The Social Life of Firearms in Tokugawa Japan

Abstract

Guns were surprisingly common in the villages of Tokugawa Japan. This article examines the ‘social life’ of firearms, focusing particularly on the hinterland of Edo. It traces the evolution of institutions governing peasants' possession of guns and examines prevailing conceptions of the uses of firearms. Building on the work of Tsukamoto Manabu, it argues that for much of the period guns were perceived to be farm implements rather than weapons per se: they were used to frighten or kill animals that damaged crops but not in conflicts among people. Starting in the 1840s, however, guns came to acquire an unequivocal character as weapons. This transformation came in response to anxiety over the proliferation of masterless samurai, unregistered commoners, and other disorderly elements, whose activities were seen as undermining the fabric of rural society.

Notes

¹On gun use by the military, see Rogers, ‘The Development of the Military Profession in Tokugawa Japan’.

²Tsukamoto, Shōrui o meguru seiji, 9–95.

³Perrin, Giving Up the Gun.

⁴On the manufacture and technology of Japanese matchlock muskets, see Wada, ‘Nihon no monozukuri no rekishi’.

⁵Saitō, ‘Hinawajū no zaishitsu to seisaku gihō’.

⁶Sugawa, The Japanese Matchlock, 43; Chaiklin, Cultural Commerce and Dutch Commercial Culture, 149–172. Since Sugawa bases his estimates on the samurai population, it is entirely possible that far higher numbers of guns circulated at any given time.

⁷Tsukamoto, Shōrui o meguru seiji, 17–18. See also Mizutani, Edo wa yume ka, 160–166, 231–234.

⁸Iizuka Kaoru-ke monjo H41-3-1 1-5 (1752), Gunma Prefectural Archives (on attacks on farmers), Iizuka-ke monjo P8214-4996 (1701/12) (on entry into houses).

⁹In gun registers weapons were listed according to the size of the ball, measured in monme. Peasants' guns, regardless of function, almost always fired 2–3 monme shot, which made them roughly equivalent to .440–.495 caliber Western guns. See Sugawa, The Japanese Matchlock, 11.

¹⁰In 1691, for example, Sanbagawa submitted a list of hunters who had the intendant's permission to engage in killing (sesshō): Iizuka-ke monjo P8214-4998 (1691/8/10). On Tsunayoshi and his laws of compassion, Tsukamoto, Shōrui o meguru seiji, is a stimulating survey; see pp. 205–225 on policies to protect dogs. See also Nesaki, Shōrui awaremi no sekai; Bodart-Bailey, The Dog Shogun, 128–160.

¹¹Doc. 2529 (1709/4), Takayanagi and Ishii, Ofuregaki Kanpō shūsei, 1185.

¹²Docs. 2540 (1723/5), 2543 (1727/4), 2545 (1729/2), and 2544 (1727/4), Takayanagi and Ishii, Ofuregaki Kanpō shūsei, 1189–1191. The edicts were all duly received and acknowledged by Sanbagawa village officials: see Iizuka-ke monjo P8214-1945 (n.d.).

¹³See, for example, a receipt for more than 11 ryō from the gunsmith Kunitomo Zenroku, addressed to the headman of Sanbagawa village, for repairing 35 guns, including seven that required new barrels. Appended to the receipt is a message from the intendant reminding the villagers to request use of the repaired guns by the twentieth day of the first month. Iizuka-ke monjo P8214-9400 (1729/6/24). For requests to make repairs to damaged firearms, see, for example, Iizuka-ke monjo P8215-4995 (1703/2), and Iizuka-ke monjo P8214-4983 (1709/8).

¹⁴Iizuka-ke monjo H41-3-1-wa-36 (1759/12).

¹⁵The last extant reference to guns being returned to Edo from Sanbagawa is in 1720: Iizuka-ke monjo P8214-6864 (1720/4/2). The shogunate made allowances for the transport of firearms through falconry grounds on their way to and from Edo, but the relevant edict does not refer to annual transfers of weapons. See Doc. 1771 (1768/9), Takayanagi and Ishii, Ofuregaki Tenmei shūsei, 458–459. The edict was received in Sanbagawa about two months after it was issued: Iizuka-ke monjo P8215-1415 (1768/11). In 1839, the Sanbagawa headman assured the intendant that all four-season guns in the village would be delivered to the headman's house for safe-keeping at the end of the eleventh month each year: Iizuka-ke monjo P8214-1496 (1839/1).

