Abstract
This chapter re-examines the significance of the diffusion of Japanese arquebuses in the Ming Dynasty at the end of the sixteenth century, a topic that thus far has been overlooked in studies of the history of the interchange of weaponry in East Asia.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
According to the fifth Book of Qi Jiguang’s Lianbing shiji zaji (Record of Military Training), written in around 1570–74, “This firearm (niaochong, arquebus) did not exist originally in China, and was firstly acquired from the Japanese (woyi)” (Qi 2001: 317). In other words, Qi Jiguang says that the arquebus derived from the Japanese.
- 3.
However, it cannot necessarily be concluded that the arquebuses deployed by the Ming before the Japanese invasion of Korea were copies of guns derived from Portugal and not copies of guns transferred by the Japanese in 1548. To resolve this problem, it is necessary to consider not only the details of the arquebuses that the Ming acquired from Portugal, but also the differences in capacity between the Japanese arquebuses of 1548 and those of 1592; there should have been various improvements in those 44 years.
- 4.
The text is in vol. 19, part 1 and part 2 of the Zhonghua wenshi congshu (Song 1968). The author of this work, Song Yingchang (1536–1606), was also known as Shixiang, and was from Renhe-xian. In 1565, he became a jinshi (examination degree holder). After holding the position of xunfu (grand coordinator) of Shandong Province, he was appointed as jinglue (military commissioner) to Korea in 1592, and traveled there. He was active thereafter as the highest officer of the Ming army in Korea, but was dismissed in the 12th month of 1593, Japan having stopped the fenggong plan (a tributary system investing the King of Japan as a vassal of the Chinese Emperor and receiving their tribute). The Jinglue fuguo yaobian is a record of his personal statements in chronological order, starting from the early stages of the Korean invasion, and provides concrete details of the Ming army. Besides this source, see Miao (1968), included in part 1 of Jinglue fuguo yaobian (Song 1968); see also Nakamura (1969) and Wang (1985).
- 5.
The Choson wangjo seonjo sillok:, Book 29, the entry for the 13th day of the eighth month (September 18 in the Gregorian calendar, hereinafter the western calendar is expressed with the mark @G), 1592 (Seonjo 25), makes mention of the Ming army: “their weaponry is all very nimble, and most of them are equipped with such weapons as waechongtong [Japanese arquebuses] or heavy guns” (Richō Jitsuroku 1961a: 369).
- 6.
Luís Fróis, mentioning the Ming army, states: “it is impossible to imagine in which direction their firearms are aimed. For, even when they shot countlessly, no one was hurt.” From a Japanese translation of Matsuda et al. (1977: 279).
- 7.
Zhan Dafu(?–1630)was also known as Yuanchang, and was from Suzhou. His epitaph is in the Muzai Chuxueji vol, 54.
- 8.
The author, Li Hualong (1554–1611), also known as Yutian, was from Changyuan-xian. In 1574, he became a jinshi (examination degree holder). His biography is in the Mingshi (History of Ming), Book 228. The Pingbo quanshu records the details of his subjugation of Yang Yinglong’s army after he assumed the office of supreme commander, and it contains many of his personal statements.
- 9.
Japanese swords (wodao) are included in the list of the spoils. These swords may be some of those imported to Ming in large numbers through wokous or in trade, but it is possible that the swords originally acquired by the Ming army in Korea, having fallen into the hands of Yang Yinglong’s army, were subsequently reacquired by the Ming army as plunder.
- 10.
Sōda says that from the second half of the sixteenth century to the first half of the seventeenth century, when firearms were being introduced to military operations in earnest and the difference in military strengths between the regular army and rebels (owing to the availability of firearms) would have been decisive, among the rebel armies there were attempts to equalize that factor by casting spells. He mentions Yang Yinglong’s revolt as the earliest example.
- 11.
The Shenqi-pu is compiled in the original xylographic edition of Xuanlantang congshu (Zhao 1981a) and is also partially translated into Japanese in other collections. The Japanese printing is compiled in Wakokubon Min Shin Shiryōshū (Historical Materials of Ming and Qing in Japanese Printing). See Fujii (1963), regarding the formative process and date of the Shenqi-pu.
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Kuba, T. (2022). The Diffusion of Japanese Firearms in the Ming Dynasty at the End of the Sixteenth Century: From the Japanese Invasion of Korea to Yang Yinglong’s Revolt in Bozhou. In: Oka, M. (eds) War and Trade in Maritime East Asia. Palgrave Studies in Comparative Global History. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-7369-6_9
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