Portuguese culture handed down to Japan - Firearms and armor

 Cheolpo - [Arquebus] It is known that the tradition of Cheolpo - Arquebus in Japan begins with a typhoon on August 25, 1543, a Portuguese ship on the remote island of southern Kyushu, clearly recorded.  The ship's captain, who started from Yeongpa, was a Chinese man named Wangjik, who claimed to be a Portuguese ship for fear of the ship's napo and pretended not to be a captain under the pseudonym Obong. However, out of all sailors, only three Portuguese, including navigators, and the rest were Chinese and Ryukyu, a total of hundreds and dozens. At that time, Wangjik had not yet secured grounds in Japan, so it is still unclear what he went there for, but at least it is clear that the remote island Tanegashima was not his destination. Anyway, they stayed on the island for about six months to repair the ship, which was severely damaged by typhoons (the reason is that it took time to procure it because there was no iron pond), while they frequently traveled back and forth between Tanegashima and residents as well as Kyushu. It seems that this is the time when Wangjik negotiated so that he could secure a base in Nagasaki. However, the most important thing will be the tradition of Cheolpo. Tokisada Tanegashima, a provincial governor of Tanegashima, saw a Portuguese iron barrage that came out to the interview with him and fired a test shot, and then realized its power and commodity value. So, he seduced Portuguese, and among them, he gave a large amount of money (about 1 billion won in money now) to a friend named Francis Jaymot to buy how to use the steel bar. After that, the most competent blacksmith in Tanegashima gave this iron cloth and ordered it to be reproduced. In January 1544, the next year, the ship returned to China, when the steel bar that could already be fired was completed, and Portuguese were very surprised at its replication skills. By the end of 1544, Tanegashima made about 50 iron bars and started exporting them to Kyushu. This was also a great business, and the first Tanegashima provincial governor bought two guns for Francis, one for use as a prototype of reproduction, and one for Shimazu in Satsumabun immediately. Shimazu also dedicate it to Shogun Ashikaga. In other words, the sample was turned first before production to secure purchasing power. However, both Shimazu and Ashikaga sent people to Tanegashima to learn how to manufacture and produce them on their own, so Tanegashima's exclusive production did not last very long. Until then, Tanegashima's escape would have been hundreds of times more than the invested base. The most important thing among the influences of barbed wire during Japan's national era is that it entered an era of arms competition where war could not be fought without money. Only before that, even small Daimyo would have been able to withstand the appearance of iron guns, but after the appearance of iron guns, it would not have survived unless it was a large-scale Daimyo with enough economic power to equip an expensive Hwaseunggun. In this way, Cheolpo can be seen as a major cause of the end of Japan's national era. The difference in combat power is clearly widened by the difference between the new weapon technology and the economic power to acquire it.      Along with Namman armor and pitching Hwaseungchong, the Portuguese weapons that Japan was interested in at the time were steel sheet metal armor and pitching.The protection of European armor made by tapping the entire iron plate was very impressive for Japanese people who only knew Ooyoro or Dangsegu people, who complicatedly connected small iron plates or leather pieces with strings.   Many armed people from all over the country, including Tokugawa Ieyasu, wore sheet metal armor, and Nobunaga Oda often wore steel breast gloves imported from Europe through missionaries. However, that did not mean that the whole body was covered with sheet metal armor, and chest armor and pitching were often made by compromising with the traditional Dangsegu style.  The armor in the picture below is the southern pack of Uesugi Kenshin. For your information, this armor is not Kenshin's real armor. It's armor created for movies. The name of the movie is ten-to-chi-to.I made a film of Saionji's novel of the same name. (Director is Kadokawa)