¹⁶A hunter's licence tag has been preserved in Arikawa Hiroshi-ke monjo H0-6-2 3-bangai 3 (n.d.) Gunma Prefectural Archives.

¹⁷Sewell, Work and Revolution in France.

¹⁸Fueki Shirōemon-ke monjo P8418-354-37 (tatsu/2), Gunma Prefectural Archives, is a draft of a pawn note for 2 ryō in gold. Hirano, ‘Odawara han ni okeru teppō aratame ni tsuite’, 74–79, describes what was apparently the widespread pawning of guns in the Odawara area.

¹⁹Iizuka-ke monjo P8214-8982 (also catalogued as H41-3-1-L1) (1697/10); the village expressed similar problems four years later: Iizuka-ke monjo P8214-4996 (1701/12).

²⁰For an example of the village's assumption of a dead farmer's license, see Iizuka-ke monjo P8214-5005 (1722/1). Failing eyesight led another farmer to cede his licence: Iizuka-ke monjo H41-3-1 1-3 (1776/1). For an example of the village assisting in the sale of a hunting gun, see Iizuka-ke monjo P8214-6838 (1729/4) and Iizuka-ke monjo H41-3-1 1-1 (1729/8).

²¹Iizuka-ke monjo P8214-10027 (1730/12/28).

²²Iizuka-ke monjo P8214-1441 (1717/5).

²³The number of ‘hidden guns’ is calculated from figures in Takei, ‘Tenpō kakushi teppō no tekihatsu to sono rekishiteki igi’, 47–48.

²⁴Ibid. The inspectors found ‘hidden guns’ in 498 Kantō villages, mostly in the mountainous provinces of Shimotsuke (277 villages) and Kōzuke (79 villages).

²⁵Doc. 6290 (1805), Takayanagi and Ishii, Ofuregaki Tenpō shūsei, 2: 742–743; Sugi, Kinsei no chiiki shakai to zaison bunka, 268; Takei, ‘Tenpō kakushi teppō no tekihatsu to sono rekishiteki igi’, 39–40.

²⁶Takei, ‘Tenpō kakushi teppō no tekihatsu to sono rekishiteki igi’, 44.

²⁷Sakurai, ‘Kantō torishimari shutsuyaku to kaikaku kumiai mura’, 141–166. See also Howell, ‘Hard Times in the Kantō’.

²⁸Other areas were ordered to compile registers at the same time. For one covering a number of villages in northern Kōzuke province, see Kobayashi Sōkichi-ke monjo H10-1-1 1/kari-3 (1838/7), Gunma Prefectural Archives.

²⁹Iizuka-ke monjo P8214-5065 (1838/9).

³⁰Iizuka-ke monjo H41-3-1- L89 (1838/9). This document is a copy (hikae) of the register kept by the village headman, but it bears the seal of every gun holder in Sanbagawa. It is addressed to officers of the Kantō Regulatory Patrol, with a copy to the shogunal intendant.

³¹Indeed, a count made within the village seven days before the official inspection initially revealed 94 weapons, but six additional ‘owned’ guns turned up when local officials did a recount. Iizuka-ke monjo P8214-1511 (1839/3/8).

³²Iizuka-ke monjo P8214-2275 (1839/3).

³³Iizuka-ke monjo P8214-2275 (1839/3); Iizuka-ke monjo P8214-1429 (1839/3); and Iizuka-ke monjo P8214-5062 (1839/3).

³⁴Iizuka-ke monjo P8214-1444 (1839/3).

³⁵Iizuka-ke monjo P8214-1419 (1839/3).

³⁶Iizuka-ke monjo P8214-1418 (1839/4) and Iizuka-ke monjo P8214-1512 (1839/3).

³⁷Iizuka-ke monjo P8214-5065 (1838/9).

