''Chongtong'' () is a term for military firearms of the

Goryeo Goryeo (; ) was a Korean state founded in 918, during a time of national division called the Later Three Kingdoms period, that unified and ruled the Korea, Korean Peninsula until the establishment of Joseon in 1392. Goryeo achieved what has b ...

and

Joseon Joseon ( ; ; also romanized as ''Chosun''), officially Great Joseon (), was a dynastic kingdom of Korea that existed for 505 years. It was founded by Taejo of Joseon in July 1392 and replaced by the Korean Empire in October 1897. The kingdom w ...

dynasties. ''Chongtong'' varied in size from small firearms to large cannons. There were three generations of ''chongtong''. The well-known ''cheonja'', ''jija'', ''hyeonja'', and ''hwangja'' were named after the first four characters of the

Thousand Character Classic The ''Thousand Character Classic'' (), also known as the ''Thousand Character Text'', is a Chinese poem that has been used as a primer for teaching Chinese characters to children from the sixth century onward. It contains exactly one thousand c ...

in decreasing size, thus making them equivalent to Cannons A, B, C, and D.

History

Gunpowder first came to Korea in the mid-14th century. From 1356 onwards, Korea was much harassed by

wokou ''Wokou'' ( zh, c=, p=Wōkòu; ; Hepburn romanization, Hepburn: ; ; literal Chinese translation: "dwarf bandits"), which translates to "Japanese pirates", were pirates who raided the coastlines of China and Korea from the 13th century to the 17 ...

, and the king of

, Kongmin Wang, sent an envoy to the court of

Ming China The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...

appealing for a supply of firearms. Although China at that time was under

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty ( ; zh, c=元朝, p=Yuáncháo), officially the Great Yuan (; Mongolian language, Mongolian: , , literally 'Great Yuan State'), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after Div ...

, the first Ming leader, the

Hongwu Emperor The Hongwu Emperor (21 October 1328– 24 June 1398), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Taizu of Ming, personal name Zhu Yuanzhang, courtesy name Guorui, was the List of emperors of the Ming dynasty, founding emperor of the Ming dyna ...

, seems to have treated the request kindly and responded in some measure. The

Goryeosa ''Goryeosa'' (), or ''History of Goryeo'', is an extensive historical record of the Goryeo dynasty, compiled by the officials of Goryeo's successor state, Joseon. Its compilation started during the reign of Taejo of Joseon, Taejo (the founding ...

mentions a certain type of bombard, the chongtong, which could send arrows from the Nam-kang hill to the south of the Sun-ch’on Sa temple with such force and velocity that they would penetrate completely into the ground together with their fins. In circa 1372, Li Khang (or Li Yuan), a

saltpetre Potassium nitrate is a chemical compound with a sharp, salty, bitter taste and the chemical formula . It is a potassium salt of nitric acid. This salt consists of potassium cations and nitrate anions , and is therefore an alkali metal nitrate ...

expert, perhaps a merchant, came from

South China South China ( zh, s=, p=Huá'nán, j=jyut6 naam4) is a geographical and cultural region that covers the southernmost part of China. Its precise meaning varies with context. A notable feature of South China in comparison to the rest of China is ...

to Korea, and he was befriended by the courtier Choi Muson. He asked him confidentially about the secrets of his craft and sent several of his retainers to learn from him. Choi became the first Korean to manufacture gunpowder and gun barrels, all depending on Li Khang's transmission. A royal inspection of a new fleet happened in 1373 including tests of guns with larger barrels for shooting incendiary arrows against the pirate ships. In 1373, a new mission, led by Sang Sa-on, was sent to the Chinese capital to ask for urgent supplies of gunpowder. The Koreans had built special ships to repel the wokou, which needed gunpowder for their cannon. In the following year, another request was made to the Ming emperor after the military camps at Happo were set ablaze by wokou, with over 5000 casualties. At first, Thai Tsu was reluctant to supply powder and arms to the Koreans, but in the middle of 1374 he changed his mind, he also sent military officers to inspect the ships built by the Koreans. The Goryeosa records the first systematic manufacture of hand cannons and bombards in Korea in ca. 1377, saying that the arsenal was directed by a "Firebarrel Superintendent". Improvements were made during the reign of

Taejong of Joseon Taejong (; 16 May 1367 – 10 May 1422), personal name Yi Pangwŏn (), was the third monarch of the Joseon dynasty of Korea and the father of Sejong the Great. He was the fifth son of King Taejo, the founder of the dynasty. Before ascending ...

