The Guns of the SamuraiWhile the ancient Samurai are legendary for their skill with the Katana, the

The Guns of the SamuraiWhile the ancient Samurai are legendary for their skill with the Katana, the Samurai were practical warriors who embraced new technology and tactics whenever possible. In the 1500’s, Portuguese, Spanish, and later Dutch, French, and English merchants began to appear in ports along the Japanese coast. European firearms became a hot item among Japanese warriors and soldiers.The idea that Japanese warriors rejected the use of firearms is a myth. It is also a myth that under Sokoku the rejection of everything foreign in 1600’s, firearms where banned in favor of traditional weapons. Foreign firearms were banned, but the Japanese began producing their own matchlock and wheel lock muskets. At the Battle of Shekigahara in 1600 over 20,000 muskets were employed, comparable if not exceeding the number of firearms used in a typical European battlefield.As technology changed so did the preferred weapons of the Samurai. Matchlock firearms gradually gave way to wheel locks, and wheel locks were replaced by flintlocks. By the later 1800’s the Samurai would have been barely recognizable to their medieval ancestors, leaving their battle armor behind and armed with percussion lock rifle muskets, artillery, and steam powered battleships.In the 1870’s Emperor Meiji began enacting laws which removed the traditional powers and privileges of the Samurai. By 1877 the Samurai class had been completely abolished, and a new Western style military was adopted in their place. A large number of Samurai, under the leadership of Saigo Takamuri, rebelled against the emperor. The Satsuma Rebellion was loosely featured in the film “The Last Samurai”. In the film the Samurai are shown battling with swords, spears, and armor while their opponents, wearing western style uniforms, fought with muskets, rifles, artillery, and Gatling guns. The Samurai, holding true to ancient tradition, fought with bows and katana’s, being slaughtered in the end by overwhelming firepower. Nothing can be further from the truth, as the Samurai were armed with British and Russian percussion lock muskets, 29 artillery pieces, and 30 mortars.The Samurai lost not because of their weapons, but because of simple economics. The Samurai, a privileged noble class, were warriors who spent their entire lives training in the art of warfare. As a result they were highly trained and skilled soldiers, but few in number and expensive to field. The Japanese Imperial Army relied upon conscription of the masses, and as a result Japan could raise a large army quickly and economically. The Samurai were outnumbered almost 3 to 1 during the rebellion, and were quickly crushed. -- source link

More pics about