³⁸Iizuka-ke monjo P8214-6866-1 (1759/1/20).

³⁹Chaiklin, Cultural Commerce and Dutch Commercial Culture, 154–155.

⁴⁰Takakusaki Shōtarō-ke monjo H88-3-1 1-22 (1846/9/19), Gunma Prefectural Archives.

⁴¹Kurosawa Kanji-ke monjo H45-6-2 1-131 (1861/12), Gunma Prefectural Archives.

⁴²The licence from Akagari Sōemon: Arikawa-ke monjo H0-6-2/222 (1854/4/20) and the associated tag, Arikawa-ke monjo H0-6-2 3/bangai 2 (1854/4/20); on his relationship with Mishina Iga, see two undated letters, Arikawa-ke monjo H0-6-2 1-39 and H0-6-2 1-43, and formal rules of conduct for blacksmiths: Arikawa-ke monjo H0-6-2 1-31 (n.d.). Gun blueprints: Arikawa-ke monjo H0-6-2 2-87 (kinotoushi[1805 or 1865]/5), H0-6-2 2-88 (n.d.), and Arikawa-ke monjo H0-6-2 3/bangai 4 (1823/5).

⁴³Sanbagawa's experience with the inspection was similar to that of villages in the Odawara domain, as described by Takei, ‘Tenpō kakushi teppō no tekihatsu to sono rekishiteki igi’.

⁴⁴Doc. 2525 (1687/12), Takayanagi and Ishii, Ofuregaki Kanpō shūsei, 1182–1184.

⁴⁵Ōtake Tsuneshichi-ke monjo H4-48-3 1-72 (1864/5), Ōtake-ke monjo H4-48-3 1-72 (1864/5), and Ōtake-ke monjo H4-48-3 1-78 (1864/5), Gunma Prefectural Archives. The distress signal is described as a narimono, which generally refers to a gun. Isakichi eventually paid compensation of 30 ryō and 20 ryō, respectively, to the families of the dead and injured men. Immediately after the attack he offered an apology to the victims' families: Satō Kyūei-ke monjo H4-48-2 1-58 (1864/1/7). The bad guys appear to have gotten away unpunished. None of the documents offers a reason for the bad guys' attack.

⁴⁶Kawakami kuyū monjo H75-16-1 1-77 (1836/9), Gunma Prefectural Archives. For a similar case in Echizen province in 1802, see Asayama Rōgū, Shisō zasshiki (n.d.), fascicle 69, MS, National Archives of Japan.

⁴⁷Yabuta, Kokuso to hyakushō ikki no kenkyū. See also Uchida, ‘Emono kara takeyari e’. For a discussion of weaponry in protest, see Howell, Geographies of Identity in Nineteenth-Century Japan, 89–106.

⁴⁸Yamada Matsuo-ke monjo P8217-1551-15 (n.y./9/9), Gunma Prefectural Archives.

⁴⁹Kawakami kuyū monjo H75-16-1 1-64 (1864/3).

⁵⁰‘Kumiai nijukkason ren'inchō’ (1812/7), in Sanbu-chō Shi Hensan Iinkai, Sanbu-chō shi: Shiryōhen: Kinseihen, 244–246. For a discussion of the petition, see Sakurai, ‘Kantō torishimari shutsuyaku to kaikaku kumiaimura’.

⁵¹Mutō Bunji-ke monjo P8806-6750 (1864/6), Gunma Prefectural Archives.

⁵²Iyoku Mitsuo-ke monjo P8003-1552 (1864/8), Gunma Prefectural Archives.

⁵³Yamada Mitsutoshi-ke monjo H60-10-4 2-76 (1865/6/4), Gunma Prefectural Archives.

⁵⁴Shinoya Rokurō-ke monjo H60-14-1 1-69 (1866/8), Gunma Prefectural Archives.

⁵⁵Takei, ‘Tenpō kakushi teppō no tekihatsu to sono rekishiteki igi’, 50–51.

