07-16-2008, 02:36 PM
Its a double thing... Gunpowder was known since the first contacts with China and during several wars with Korea.
However it was deemed unsatisfactory untill in 1868 the country was opened to the west fully.
This didnt mean the Japanese Samurai did not see the advantage of gunpowder and guns during the sengoku period. However due to the closing of the nation to the west for 200 years beginning with the reign of the Tokugawa, except of course with the Netherlands, little information and renewals reached the shores of the Empire.
Guns were in the bushido tradition considered to be cowardly and unskilled. the same goes for cannon. The Bow (Yumi) however was a weapon which needed skill, and was therefore highly revered. Throughout the 400 years following the Tokugawa expulsion of foreigners the Japanese sword was metallurgically perfected, as well some of the lesser brave weapons like the guns available on the Islands.
During the Shimabara and later Satsuma rebellion the Shogun even chartered Dutch ships to bombard various positions of the enemy.
So, Weapons and gunpowder were not seen as mere trinkets, but the code of bushido which was the leading philosophy of the samurai did not account for these weapons to be linked to bravery, honour and self sacrifice.
The main weapon of the samurai was fire. the use of arsen as a weapon was a widespread one. It is something a lot of people tend to forget or overlook.
The want for perfection which made the Japanese sword such a formidable weapon was later displayed in the wartime inventions during the second world war, and even later is still visible in the striving to perfection in every part of Japanese present-day culture.
M.VIB.M.
However it was deemed unsatisfactory untill in 1868 the country was opened to the west fully.
This didnt mean the Japanese Samurai did not see the advantage of gunpowder and guns during the sengoku period. However due to the closing of the nation to the west for 200 years beginning with the reign of the Tokugawa, except of course with the Netherlands, little information and renewals reached the shores of the Empire.
Guns were in the bushido tradition considered to be cowardly and unskilled. the same goes for cannon. The Bow (Yumi) however was a weapon which needed skill, and was therefore highly revered. Throughout the 400 years following the Tokugawa expulsion of foreigners the Japanese sword was metallurgically perfected, as well some of the lesser brave weapons like the guns available on the Islands.
During the Shimabara and later Satsuma rebellion the Shogun even chartered Dutch ships to bombard various positions of the enemy.
So, Weapons and gunpowder were not seen as mere trinkets, but the code of bushido which was the leading philosophy of the samurai did not account for these weapons to be linked to bravery, honour and self sacrifice.
The main weapon of the samurai was fire. the use of arsen as a weapon was a widespread one. It is something a lot of people tend to forget or overlook.
The want for perfection which made the Japanese sword such a formidable weapon was later displayed in the wartime inventions during the second world war, and even later is still visible in the striving to perfection in every part of Japanese present-day culture.
M.VIB.M.
Bushido wa watashi no shuukyou de gozaru.
Katte Kabuto no O wo shimeyo!
H.J.Vrielink.
Katte Kabuto no O wo shimeyo!
H.J.Vrielink.
