Taihō (大砲): Japanese Cannons and Artillery

Taihō (大砲): Japanese Cannons and Artillery

Two different types of Japanese cannons, also known as ōzutsu. From 武道藝術秘傳圖會 [1].

Cannons, and artillery in general, have been almost completely overlooked when it comes to Japanese warfare, despite the massive amount of works dedicated to the proliferation of guns in the 1550s, during the Sengoku period.

This attitude towards Japanese cannons have many reasons behind it (Turnbull I'm looking at you), and it was likely generated by Edo periods ideals boosted by the Tokugawa Shogunate, which by that time period had the monopoly on the production of said weapon.
However, during the 16th and early 17th century, the situation was quite different.

Yet it is fair to say that these weapons didn't play a significant role on field battles for a very simple reason: Japanese terrain.
Being a heavily forested and predominately mountainous island, carrying heavy artillery pieces throughout Japan must have been a nightmare, so the Sengoku period armies usually relied on smaller size hand held cannons which should be considered cannons instead of normal arquebuses.
However, the heavy pieces were used occasionally on naval warfare and especially in sieges during the second part of the 16th century, both by the defenders and the attackers.
It is also worth saying that due to the design and location of Japanese castles, cannons alone weren't able to guarantee the success of the invading army.

A Japanese breech loaders cannon, a very common design used during the Sengoku period.

Cannons have been used in several occasions in Japan: in 1558 they were fired from the coast of Bungo (the Otomo territory) to drive off an attack by "several hundred boats", (which implies that many guns had been made locally). In 1571 Oda Nobunaga placed an order with the Kunitomo gunsmiths for a gun that would take a load equivalent to 750 grams. Cannons were also fired from ships against the Nagashima garrison, and at the two battles of Kizugawaguchi in 1576 and 1578. They were used at the land battle of Noguchi in 1578, and by 1582 were being used in the provinces of Etchū and Noto. During the same time period, Maeda Toshiie wrote to his brother asking for twenty cannon balls.
In 1584 cannons, probably in the form of swivel guns, were fired from boats mounted offshore during the Battle of Okita Nawate on the Shimabara peninsula and during the Korean War (1590s) requests were sent back to Japan for cannon to help reduce the Korean castles.
Artillery was deployed at Sekigahara in 1600 and at the siege of Fushimi castle in the same year.
Most famously, according to the lore, as many as 300 cannons, including Europeans ones, were used during the Siege of Osaka in 1614.

The first "cannons" likely start to appear in Japan during the 14th century, and were probably based on Chinese models; not much is know about these weapons except that if anything they were incredibly rare and saw little usage at all.

A Japanese cannon, possibly a "hand held cannon", dated 1325.

Furankihō (フランキ砲): breech loaders cannons

One of the oldest Japanese furanki cannon.

The first true development of cannons in Japan happened during the 1550s thanks to the Nanban trade (南蛮貿易); the first two specimens of breech loaded cannons were introduced by the Portuguese missionaries to Ōtomo Sōrin (大友 宗麟). Each consisted of a heavy barrel on a swivel, and both were breech-loaders: the powder and shot being loaded into the top of the breech by a separate cylinder with a handle welded on, which is by no means as efficient as a muzzle-loader. These early European models were either called ishibiya (石火矢) or furankihō (フランキ砲), the latter likely influenced by the Chinese name of the same gun, folangji (佛郎機). Occasionally, they were also called kunikuzushi (国崩) by the Ōtomo clan, which means country destroyer.
The Ōtomo clan clearly had an advantage with the imports of cannons, since they started to used them for coastal defense in the 1558. They send a cannon in the 1560 to Ashikaga Yoshiteru and requested others in the 1560s to the Portuguese missionaries.
Although these cannons were often imported by the Europeans, many examples were still made locally.

A sketch of the same weapon.