⁵⁶I have found numerous copies of the petition in the Gunma Prefectural Archives, from villages throughout Kōzuke province. The text of the petition states that it is from villages in Musashi as well, but I have not had an opportunity to search the Saitama Prefectural Archives for copies; presumably the Musashi villages would have been in the northern part of the province, close to the Iwahana intendancy. The records that survive are copies of the petition kept for the village headmen's files. It is not clear how many villages actually signed on to the petition in the end. The text paraphrased here is Katsuta Takeo-ke monjo P8425-91 (1863/10), Gunma Prefectural Archives, but the wording of the other versions is the same: among others, see Iizuka-ke monjo P8214-8144 (1863/10); Fueki-ke monjo P8418-529 (1863); Yamada Matsuo-ke monjo H41-4-1 - 1898 (1863); Ōto kuyū monjo H62-14-1 7-814 (n.d. [1863]), Gunma Prefectural Archives; Amada Sakari-ke monjo P8105-967-4 (n.d. [1863]), Gunma Prefectural Archives; Kanbe Kanetaka-ke monjo P8213-7612 (1863), Gunma Prefectural Archives.

⁵⁷Several copies of the roster survive: Karasawa Himeo-ke monjo H60-13-1 3-15 (1863/12), Gunma Prefectural Archives; Shinbo Hikonori-ke monjo H60-11-1 1-100 (1861 [sic]/12), Gunma Prefectural Archives (the document is a later copy, hence the mistaken date); and Mogi Ikashige-ke monjo H43-11-1 1-161 (1863/12), Gunma Prefectural Archives.

⁵⁸Koschmann, The Mito Ideology.

⁵⁹Kanbe-ke monjo P8213-3835 (ne[1864]/11/14). According to Iizuka-ke monjo P8214-1411 (1864/9), Sanbagawa village promised to mobilize two hunters and 12 four-season-gun holders in response to this order.

⁶⁰Iizuka-ke monjo H41-3-1- V6-3 (1864/11/19). The number of men is from Iizuka-ke monjo P8214-571 (1864/12).

⁶¹Sippel, ‘Popular Protest in Early Modern Japan’.

⁶²Iizuka-ke monjo P8214-2153 (1866/12).

⁶³Howell, Geographies of Identity in Nineteenth-Century Japan, 98–101.

⁶⁴Multiple copies of essentially the same document survive in the archives; among others, see Nakan Hitoshi-ke monjo H74-9-27 2-3 (1865/11), Gunma Prefectural Archives; Inoue Kaname-ke monjo H71-4-5 2-28 (n.d. [1865]), Gunma Prefectural Archives; Shinbo-ke monjo H60-11-1 1-100 (n.y. [1865]/11/11-12); Nishinakanojō-machi monjo H60-1-4- 1-73 (1865/11), Gunma Prefectural Archives; Tsukakoshi Tokutarō-ke monjo H1-78-1 1-36 (n.d. [1865]), Gunma Prefectural Archives.

⁶⁵Yamada Mitsutoshi-ke monjo H60-10-4 2-76 (1865/6/4); on shooting to kill: Harasawa Shōichi-ke monjo H60-12-1 1-42 (ushi[1865]/i.5/misoka), Gunma Prefectural Archives.

⁶⁶Abe, Kinsei nōson chiiki shakaishi no kenkyū, 114–150.

⁶⁷Nishinakanojō-machi monjo H60-1-4- 1-111 (1868/8).

⁶⁸Inari kuyū monjo H16-3-11 1-5 (1868/4), Gunma Prefectural Archives.

⁶⁹Sakamoto Keizō-ke monjo P8202-1017 (1870/3/10), Gunma Prefectural Archives.

⁷⁰ Gunma-ken futatsu zensho 1: Meiji rokunen (n.p., 1879), leaves 18–19, Gunma Prefectural Archives; Gunma-ken futatsu zensho 4: Meiji kyūnen (n.p. 1879), leaves 14–15, Gunma Prefectural Archives.

⁷¹Memorandum transcribed in Yokochi Teisaburō-ke monjo H0-2-1- -258 (1866), Gunma Prefectural Archives.

⁷²Hagiwara Mitsuru-ke monjo P8305-74 (1868/3), Gunma Prefectural Archives.