1) “Arquebus Shock”: When One Weapon Tilted the Battlefield
Any time Koreans talk about the Imjin War, one phrase pops up without fail:
“조총 쇼크 – the arquebus shock.”
The matchlock arquebus (조총, tanegashima) that Japanese forces brought to Korea was, from Joseon’s point of view, a completely different beast. The Annals of the Joseon Dynasty even record claims that the arquebus could:
“Hit birds flying in the forest,”
and that “eight or nine out of ten shots would find their mark.”
If we blamed Joseon’s early defeats at Busan, Dongnae, Sangju, and at the Tangeumdae battlefield only on Japanese guns, that would be an oversimplification. Command, logistics, and mobilization all collapsed together.
But it’s equally hard to deny this:
Against an army built around bows and spears, the Japanese matchlock squads put a new level of concentrated firepower on the field.
The story doesn’t end there, though.
As the war dragged on:
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Joseon captured Japanese guns and reverse-engineered them,
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Studied Chinese and Japanese firearms side-by-side,
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And began producing Korean-pattern matchlocks in quantity.
By the later Imjin phase, through the Jeongyu War (the later invasion), and into the Manchu and northern campaigns, gunners (포수, 銃手) had become the core of Joseon’s field firepower.
In other words, the Imjin War was both:
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the war where Joseon was knocked down by arquebuses,
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and the war where Joseon learned to shoot back.
2) Korean Matchlocks and the Cheonbochong: The Age of Range Wars
After any major war, generals everywhere ask the same question:
“Can we shoot farther and harder than the other side next time?”
Joseon was no exception.
After the Imjin War, Korean gunsmiths took a hard look at Japanese long guns (장총) and started developing their own long-range matchlocks.
In the records we see names like:
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Daejochong (大鳥銃) – “great bird gun,”
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Cheonbochong (千步銃) – literally “thousand-pace gun.”
Just from the name, the image writes itself:
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A gun with a longer barrel than standard arquebuses,
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Packing more powder,
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Designed to push the effective range out to several hundred meters—
a deliberate counter to Japanese long guns.
Exact numbers differ from source to source, but the very phrase “cheonbo – a thousand paces” tells us this was a serious long-range weapon by the standards of the time.
As for patriotic claims like:
“Joseon completely outclassed Japanese gun tech after the war!”
that’s where we need to tap the brakes a bit.
From what modern research can reconstruct, it’s safer to say:
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In range, accuracy, and production quality,
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Joseon and Japan were constantly leapfrogging each other,
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Each tuning their guns to their own terrain and tactics, rather than one side clearly “winning the arms race.”
Still, the very fact that Joseon responded to arquebus shock by developing its own long guns is a crucial part of the story.
3) Seungja Chongtong: Gun or Cannon?
One of the most heated internet arguments is about the Seungja Chongtong (勝字銃筒).
Some insist:
“There’s no way that thing was fired by hand. It’s a small cannon, period.”
Measured against modern scholarship, that’s… half true and half exaggerated.
So what was the Seungja Chongtong?
Roughly:
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Length: about 75–80 cm,
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Bore: around 2 cm,
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Function: a small artillery piece that could fire
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multiple lead balls at once, or
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special arrow-like bolts.
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It had:
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A wooden shaft (stock) fitted into the rear, so a single soldier could carry and aim it,
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And could also be mounted on tripods, battlements, or ship railings.
In modern terms, it sits somewhere between:
“oversized personal firearm” and “miniature cannon.”
You could aim it like a gun,
but in terms of structure, ammo, and employment, it was closer to artillery.
So was it fired from the shoulder, or braced?
From surviving examples and period notes:
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The long wooden stock suggests it was at least partly shoulder- or hip-fired,
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But due to recoil, it was often braced against a wall, parapet, ship’s side, or carriage.
So:
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Calling it a “light, shoulder-fired arquebus” is misleading.
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But saying, “It’s a full-blown cannon; no one could ever fire it by hand” is also too absolute.
The most honest, blog-friendly description is something like:
“Seungja Chongtong: a portable small cannon — a Korean hand-cannon.”
4) Cheonja, Jija, Hyeonja, Hwangja, and the Folangji: How Big Guns Really Worked
As the forum post that inspired this piece notes, Joseon already had a famous “four-tier” artillery system by the Imjin War:
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Cheonja (天字)
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Jija (地字)
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Hyeonja (玄字)
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Hwangja (黃字) Chongtong
These were the pinnacle of the late Goryeo / early Joseon gunpowder artillery tradition:
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Impressive range and hitting power,
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Very effective in fortresses and on warships,
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But enormously heavy—not something you drag around for mobile field battles.
