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Post by american samurai on Mar 11, 2011 5:02:56 GMT
A recent ebay purchase.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 11, 2011 6:58:33 GMT
What an interesting piece. Details please? caliber. barrel length, weight, functional replica, historic original, wall hangar and materials?
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Post by american samurai on Mar 12, 2011 0:59:00 GMT
If there is any interest I can do a small pictorial on how to remove the barrel and lock assembly. This Tanegashima was supposed to have been brought back from Japan in the 1950s. It has all its parts and appears to be in working order. You can see the total length from end of the stock to the muzzle. I would need calipers to get the exact bore size but it appears to be around 50cal. It is signed on the under side of the barrel but I do not have any idea yet of the age.....any were from the 1800s on down. I have been told that it is of the "Chosu" style. Apparently the extra length of barrel going past the stock is the indicator of this, and I have been told that is is a fairly rare style.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2011 6:43:50 GMT
Very nice bang stick. Looks like a piece to be proud of.
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Post by ShooterMike on Mar 14, 2011 14:45:38 GMT
How does the tanegashima fit into Japanese history? I have heard various accounts of how the Japanese had matchlocks when they were new technology, but that they were outlawed. Is that correct? If so, why? Or were they commonly, or uncommonly, used in Japan in battle through the black powder era?
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Post by american samurai on Mar 15, 2011 4:29:51 GMT
Mike, although gunpowder and firearms were not unknown to the Japanese, is was during the 1500s that large scale manufacture of matchlocks "Tanegashima" happened. The Portuguese are credited with introducing the type of matchlock in the 1540s to the Japanese which became the standard samurai firearm, but these were not of Portuguese or even European design. The Japanese became so enthralled with this new weapon that they became one of, if not the largest producer of firearms in the world at the hight of manufacture. Once the country was brought under the control of a single unified government (with the help of matchlocks) the winning samurai leaders slowly cut back on further development and production of firearms. One reason for this reduction in firearms was that matchlocks were just to easy to use, any untrained farmer could kill a well trained samurai, and since the samurai were basically dictators with complete control of the country they did not want such an easy to use weapon openly available to just any farmer or peasant etc who might want to challenge the current regime. In the 1800s when the western world forced Japan to open its borders once again, the samurai leaders realized that they were no match for the well armed western nations and that is what caused the breakdown in the samurai run society which led to the Meiji period reformation in the 1860s and the formation of a modern army.
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Post by ShooterMike on Mar 15, 2011 14:13:25 GMT
Excellent post. So, extending that line of thought... The Meiji period led to a different kind of militarized Japan? Or did that come a bit later? With some period of military decline? I've never clearly understood that whole period of Samurai-to-modern-military evolution.
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Post by american samurai on Mar 17, 2011 4:37:13 GMT
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Post by jeimuzu on Apr 28, 2011 5:27:08 GMT
LUCKY!!! I want one so bad but dont have the funds.
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