Online dictionary of history and traditions in Japan: Tanegashima rifle

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Tanegashima rifle

種子島銃火縄銃
alternative words: Tanegashima gun, Tanegashimaju, Tanegashima ju, Tanegashima teppo, Tanegashima, Rifle, Teppo
keywords: weapon
related topics: Sengoku period , Oda nobunaga , Battle of Nagashino
related web sites: http://www5a.biglobe.ne.jp/~kaze_k/special-02.htm
explanation: In 1543, a Chinese ship carrying Portuguese had wrecked on Tanegashima island. Local seignior, Tanegashima Tokitaka bought 2 rifles from Portuguese and asked a blacksmith to imitate them. Japan being at a civil war period (Sengoku jidai), this new weapon had spread quickly all over Japan. At the famous battle of Nagashino in 1575 near Nagoya, Oda Nobunaga eliminated redoubtable Takeda's cavalry troops by aligning more than 1000 rifles (world's record of that period).