Japanese Teppō (Tanegashima Matchlock)

Timeline

1. 1543–1560Tanegashima · Kagoshima PrefecturePortuguese merchants brought matchlock guns to Tanegashima; the island's lord Tanegashima Tokitaka ordered blacksmith Yaita Kinbei to successfully copy one, and the teppō thereafter spread through Japan, historically known as the Tanegashima gun.
2. c. 1570–1600Japanese archipelago · JapanDaimyō such as Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi equipped large numbers of teppō-ashigaru; volley-fire tactics matured in battles such as Nagashino and Sekigahara, and Japanese teppō manufacturing developed into an industry in Sakai, Edo, Harima, and elsewhere.
3. 1640–1650Edo · Tokyo MetropolisBy the 1640s, teppō had become standard equipment for shogunal and domain armies; gunsmiths in Edo, Harima Province, and elsewhere continued producing Japanese-style matchlocks, and in peacetime these were incorporated into domain armaments and inspection systems.