperor...
, the Bakufu troops. The Daimyo of Nagaoka
Nagaoka, Niigata
is a city located in the central part of Niigata Prefecture, Japan. It is the second largest city in the prefecture, behind the capital city of Niigata...
, an ally of the Shogun, possessed two Gatling guns and several thousand modern rifles. The Shogunate is known to have placed an order for 30,000 modern Dreyse needle guns
Needle gun
The Dreyse needle-gun was a military breechloading rifle, famous as the main infantry weapon of the Prussians, who adopted it for service in 1848 as the Dreyse Zündnadelgewehr, or Prussian Model 1848...
in 1866. In 1867, orders were placed for 40,000 state-of-the-art French Chassepot
Chassepot
The Chassepot, officially known as Fusil modèle 1866, was a bolt action military breechloading rifle, famous as the arm of the French forces in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and 1871. It replaced an assortment of Minie muzzleloading rifles many of which were converted in 1867 to breech loading...
rifles, a part of which reached Edo
Edo
, also romanized as Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of the Japanese capital Tokyo, and was the seat of power for the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868...
by year end. Antiquated Tanegashima
Tanegashima
is an island lying to the south of Kyushu, in southern Japan, and is part of Kagoshima Prefecture. The island is the second largest of the Ōsumi Islands....
matchlock guns are also known to have been used by the Bakufu however.
Imperial troops mainly used Minié rifles, which were much more accurate, lethal, and had a much longer range than the smoothbore Gewehr guns, although, being also muzzle-loading, they were similarly limited to two shots per minute. Improved breech-loading mechanisms, such as the Snider, developing a rate of about ten shots a minute, are known to have been used by troops of the Tosa Domain
Tosa Domain
The was a feudal domain in Tosa Province of Japan during the Edo period. Its official name is . Some from the domain played important roles in events in the late Tokugawa shogunate...
against the Shogunate's Shōgitai
Shōgitai
The Shōgitai was an elite corps of the Shogunate during the Bakumatsu period in Japan. The Shōgitai took a large part in the battles of the Boshin war, especially at the Battle of Toba-Fushimi, and the Battle of Ueno, where they were nearly exterminated....
, at the Battle of Ueno
Battle of Ueno
The Battle of Ueno was a battle of the Boshin War, which occurred on July 4, 1868 , between the troops of the Shōgitai under Shibusawa Seiichirō and Amano Hachirō, and Imperial "Kangun" troops....
in July 1868. In the second half of the conflict, in the northeast theater, Tosa Province
Tosa Province
is the name of a former province of Japan in the area that is today Kōchi Prefecture on Shikoku. Tosa was bordered by Iyo and Awa Provinces. It was sometimes called .-History:The ancient capital was near modern Nankoku...
troops are known to have used American-made Spencer repeating rifle
Spencer repeating rifle
The Spencer repeating rifle was a manually operated lever-action, repeating rifle fed from a tube magazine with cartridges. It was adopted by the Union Army, especially by the cavalry, during the American Civil War, but did not replace the standard issue muzzle-loading rifled muskets in use at the...
s. American-made handguns were also popular, such as the 1863 Smith & Wesson Army No 2
Smith & Wesson
Smith & Wesson is the largest manufacturer of handguns in the United States. The corporate headquarters is in Springfield, Massachusetts. Founded in 1852, Smith & Wesson's pistols and revolvers have become standard issue to police and armed forces throughout the world...
, which was imported to Japan by the Scottish trader Thomas Blake Glover
Thomas Blake Glover
Thomas Blake Glover, Order of the Rising Sun was a Scottish merchant in Bakumatsu and Meiji period Japan.-Early life :...
and used by the Satsuma forces.
Modern period
Meiji Restoration
The , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, Reform or Renewal, was a chain of events that restored imperial rule to Japan in 1868...
