Tanegashima

Tanegashima (種子島) is one of the Ōsumi Islands belonging to Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. The island, 444.99 km² in area, is the second largest of the Ōsumi Islands, and has a population of 33,000 persons. Access to the island is by ferry, or by air to New Tanegashima Airport. Administratively, the island is divided into the city, Nishinoomote, and the two towns, Nakatane and Minamitane. The towns belong to Kumage District.

Geography

Tanegashima is the easternmost and the second largest (after Yakushima) of the Osumi Islands. It is located approximately 43 kilometres (23 nmi) south of the southern tip of Osumi Peninsula in southern Kyushu, or 115 kilometres (62 nmi) south of Kagoshima. The Vincennes Strait (Yakushima Kaikyō) separates it from Yakushima.

The island is of volcanic origin; however, unlike neighboring Yakushima, it presents a flat appearance, with its highest elevation at only 282 metres (925 ft) above sea level. The island has a length of 57 kilometres (31 nmi) and a width ranging from 5 kilometres (2.7 nmi) to 10 kilometres (5.4 nmi). The climate is subtropical.

Battles of Kawanakajima

The battles of Kawanakajima (川中島の戦い, Kawanakajima no tatakai) were fought in the Sengoku Period of Japan between Takeda Shingen of Kai Province and Uesugi Kenshin of Echigo Province in the plain of Kawanakajima, in the north of Shinano Province. The location is in the southern part of the present-day city of Nagano. The five major battles took place in 1553, 1555, 1557, 1561 and 1564. The best known and most severe among them was fought on September 10, 1561. The battles started after Shingen conquered Shinano Province, expelling Murakami Yoshikiyo and Ogasawara Nagatoki, who subsequently turned to Kenshin for help.

The first battle

In the First Battle of Kawanakajima, in June 1553, Takeda Shingen penetrated far into the Kawanakajima plain, his vanguard encountering the forces of Uesugi Kenshin at a shrine to Hachiman. They disengaged, and met up again a few kilometers away in the Siege of Shioda castle, where Takeda forces had taken Wada and Takashima, on 8–12 September. There they slaughtered the entire garrison as a warning to the remnants of Murakami forces on 10 September. Yoshikiyo Murakami was besieged in Shioda and put up brave resistance there before retreating on 12 September and allowing Takeda forces to seize about 16 Shinano outposts.

Tanegashima (Japanese matchlock)

Tanegashima (種子島), also hinawajū (火縄銃), was a type of matchlock configured arquebus firearm introduced to Japan through the Portuguese in 1543. Tanegashima were used by the samurai class and their foot soldiers (ashigaru) and within a few years the introduction of the tanegashima in battle changed the way war was fought in Japan forever.

History

Origins

The tanegashima seems to have been based on snap matchlocks that were produced in Portuguese India, at the armory of Goa (a colony of Portugal since 1510). The name tanegashima came from the Japanese island (Tanegashima) where a Chinese junk with Portuguese adventurers on board was driven to anchor by a storm in 1543. The lord of the Japanese island, Tanegashima Tokitaka (1528–1579), purchased two matchlock muskets from the Portuguese and put a swordsmith to work copying the matchlock barrel and firing mechanism. The smith (Yaita) did not have much of a problem with most of the gun but "drilling the barrel helically so that the screw (bisen bolt) could be tightly inserted" was a major problem as this "technique did apparently not exist in Japan until this time." The Portuguese fixed their ship and left the island and only in the next year when a Portuguese blacksmith was brought back to Japan was the problem solved. Within ten years of its introduction, over 300,000 tanegashima firearms were reported to have been manufactured.