“TAKING UP THE GUN”: EARLY MODERN JAPANESE FIREPOWER AND THE SIEGE OF HARA CASTLE「拿起槍械」：近代初期日本的火力以及原城被圍攻
The article examines the Tokugawa shogunate's campaign against Christian rebels in the siege of Hara Castle (Shimabara) in 1638, arguing that this case reverses the narrative that Japan "had given up the gun" following its initial adoption of firearms. Combining historical-political contextualizatio...
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| Published in: | Review of Culture |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Articles |
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Instituto Cultural de Macau
April 2008
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| Online Access: | https://www.icm.gov.mo/rc/viewer/pdfViewerParts/40026/3658 |
| Summary: | The article examines the Tokugawa shogunate's campaign against Christian rebels in the siege of Hara Castle (Shimabara) in 1638, arguing that this case reverses the narrative that Japan "had given up the gun" following its initial adoption of firearms. Combining historical-political contextualization of the early Tokugawa period, a narrative reconstruction of the siege, and an analysis of the role of gunpowder weapons, the study relates the central government's military decisions to the local dynamics of the conflict on the Shimabara Peninsula.
The central contribution is to show that, despite a long interval without major open warfare since the consolidation of Tokugawa power, the state machinery rapidly mobilized a siege force of exceptional scale (approximately 150,000 men) and sustained it for roughly three months. On the technological and tactical level, the article emphasizes that both sides made extensive use of firearms, both shoulder-fired small arms and artillery, but that muskets (arquebuses) played a particularly significant role, especially among the rebels.
It concludes that the deliberate projection of power—materialized in mass violence and the effective use of gunpowder weaponry—helped stabilize Tokugawa authority for nearly 250 years, transforming the siege of Hara into a landmark of military continuity and state capacity. |
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| ISSN: | 1682-1106 |