User:Underbar dk/Teppō Denrai

An illustration by Hokusai, 1817, showing the first westerners in Japan demonstrating the use of matchlocks. Caption: "On August 25, 1543, these foreigners were cast upon the island of Tanegashima, Okuma Province"

The introduction of European firearms into Japan, named Teppō Denrai (鉄砲伝来) in Japanese, was a crucial event in Japanese history. Though there has been multiple transmissions of gunpowder technology into Japan, the most important was in 1543, when a Chinese smuggling junk carrying Portuguese passengers landed in the Japanese island of Tanegashima.

Japanese firearms before 1543

See also: Firearms of Japan

The introduction of matchlocks into Japan

Comparison of the records of the Portuguese landfall in Japan

	European sources	Japanese sources
Date	1542	23 September, 1543
Type of ship	Chinese junk	Great ship of unknown origin
Circumstance	Wrecked by storm en route from Siam to Ningbo	Unspecified, but immobilized on the western shore of Tanegashima
Site of contact	The island "Japan" at 32 degrees	Tanegashima
Identities of the people aboard	Antonio da Mota, Portuguese Francisco Zeimoto, Portuguese Antonio Pexoto, Portuguese	Kirishita da Mōta (喜利志多佗孟太), Portuguese Murashukusha (牟良叔舎), Portuguese Gōhō (五峯), Chinese Confucian scholar

See also

• Nanban trade
• Christianity in Japan