Firearms in Ryukyu
The Kingdom of Ryûkyû is known to have possessed firearms as early as the 1450s, if not earlier. They used a variety of gunpowder hand-weapons and cannon obtained from the Chinese, but did not make use of European-style arquebuses or cannon.
History
It is not clear exactly when firearms were introduced to Ryûkyû, but it is known that Ryûkyû enjoyed extensive trade with China, including trade in weapons, up until the 1450s, when a ban was placed on Fujian merchants selling weapons overseas, as these were needed to defend the coasts against wakô raids. It is believed that gunpowder and firearms were first introduced to Ryûkyû from China, through this trade, though the Chinese Court had officially forbidden selling sulphur, or saltpeter (ingredients for making gunpowder) or gunpowder itself, overseas.[1] The fact that Ryûkyû obtained weapons and gunpowder despite both of these bans is evidence that the China-Ryûkyû trade consisted not solely of the official tribute trade, but extended to smuggling as well. Ryûkyû had no need to trade for sulphur, though, at least, since the kingdom had a supply from Iôtorishima, a small island near Tokunoshima; in fact, sulphur was something Ryûkyû frequently sent overseas in exchange for other goods, and there was even a so-called Iô gusuku ("sulphur warehouse") in Naha harbor expressly for the purpose of storing the material imported from Iôtorishima.[2]
One of the earliest references to firearms in Ryûkyû is from the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty, dated to 1453. According to that record, in 1450, a number of Koreans were shipwrecked on the island of Kajajima, in the Tokara islands, which were claimed by both Ryûkyû and Satsuma. They were brought to Okinawa Island, and were granted an audience with King Shô Kinpuku, at which time a sort of "fire pipe" (火筒) was demonstrated for them, and they were instructed in its use. It is believed that this "fire pipe" was little different from the so-called "hand cannons" or "bird guns" which we see discussed more broadly, in Korea, China, and Japan as well, down into the 16th-17th centuries;[3] Another record, written by members of a party of Koreans shipwrecked in Ryûkyû in 1462, indicates that the "fire pipes" they saw in Ryûkyû were of the same type, size, and form as those they were familiar with in Korea.[1]
Historian Uezato Takashi points out that these episodes strongly imply that Ryûkyû already by this time had its own firearms experts, and was not merely relying upon imports from China, and Chinese experts.[3]
A Ryukyuan envoy in 1466 demonstrated one of these firearms before the Ashikaga shogun and his court; Stephen Turnbull describes this as the first gunpowder explosion to occur in Japan since the Mongol invasions,[4] when the Mongols made use of a sort of grenade or bomb.
The early Korean records allude to the presence of Ryukyuan individuals in charge of firearms, but it is unclear if indeed such a post or position existed at the time. The Ryûkyû-koku yuraiki indicates a "head of production of firearms / fire arrows" (O: hyaa shii du peechin) named Matsuuji (in the Japanese reading of the name) who is held to have introduced fireworks to Ryûkyû in 1479, so such a position seems to have been in place at that time. Furthermore, an official known as the boraakugami bugyô is known to have had gunpowder technology among his responsibilities.[5]
The European arquebus, introduced to Japan in 1543, never caught on in Ryûkyû, and the gunpowder weapons used were adapted from Chinese technology. Known as hyaa (火矢), or "fire arrows,"[6] they had short barrels, and essentially consisted of short, slightly conical iron tubes attached to wooden shafts. Some had three barrels. The weapon was held under the left arm while the right hand was used to light it. The Japanese made use of such weapons as well, as late as in the 1548 battle of Uedahara, but the superior European-style arquebus became more widely used after that.[7]
These Chinese-style weapons, or heavier versions of the same, were used extensively in castle defenses, not only at Shuri, but also at, for example, Nakijin gusuku, where gunports were explicitly installed above the castle's gates, and presumably at other gusuku (castles/fortresses)v as well.[8]
Turnbull surmises that techniques of firing in volleys were unfamiliar in Ryûkyû, contributing to their unpreparedness in the face of the samurai invaders from Satsuma han in 1609, who made extensive use of arquebuses and of volley-firing tactics.[7]
Ryûkyû also made use of a form of cannon called ishibiya, a term which later came to refer specifically to those which fired shots of one kanme in weight (3.75kg) or heavier. Ammunition of this type has been found in excavations at Shuri castle. Cannon were also mounted at Mie and Yarazamori gusuku which defended the port of Naha.[7]
References
- Uezato Takashi 上里隆史. "Ryûkyû no kaki ni tsuite" (琉球の火器, "The fireweapons in the Ryukyus"). Okinawa Bunka 沖縄文化. vol. 36:1, no. 91 (July 2000). pp73-92.
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Uezato. p77.
- ↑ Uezato. p78.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Uezato. p76.
- ↑ Turnbull, Stephen. The Samurai Capture a King: Okinawa 1609. Oxford: Osprey Press, 2009. p58.
- ↑ Uezato. pp77-78.
- ↑ Kadekawa Manabu. Okinawa Chanpurû Jiten. Tokyo: Yama-kei Publishers, 2001. p194.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Turnbull. pp26-27.
- ↑ Turnbull. p33.
