Edo era firearms › Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion

« Back To Picture of the Day Top

PHOTO BY TOM WARD

Tuesday 30th September, 06:33 AM JST

A demonstration of Edo era firearms is held at the Shinagawa Shukuba Festival.

Latest 15 of 32 Total Comments Show All

outofmydepth at 03:33 PM JST - 30th September

i think it is really really cool. love it.
chardk1 at 03:40 PM JST - 30th September

I'm surprised the Koreans and Chinese didn't protest this blatant glorification of period Japanese aggression.
nandakandamanda at 03:53 PM JST - 30th September

chardk1 Most of the fighting like this was done between the Japanese themselves in the Muromachi and early Edo Periods, and at the end of Edo to protect Japan against the Western barbarians who were threatening to do to Japan what they had done to China.

Admittedly there was a period when Hideyoshi took his troops to Korea towards the end of the Momoyama dressed like this, and the Koreans are proud of the role that their turtle ships played in repelling those invasions. The Koreans and Chinese dressed in armour/armour and used similar guns, and different ones too, to fight back.

In my experience there is no consciousness among the practitioners of these displays of any non-Japanese enemy. The faceless enemy is a Japanese army, or a Japanese castle. I speak as the only Westerner to be doing this on a regular basis.

Actually I think you are trying to stir a pot that doesn't need stirring here.
chibaman at 04:05 PM JST - 30th September

I wish the cops today would dress like this. Then when they're sitting around doing nothing I could get a good picture of them.
Smythe at 04:19 PM JST - 30th September

In reality those single shot rifles probably weighed a TON. I know this because we have a Black Powder group & each time I am handled a h/gun or rifle I am utterly amazed at the weight compared to modern rifles, shotguns or h/guns.
chardk1 at 04:21 PM JST - 30th September

chardk1 Most of the fighting like this was done between the Japanese themselves in the Muromachi and early Edo Periods, and at the end of Edo to protect Japan against the Western barbarians who were threatening to do to Japan what they had done to China.

I was being sarcastic, sorry if that wasn't clear.
apecNetworks at 05:47 PM JST - 30th September

This is VERY strange to say, but the basic structure of those armor suits are viable in modern warfare - composition of the small plates would be blast resistant ceramics. Cooling and flexibility is inherent in the design, and could be lightweight. Musings from late night study on ancient warfare.
nandakandamanda at 06:02 PM JST - 30th September

chardk1 No problem, mate! The trouble with this site is many people do not pick up on the sarcasm, and my first thought was, "Uh oh, here we go again!" (Very very tired after the whole Dokdo episode, LOL)

apecNetworks. A brother! I spend a lot of my time thinking the same things! If a Japanese blade was said to be the sharpest and strongest weapon around, then what kind of armor/armour could stop it? It had to be light and flexible and super hard, with materials commonly available hundreds of years ago.
Noripinhead at 06:02 PM JST - 30th September

Yeah, those guys were the inspiration for the Imperial Stormtroopers. Clones in armor. Same basic concept. One of them can now be seen dancing in the streets of Tokyo on occasion.
KitsuneYoukai at 04:15 AM JST - 1st October

Looks fantastic; wished I could have been there.
ThreeTigers at 05:30 AM JST - 1st October

Very well said, Nandakandaamanda! I also enjoy Japanese history too. :-)
tMMt at 10:37 PM JST - 1st October

Nandakandamanda - Thanks for the info, I hadn't realized that kind of re-enactment was popular here. I will pay more attention to the paper...
nandakandamanda at 01:27 PM JST - 2nd October

Smythe. Most of the long guns they are firing weigh 5-10 kg, but the one you see at this end of the line looks like a 6-10 Monme Samurai gun, a Shi-zutsu, which probably weighs a bit more.

As part of the display some groups will fire larger 'hand cannons' of 20, 30, 50, or sometimes 100 Monme, which can weigh over 30 kgs.

PS Although we think of diameter of inside of barrel, Monme is the unit of weight for the ball. (Rather than 'caliber' or 'bore'.)Thus a 10 Monme gun would fire a lead ball of 37.5 grams, (.70 caliber?) and 100 Monme gun shot would weigh 375 grams.
nandakandamanda at 01:41 PM JST - 2nd October

PS The weights above are very approximate and may be considerably off.

Used this site: http://www.japaneseweapons.net/hinawajyu/index.htm

but it is rumoured/rumored to have some inaccuracies in the Japanese and English pages. Treat with a pinch of salt.
nandakandamanda at 01:55 PM JST - 2nd October

PPS If you were unable to get off the Japanese page to the English Home Page, try this: http://www.japaneseweapons.net/