, Japan continued to use imported weapons. The newly created Imperial Japanese Army
Imperial Japanese Army
-Foundation:During the Meiji Restoration, the military forces loyal to the Emperor were samurai drawn primarily from the loyalist feudal domains of Satsuma and Chōshū...
used firearms intensively against more traditional samurai
Samurai
is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...
rebellious forces during the Satsuma rebellion
Satsuma Rebellion
The was a revolt of Satsuma ex-samurai against the Meiji government from January 29 to September 24, 1877, 9 years into the Meiji Era. It was the last, and the most serious, of a series of armed uprisings against the new government.-Background:...
in 1877, with an average of 320,000 rounds of ammunition fired daily during the conflict. After the Satsuma rebellion, Japan relied extensively on the French Chassepot.
Japan finally developed its own model, the Murata rifle
Murata rifle
The Murata Rifle was the first indigenously produced Japanese service rifle adopted in 1880 as the Murata Type 13. The 13 referred to the adoption date, the year 13 in the Meiji period according to the Japanese calendar....
, derived from the French Fusil Gras mle 1874
Fusil Gras mle 1874
The Fusil Gras Modèle 1874 M80 was a French rifle of the 19th century. The Gras used by the French Army was an adaptation to metallic cartridge of the Chassepot breech-loading rifle by colonel Basile Gras. This rifle was an 11 mm caliber and used black powder centerfire cartridges that weighed...
. This was Japan's first locally made service rifle, and was used from 1880 to 1898. An industrial infrastructure, such as the Koishikawa arsenal
Koishikawa arsenal
The , formally was an arsenal in the Koishikawa area of Tokyo, on the grounds of today's Tokyo Dome City and the Koishikawa Kōrakuen Garden. It was located on the ground of the former residence of the Prince of Mito....
had to be established to produce such new weapons.
Later, Japan developed the very successful Arisaka
Arisaka
Arisaka is a family of Japanese military bolt action rifles, in production from approximately 1898, when it replaced the Murata rifle, until the end of World War II in 1945...
series, which was used until the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
After the end of the war, the dissolution of the Imperial Japanese Army
Imperial Japanese Army
-Foundation:During the Meiji Restoration, the military forces loyal to the Emperor were samurai drawn primarily from the loyalist feudal domains of Satsuma and Chōshū...
, and the establishment of the Japan Self-Defense Forces
Japan Self-Defense Forces
The , or JSDF, occasionally referred to as JSF or SDF, are the unified military forces of Japan that were established after the end of the post–World War II Allied occupation of Japan. For most of the post-war period the JSDF was confined to the islands of Japan and not permitted to be deployed...
in 1947, Japan relied on M1 Garand
M1 Garand
The M1 Garand , was the first semi-automatic rifle to be generally issued to the infantry of any nation. Called "the greatest battle implement ever devised" by General George S...
rifles given to it by the United States. Since the mid-1950s however, Japan's Defense Agency started to develop battle rifle
Battle rifle
A battle rifle is a military service rifle that fires a full power rifle cartridge, such as 7.62x51mm NATO. While the designation of battle rifle is usually given to post-World War II select fire infantry rifles such as the H&K G3, the FN FAL or the M14, this term can also apply to older military...
s of its own, such as the Howa Type 64
Howa Type 64
The , is a Japanese battle rifle used exclusively by the Japan Self-Defense Forces and the Japanese Coast Guard. It is a gas-operated, selective fire weapon which is chambered for the 7.62x51mm NATO round and uses a detachable 20-round box magazine. The Type 64 was never exported outside of Japan...
and assault rifle
Assault rifle
An assault rifle is a selective fire rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge and a detachable magazine. Assault rifles are the standard infantry weapons in most modern armies...
s like the Howa Type 89
Howa Type 89
The , referred to as the , is a Japanese assault rifle used by the Japan Self-Defense Forces, the Japan Coast Guard's Special Security Team units, and the Special Assault Team. It was never exported outside of Japan due to its strict anti-hardware export laws...
which has been gradually replacing the former.
Further reading
- Jansen, Marius BMarius JansenMarius Berthus Jansen was an American academic, historian, and Emeritus Professor of Japanese History at Princeton University....
(2000). The Making of Modern Japan. Cambridge: Harvard University PressHarvard University PressHarvard University Press is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. In 2005, it published 220 new titles. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. Its current director is William P...
. 10-ISBN 0674003349/13-ISBN 9780674003347; OCLC 44090600