A1125

Japanese matchlock musket, fair condition; metalwork shows overall pitting; massive hexagonal section barrel (approx.23mm cal.); elaborate trigger mechanism; a 'serpentine' arm held a slow match that ignited the charge and fired the projectile; wooden ramrod in hole beneath the barrel; crude sights; VERY heavy item; the hole in the butt is for directing a slow match or taper; sometimes known as a 'Tanegashima' musket, after the island where the Japanese first encountered firearms technology; also sometimes known as 'hinawaju'; large bore guns such as this were mainly used to attack gates or fortifications. An old record card in the museum states that this matchlock is 'signed ''Kwanyen ni shi sai go gwatsu nichi sei wo kore ni shige maki haru kunitomo tsugumori" which translated means ''Kunito Tsugumori made this using the double thickness wrapping method on a day in May 1748'' '; no markings are apparent, but they may be hidden on the barrel below the stock and may only be visible when you take the weapon apart.

1748 - 1748

mid 18th century

firearm, matchlock musket, Japanese

steel, wood, copper alloy