On land, what really shone were lighter, more mobile guns. The star of that show:
The Folangji gun (佛郎機砲) – often just called bulranggi.
The Folangji was a Western-derived, breech-loading small cannon:
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Short, relatively light barrel,
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A breech chamber you could swap in and out for speedy reloading,
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Perfect for mounting on castle walls, ship railings, carts, or makeshift tripods.
Yes, breech-loading at the time meant:
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Leaky gas,
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Less power than a solid-breech heavy cannon.
But as a mobile, quick-firing gun that could keep up with troops, it was loved by Joseon commanders.
If you think in game terms:
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Cheonja / Jija / Hyeonja / Hwangja were the “on paper” S-tier units—massive stats, but expensive and sluggish.
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The Folangji was the meta-defining unit for actual field fights: not the biggest numbers, but the most practical.
5) Janggunjeon, Singijeon, Land Mines: Flashy Weapons vs. Cold Numbers
Some weapons are guaranteed to start a fight in any history forum:
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Janggunjeon / Daejanggunjeon – massive arrow or rocket-assisted bolts,
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Singijeon – the legendary “rocket arrows” fired from hwacha (rocket carts),
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Jirwipo / flying thunder bombs – early bomb and “land mine”-style weapons.
In paintings and museum displays, they look spectacular.
You can’t help but think:
“Surely one volley of that must have wiped out entire Japanese formations.”
But when we look at production numbers and actual deployment,
a more sober picture emerges. These were more “special effects” than “main damage dealers.”
Low production volume
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Janggunjeon-type heavy bolts consumed a lot of high-quality materials and labor.
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Some studies even suggest that, when you compare pre-war and post-war inventories,
the number of these “prestige arrows” actually declined during the war,
because they were so hard to replenish.
Hard to aim and control
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Rocket arrows look amazing in flight, but:
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Their trajectory is at the mercy of burn rate, wind, and manufacturing inconsistencies.
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Gunners didn’t have infinite time or powder to train only with these exotic projectiles.
Their real value: “psychological weapons” and niche tools
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At night or during fortress defense,
the noise, flame, and smoke from rocket arrows and bombs could seriously rattle the enemy. -
They were great for:
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Panic,
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Confusion,
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Setting fires,
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Breaking up tightly packed formations.
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But the day-to-day killing power on the battlefield still came from:
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Matchlocks,
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Seungja chongtong hand-cannons,
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Folangji guns,
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And the classic Chongtong artillery.
As for Jirwipo and “land mines”, most scholars agree these were closer to:
“Bombs fired from guns that exploded on or near the ground,”
rather than modern buried land mines.
Again: useful in specific situations, but not the main pillar of Joseon’s firepower.
6) Bows and Guns Together: The Imjin War’s Real Takeaway
People like to summarize the Imjin War with lines like:
“Japan was strong because of guns.
Joseon was strong because of cannons.”
That’s… half right and half wrong.
If you look at the units that actually performed well in battle, you see a pattern:
They used bows, spears, guns, and cannons together.
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In mountain ambushes, bows and light arrows (like pyeonjeon, short armor-piercing shafts) were still brutally effective.
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On plains and in siege warfare,
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arquebuses,
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Seungja chongtong,
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Folangji,
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And the heavier Chongtong provided the backbone of firepower.
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Famous victories like Kwon Yul’s defense at Haengju combined:
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Close-range aimed volleys from firearms,
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Massed longbow and pyeonjeon fire,
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And cannon fire into a layered defensive system.
Joseon adopted new weapons fast—but didn’t throw away the old ones.
King Seonjo himself, for all his flaws, recognized the power of the arquebus,
yet he and his officers never stopped thinking about how to use bows and pyeonjeon to their advantage.
Later, during King Hyojong’s northern-campaign plans,
there were even proposals to reorganize artillery units as mixed gun-and-bow formations
(called sapo chambandae, 사포참반대) rather than pure gunner units.
In the end, the key wasn’t the type of weapon, but the ability to use it properly.
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Give the same matchlock to two armies:
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If one has poor training, command, supply, and terrain usage,
its “firepower advantage” evaporates. -
If the other knows how to combine its weapons and exploit the terrain,
it can hold out even without the very latest gear.
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So perhaps we should stop telling the story as:
“A tragic tale of a kingdom crushed by one foreign gun.”
and instead say:
“The Imjin War was the moment Joseon threw every bit of its centuries-old gunpowder and archery tradition into the forge,
and hammered old and new weapons into a new kind of combined-arms warfare.”
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