Teppou Gun
The marksmen were formed into groups called teppo tai.
Teppou gun. Matchlock rifle or teppo had been in service in japan from the first arrival of european sailors in 1545 up to the arrival of americans in 1862 at 317 years the teppo has the longest service time of all firearms. Tanegashima most often called in japanese and sometimes in english hinawajū 火縄銃 matchlock gun was a type of matchlock configured arquebus firearm introduced to japan through the portuguese empire in 1543. Though before the introduction. Matchlocks were introduced to japan from the western world in 1543.
In the hekizan nichiroku. Further to this ninjas created handy guns as secret weapons called nigiri teppo 握り鉄砲. Though some forms of gunpowder weapons existed in japan earlier having been introduced from china via korea or the ryukyus european firearms made a major impact upon sengoku period samurai warfare. Known today in japan mainly as hinawaju 火縄銃 literally fire rope gun or as teppo 鉄砲 meaning iron gun or less often as tanegashima種子島 that is the name of the island where the portuguese traditionally first brought this type of weapon to japan and the island s name has been used as a noun for them ever since especially amongst collectors.
The matchlock guns of the samurai era were known as either hinawaju 火縄銃 fire rope gun or teppo 鉄砲 steel tube gun. Tanegashima were used by the samurai class and their ashigaru foot soldiers and within a few years the introduction of the tanegashima in battle changed the way war was. The 400 grain loads seem to have the most unpleasant recoil impulse the 300 grain does not appear that bad nor does the 500 and 600 grain subsonic load. On the eve of the aforementioned ounin war a ryukyuan official visit in 1466 made use of teppou to fire in the air as recorded by a buddhist monk to impress the ashikaga court in kyoto.
Recoil is subjective however most of the folks who have shot it tend to use the comparison to either a 20 or 12 gauge shot gun. Generally speaking the construction of a gun is quite simple. Teppo jutsu refers to the art of the rifle a warrior art practiced in feudal japan by the samurai.
Tanegashima teppó rifle is a japanese matchlock rifle which was introduced to japan by the portuguese around 1543.