These weapons were almost exclusively cast with bronze, although wrought iron examples existed as well, and could weight as much as 120 kg, while being 1.5 to 3 meters long.
The iron ones usually had the barrel reinforced with rings.
The breech cover was made of wood, and had the disadvantage that some explosive gas escaped along its seams, decreasing the reach and the power of the cannon.
Despite the inefficiency, the surviving examples could still fire a 70mm projectile that weighed 1.3kg, and the breech arrangement allow very quick reloading. Many of these guns were also mounted on swivels and used on warships.
They could also shot grapeshot instead of one single cannonball.
During the 1560s only the most powerful clan in western Japan owned such weapons, but they quickly discovered their limits:  they were incredibly heavy, difficult to transport and used a lot of gunpowder, three factors that severely limited their utility in the mountainous Japan.
Moreover, being made of bronze, they could potentially fail and explode while shooting and they were also rather expensive to produce.
The Ōtomo after a quick retreat were forced to leave two cannons to the Shimazu at the battle of Mimigawa in 1578, because of their heavy weight.
Despite its limits, this model of cannon was quite popular in Japan and was used throughout the 16th and 17th century.

Two breech loaders bronze cannons mounted on a wooden stand while being loaded; on the left of the picture, you can see the chambers used to fire the weapon being prepared. From 武道藝術秘傳圖會 [2].

Harakan (破羅漢): muzzle loading cannons

After the introduction of European breech loaders cannons, the Japanese started to develop their own artillery, not only by copying the furanki design, but also by creating their own muzzle loading weapons.
These cannons are either called harakan or most famously ōzutsu (大筒); to add more confusion, this term refers to a in incredibly wide variety of guns, some of which are large caliber heavy muskets while other are much more akin to cannons. Just like the furanki, they could shoot either cannon balls or grapeshot, and even arrows. They were used to destroy gates, barricades, castles but also as antipersonnel weapon.

Two ōzutsu guns with their respective projectiles.

The first Japanese specimens recorded are two guns of 3 meters in length, capable of firing projectiles of 0.74 kg, which is the equivalent of 20 monme (匁). These were made by the Kunimoto's smiths in 1571 and were ordered by Nobunaga himself.
These guns were likely to be oversize teppō as far as their look was concerned, and were made of thick wrought iron instead of bronze. The choice of the material improved the strength and reduced the cost, but it didn't help with the weight. The muzzle loading provided a safer weapon, but on the other hand it was slower to reload.

Two very big gun versions of the ōzutsu mounted on wheels and covered with a special device in order to fire even if it's raining. From 武道藝術秘傳圖會 [1].



An ōzutsu gun mounted on a wooden stand with wheels. From 武道藝術秘傳圖會 [2].

Also, due to the usage of wrought iron, the caliber remained in the range of light to medium cannons. One of the heaviest gun of this type was made in Sakai in 1610, it was 3m long and weighed 135 kg. 

The aforementioned style of oversize gun; indeed despite its look, the length and diameter of the barrel is the same of a medium cannon.

Shorter ōzutsu existed as well, and they were often fitted with a gun stock and fired like hand held firearms. The shorter versions were at the same time lighter and potentially stronger than their equivalent breech loaders counterparts, because of the muzzle loading. On the field, the gun versions were fired either by using some form of tripods or by letting the weapon resting on the shoulder of another soldier.

Two reenactors operating a long ōzutsu.

A very ingenious way to achieve elevation with one of those big guns; on the far right, a rope is tied to a tree and the gun is suspended. From 武道藝術秘傳圖會 [2].

On the other side of the spectrum, larger and heavier guns existed as well. Instead of having a gun stock, they were encased by wood and rested on a wooden sliding mount capable of absorbing the recoil and they were fired like touch hole cannons. These weapons are also called taihō (大砲) in order to distinguish them from the hand held cannons. 

Two medium size taihō, one loaded with a heavy steel arrow.

To carry these guns on the battlefield, it seems that most of them were essentially mounted on a cart pulled by oxen.
According to some Japanese manuals of the Edo period, they were also fitted with wheels in a similar fashion to European cannons.

Two big taihō cannons operated under heavy rain. They are mounted on a solid wooden stand with wheels. From武道藝術秘傳圖會 [1].

On the other hand, for siege purposes, which was the main role of these weapons, sometimes they were tied on to a pile of rice bales stuffed with sand, or mounted on solid wooden stand like the ones used on European ships of the same period.

Two medium size taiō mounted on wooden stands whit wheels similar to the ones used in European ships. From 武道藝術秘傳圖會 [2].

Elevation was achieved by ropes, which were either rolled under the barrel of the weapon or used to suspend the gun; sometimes other wooden stands were used.
More often than not, these stationary weapons and their users were often protected by iron shields or taketaba (竹束).

