"Tanegashima" Matchlock Hand Cannon

Culture Japanese

Date1800s

Mediumiron, wood, copper and copper alloys, silver

Dimensions131 × 14 × 20 cm (51 9/16 × 5 1/2 × 7 7/8 in.)
126 lb (weight)

ClassificationsArms and Armor

MarkingsUnderside of barrel marked "350 me" (The weight of the shot).

Credit LineThe John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection

Terms

Object number2014.782

DescriptionIron barreled hand cannon. The barrel and gunlock are inlaid with gold and silver characters and foliage. 6cm bore.
Label TextFirearms were first introduced to Japan by shipwrecked Portuguese merchants in 1543. Within a few years the Japanese were producing superior-quality firearms of their own in vast quantities. After Tokugawa Ieyasu became shogun in 1603, he strictly controlled firearms, fearing that they would undermine the old samurai order--as indeed they did to the knights of medieval Europe. Hand-cannons like this were sometimes used against castle gates, but this one was made in the peaceful world of Edo-period Japan, and its function was purely ceremonial. This one bears an inscription that reads: "The Mountain Piercing Gun: The force will oppress stones, and the fury of the sound will penetrate into the fortress. So great is this one gun, that it can even bring down ten thousand mountains!"ProvenanceCollection transfer from Higgins Armory, January 2014.

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