More Vintage Slices
Here are some more vintage photos of Japan and cultural and historical artifacts from my collection. There are LOTS of photos, and some are slow to load, so please be patient:
Splendid pair of ukiyo-e (woodblock prints) on washi (handmade paper) of a samurai armed with bow. These prints were used to illustrate a Japanese encyclopedia circa 1850s-'70s.
Edo period war yumi (bow) from 17th-18th century of the type wielded by the samurai in the prints above. These bows were extremely difficult to use -- they usually had a pull of 50 to 60 pounds -- and their effectiveness and deadliness are legendary. Eighty-four inches long.
Japanese yanone or yajiri (arrowheads) came in a variety of sizes and shapes, depending on their purpose. Some were intended as temple or shrine offerings, others were presented as keepsakes. This Edo-period togari-ya yajiri is of a type intended strictly for battle. Arrowheads, like swords, were hand-forged of folded steel and usually featured sharpened edges that enhanced their deadly effect. This one was made to pierce armor.
Teppo, or matchlock, this one in an uncommon pistol size, about .70 caliber, 17.25 inches long, weighing 4.5 pounds and made circa 1700-1800. The first European contact with Japan was in 1543, when three shipwrecked Portuguese sailors arrived on the island of Tanegashima, off the coast of Kyushu, Japan's southernmost main island. They brought with them something the vast majority of Japanese hadn't seen before: firearms. This new technology was quickly embraced by the Japanese, who at first called their domestically made matchlocks Tanegashima, a reference to their point of entry. The Japanese in short order became the largest manufacturer of firearms in the world, and also employed more of them in battle than any European power of the time. But after the 1500s, firearms came to be used less and less, and for a number of reasons: After 1637, Japan was a relatively peaceful place, and the need for weapons of any kind grew less acute; the Tokugawa shogunate tightly regulated firearms manufacture, ensuring that only a certain number of people would be able to own such potentially devastating weapons; there is a strong link between the Japanese psyche and the sword, whereas no such link with the gun existed, at least not yet; and fighting an enemy at a distance, having to rely on nothing more than fair aim and a pull of the trigger, was seen as distasteful, even barbaric, by the warrior class. Thus, focus returned to the sword, lance and bow, and firearms production fell off. When the Meiji restoration came about in 1868 and civil war ensued, many of these old matchlocks were dusted off and saw use in the hands of a new generation of soldiers. It's quite possible that this teppo was used during that struggle. Even though the iron barrels of these weapons were decades, if not centuries, old, their quality allowed such renewed use long after they were forged. Interestingly, Japanese firearms technology evolved little from 1543 through the first half of the 19th century. When U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry came to Japan in 1853, matchlocks were still the only type of firearm in use.
Most teppo were musket or carbine size, and were used mostly but not exclusively by a class of warrior known as ashigaru, or common foot soldiers. Pistol-size teppo -- known as tantsutsu (tan = short, tsutsu = barrel) were meant to be used on horseback, and only high-level samurai were accorded the privilege of owning a horse. In the bottom photo, you'll notice brass inlay of a kamon, or family crest, in this case of the powerful Hosokawa family. Thus, this weapon likely belonged to a member of that clan. The second photo from the bottom shows the lead ball fired by this weapon, placed alongside a U.S. 25-cent piece for scale.
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