Staring Down the Barrel: The Deployment of the Harquebus by the Hōjō of Odawara, 1530–1590

Abstract

Abstract According to a popular theory, the Hōjō family of Odawara were hopelessly old-fashioned in their approach to firearms technology compared to their contemporaries in sixteenth century Japan. The third daimyo Hōjō Ujiyasu (1515–1571) has been singled out for particular criticism because he allegedly preferred to train his samurai by making them chase dogs, and as a result the Hōjō found themselves “staring down the barrel” when Toyotomi Hideyoshi advanced upon them in 1590. This article argues that this negative impression derives from a well-established Hōjō principle of frugality that was exaggerated by later accounts in gunkimono (“war tales”), whose authors did not see firearms as suitable material for their heroic narratives. By contrast, more reliable primary sources—letters, written orders, troop muster lists and garrison inventories—demonstrate that the Hōjō were no laggards in the development and deployment of firearms. Instead an investigation of the Hōjō’s embrace of the harquebus provides an excellent historical and technological case study. The finer details of their experience—as revealed by archaeological investigation and a unique eyewitness account of the effects of gunfire from a Hōjō fortress—also provide unique insights into the complex processes that were involved. Their defeat in 1590 was not due to being old-fashioned but to the application of military force on an overwhelming scale that none could have resisted.

Matched Nanban terms

• people Toyotomi Hideyoshi

Provenance

• openalex (W4399384140)
  2026-04-30T19:58:33.081855+00:00

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