Two types of coverage; on the left, taketaba and on the right a iron shield mounted on the cannons. From 武道藝術秘傳圖會 [2].

Some of these cannons were able to fire projectiles of 5,6 kg, with the heaviest ones capable of shooting projectiles of 11,25 kg, 13,13 kg and most impressively 18,75 kg cannon balls.
These guns had usually a very short but thick barrel, raging from 0.07 to 0.50 meters, although longer examples existed as well.

These weapons were quite popular during the late 16th century, due to their modest size and weight.

Two different styles of  medium/small size taihō. These styles were the most popular ones during the Sengoku period.

Other cannons built in Tosa weighed 60 kg and were capable of firing a 0.788 kg projectiles of 54.4 mm, and others could fire projectiles of 1.125 kg and 57.6 mm for 2.5 km.
Occasionally, these cannons were made of bronze too rather than wrought iron.

A small size cannon made of iron. Cannons like these were usually encased with a wooden structure.

Another wrought iron medium size taihō.

A very big bronze cannon; although this is from a later period, this was essentially a 16th/17th century Japanese cannon design.

To add even more confusions, if the same weapons, namely the ōzutsu either with a gun stock or in the form of a taihō, is used to shoot arrows, it is usually called bōhiya (棒火矢), hiyataihō (火矢大砲) or hōrokuhiya (焙烙火矢): however, despite its many names, the only big difference is the projectile. 

A small hiyataihō; see how the ropes are used to acquire elevation. Small cannons like this one were incredibly popular.

Instead of a cannon balls, large and big incendiary arrows similar to rockets were used; they were ignited by lighting a slow burning fuse made from incendiary waterproof rope which was wrapped around the shaft. Once they hit the target, the fire propagate nearby since inside the head there was a charge of gunpowder.
These projectiles were deemed to be capable of setting enemy ships on fire and so were used more often than not on naval warfare.

Three incendiary arrows, also know as hiya (火矢).

However, the arrows weren't always incendiary ones; they could have been a cluster of normal arrows or a very big one, like a harpoon.

An old sketch from a Edo period book of a hiyataihō mounted on a pile of rice bales.

Other types of artillery

Although the main cannons used during the Sengoku era are the ones described above, few oddities and rare design existed too.
It is important to say that imported European cannons were still prized and acquired especially by Tokugawa Ieyasu; he used several English and Dutch cannons during his Osaka campaign.
Even before that, the Europeans had established some foundries in Kyushu during the 16th century.
These were likely culverin, sakers and other similar European cannons, both breech loaders and muzzle loading designs. The Portuguese and later one the Dutch cast many heavy cannons during the late 16th and early to mid 17th century; some of them were as heavy as 240 kg.

A very famous and heavy Japanese cannon owned by Tokugawa Ieyasu, made by the Kunimoto smiths in the early 17th century. This gun was made of wrought iron, it is 3 meters long, it weigh 1542 kg and fired 5.6kg cannon balls. It is also know as Ieyasu no Taihō (家康の大砲) and it was used during the Osaka siege.

Another style of artillery which never really saw battlefield usage are mortars; these guns were cast by the Dutch in the 1630s.
However, after a demonstration of eleven shots of said weapon, the Japanese weren't particular impressed because none of them was able to hit the target and few shots exploded too close to the operators, wounding them. Nevertheless, they still acquired the weapons, although Japan didn't see any type of battle for the next 200 years.

Two mortars on the left with their shots being made on the rights. From 武道藝術秘傳圖會 [2].

Another very important and often totally overlooked form of artillery are wooden cannons, known in Japan as mokuhō (木砲).
These were essentially cannons made of wood instead of iron or bronze; additional reinforcements to the barrel were required, like a series of thick ropes or iron rings. Although quite primitive, these devices worked and were a very cheap and light alternative to the mainstream cannons. However, due to the material, said cannons were incredibly weak and unsafe so they were usually used to fire a couple of shots and then thrown away.
These types of weapons were also used during the 19th century in Japan and in other part of the world as well.
They were used to shoot cluster of arrows, grape shots or cannon balls, but were also used to project smoke in the air.

Two 19th century wooden cannons; similar ones were used during the Sengoku period.

This was everything as far as Japanese cannons in the 16th and 17th century are concerned; for any question feel free to ask and if you like the article, please feel free to share it. Thank you!

Gunbai