Naval Battles and Guns

The fact that Manabe Clan was given about 600 kg of gunpowder a month suggests that they had considerable number of guns and that they were actually using the guns, and also implies how Nobunaga Navies were organized. These years have witnessed a significant progress of the study over medieval weapons, as they came to be argued from the view point of the political history too. Guns, representative weapons in the Age of Provincial Wars, have been argued over how they were introduced into Japan. There are 3 main types of arguments. The first argument is the most popular belief that guns were introduced by Portuguese who drifted ashore on Tanega-shima Island in the 12th year of Tensho, or in 1543. Against the belief, Mr. Takehisa Udagawa examined remains of guns and related documents, and presented the second argument that guns’ introduction through Tanegas-shima Island is just a case and that Wako brought guns which they had used in Southeast Asia. The third argument was offered by Mr. Shosuke Murai, who had elaborately and extensively researched historical documents. It was Wang Zhi, a major figure among Post-Wako, who were mainly Chinese smugglers, and his Chinese junk that brought Portuguese with guns used in Southeast Asia to Tanega-shima Island. Those arguments are very interesting and suggest there used to be varieties of routes to introduce guns to Ryukyu and even to the coasts of Japanese Sea mediated by Wako. We are going to read a document which tells us, even a quarter century before the famous Nagashino Battle, in which Oda Nobunaga, with his 3000 guns, overpowered then famous Takeda’s cavalry, the usage of guns was introduced in Inland Sea. Bairin Shuryu, a monk in Tofuku-ji Temple in Kyoto, wrote about a sea battle with guns in his diary on September 19, in the 19th year of Tenmon, or in 1450. Around noon, when they were sailing off Hibi, Bizen (today’s Tamano City, Okayama), their ship was approached by a pirate ship. Negotiations were carried between the two ships, and failed. A battle was started. Pirates shot arrows, and the ship Bairin on board fought back with guns. The pirates ended up with many injured. Guns with a range of about 500 meters had an advantage over arrows with a range of about 380 meters. Especially in naval battles where longer ranges mattered, guns must have been employed swiftly. War lords in Western Japan who organized navies exploited guns eagerly. Otomo Clan’s big gun, Kuni Kuzushi (namely State Destroyer) was a well-known example. Later in naval battles during the Japanese Invasion of Korea, or the Imjin War, cannons and guns were key weapons. Even Yi Sun-shin (1545-1598), a famous Korean navy admiral, was shot to death during the Battle of Noryang, the last naval battle at the end of the war.