Tanegashima (Japanese matchlock)
Tanegashima (arcabuz japonés)
- Date
- 1543 · confidence medium
- Place
- Tanegashima, Kagoshima, Japan
- Credited to
- Smiths of Tanegashima (from Portuguese models)
- Field
- Conflict
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A matchlock arquebus adopted in Japan after Portuguese castaways reached Tanegashima island and copied within a few years by local smiths. Within decades Japan produced more firearms than any European country, with massive use in the Sengoku wars.
The 1543 date comes from Japanese chronicles (Teppō-ki, 1606) and is cross-checked with Portuguese sources giving 1542-1544; the famous 'three-volley fire' at Nagashino is much questioned by historians.
What it led to
- Oda Nobunaga's arquebusier tactics (Nagashino, 1575)
- the unification of Japan under Toyotomi and Tokugawa
- Japanese castles adapted to arquebus fire