POV: You're a Farm Boy Handed a Gun in Samurai Japan

Experience the Battle of Nagashino through the eyes of a seventeenth-century Japanese soldier. Learn how matchlock arquebus technology changed warfare in 1575. This video follows a fictional farm boy drafted into the infantry to face the legendary Takeda cavalry. By examining the tactical reality of the matchlock, we move past romanticized myths to see how levying commoners and using wooden palisades allowed Oda Nobunaga to turn the tide. We break down the loading process, the discipline required to maintain a firing line, and the historical reality behind the famous three-volley theory. Historians now debate the specific mechanics of these early firearm engagements. By analyzing primary sources like the Shinchō-kō ki, we reconstruct the tension of a soldier waiting for the signal to fire. Whether you are interested in samurai warfare or the history of gunpowder, this analysis provides a detailed look at the reality of combat in feudal Japan. Subscribe for weekly historical breakdowns, and comment which battle you want to explore next. 0:00 Sunrise at the fence 0:45 A gun for a farm boy 2:38 The march to Shitara 5:04 Load, prime, fire 6:53 Five waves 8:38 Three volleys, or not 10:56 After the smoke 12:18 What became of you Sources Ōta Gyūichi — The Chronicle of Lord Nobunaga (Shinchō-kō ki), trans. J. S. A. Elisonas and J. P. Lamers, Brill 2011, Book VIII, pp. 222–227 — https://books.google.com/books?id=pJH... Jeroen P. Lamers — Japonius Tyrannus: The Japanese Warlord Oda Nobunaga Reconsidered (Hotei 2000), pp. 111–114 and notes 240–246 — https://books.google.com/books?id=AtE... Kenneth Chase — Firearms: A Global History to 1700 (Cambridge University Press 2003), pp. 24–25, 177–195, 250 n. 48 — https://archive.org/details/firearmsg... Geoffrey Parker — The Military Revolution (Cambridge University Press 1988), p. 140 and note p. 211 — https://archive.org/details/militaryr... Mary Elizabeth Berry — Hideyoshi (Harvard University Press 1982), pp. 34, 62–63, 102–110 — https://archive.org/details/hideyoshi... Stephen Turnbull — Battles of the Samurai (Arms and Armour 1992), pp. 80–93 — https://archive.org/details/battlesof... Stephen Turnbull — Samurai Warfare (Arms and Armour 1997), pp. 48–49, 57–59, 70–77 — https://archive.org/details/samuraiwa... Constantine N. Vaporis — Samurai: An Encyclopedia of Japan's Cultured Warriors (ABC-CLIO 2019), "Firearms", pp. 111–112 — https://books.google.com/books?id=0Bj... Goza Yūichi — 大河ドラマ『どうする家康』解説③：鉄砲3段撃ちはあったか（前篇）, Agora, 2023-06-30 — https://agora-web.jp/archives/2306290... Goza Yūichi — 大河ドラマ『どうする家康』解説④：鉄砲3段撃ちはあったか（後篇）, Agora, 2023-07-17 — https://agora-web.jp/archives/2307161... … and 12 more in the pinned comment Credits Matchlock gun, Japan, late 16th–early 17th c., The Met 14.100.101, public domain: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collect... Battle of Nagashino screen, 18th c., Toyota City Museum of Local History, public domain: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Zōhyō monogatari, two gunners, public domain: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Hokusai, the first guns in Japan, 1817, public domain: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Izumi meisho zue (1796), gunsmiths at Sakai, NDL, public domain: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Inatomi-ryū gunnery manual (稲富流砲術秘伝書), date unknown, public domain: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Letter of Takeda Katsuyori, Osaka Castle Museum, public domain: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Sanshū Nagashino senjō no zu, manuscript map, Waseda University Library, public domain (cropped to the sheet): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Battle of Nagashino screen, 18th c., Toyota City Museum of Local History, detail (cropped), public domain: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Zōhyō monogatari, bullet-box carriers, public domain: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Osaka Winter Campaign screen, a gun squad, Tokyo National Museum, public domain: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Utagawa Kuniyoshi, rain covers for the gun lock (dated 1855 in Perrin, Giving Up the Gun, 1979), public domain: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...