, and in the 1440s,

Sejong the Great Sejong (; 15 May 1397 – 8 April 1450), commonly known as Sejong the Great (), was the fourth monarch of the Joseon, Joseon dynasty of Korea. He is regarded as the greatest ruler in Korean history, and is remembered as the inventor of Hangu ...

made even more. Earlier in the century, the ''bullanggi'', a breech-loading swivel gun was introduced from Portugal via China. In 1596, more improvements were made, and by this time (i.e., on the dawn of the

Imjin War The Imjin War () was a series of two Japanese invasions of Korea: an initial invasion in 1592 also individually called the "Imjin War", a brief truce in 1596, and a second invasion in 1597 called the Chŏngyu War (). The conflict ended in 159 ...

), the Seungja class of

hand cannon The hand cannon ( or ), also known as the gonne or handgonne, is the first true firearm and the successor of the fire lance. It is the oldest type of small arms, as well as the most mechanically simple form of metal barrel firearms. Unlike match ...

s were phased out in favor of Japanese-style

musket A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating plate armour. By the mid-16th century, this type of musket gradually dis ...

s and

arquebus An arquebus ( ) is a form of long gun that appeared in Europe and the Ottoman Empire during the 15th century. An infantryman armed with an arquebus is called an arquebusier. The term ''arquebus'' was applied to many different forms of firearms ...

es. The Koreans called these '' jochong'' (). During the 1650s, Hendrick Hamel and others were shipwrecked on Jejudo, introducing a Dutch cannon the Koreans called the hong'ipo, which was used alongside the native Korean cannons. They were finally discontinued in the late 19th century when Joseon abolished the old-style army in favor of an army based on contemporary Western militaries.

Cannons

Cheonja-Chongtong

The 'Sky' or 'Heaven' () type cannon was the largest of the chongtong. Its length was about and the bore was about . One of the projectiles it fired was a 'daejanggunjeon', a large rocket-shaped arrow with an iron head and four fins. Using the daejanggunjeon, the Cheonja-Chongtong had a range of up to 2.4 km.

Jija-Chongtong

The 'Earth' () cannon was a little smaller, about long with a bore of about . It could fire a 'janggunjeon' (similar to the daejanggunjeon, only smaller) about .

Hyeonja-Chongtong

The 'Black' () type was about long with a bore of about and could fire a 'chadajeon' (similar to the janggunjeon) that weighed about up to about .

Hwangja-Chongtong

The 'Yellow' () was the smallest of the cannons. It resembled the European hand-cannon. Its bore was about and shot a large arrow (similar to the chadaejeon) that weighed about or four ordinary arrows at once which had a range of about .

Handheld guns

Se-Chongtong

In 1432, the

dynasty under the reign of

introduced a

handgun A handgun is a firearm designed to be usable with only one hand. It is distinguished from a long gun, long barreled gun (i.e., carbine, rifle, shotgun, submachine gun, or machine gun) which typically is intended to be held by both hands and br ...

named sae-chongtong (세총통). Initially, Joseon considered the gun as a failed project due to its short effective range, but the weapon quickly proved to be effective in the frontier provinces, starting in June 1437. It was used by both soldiers of different units and civilians, including women and children, as a personal defense weapon. The gun was notably used by chetamja (체탐자, special reconnaissance), whose mission was to infiltrate enemy territory, and by

carabinier A carabinier (also sometimes spelled carabineer or carbineer) is in principle a soldier armed with a carbine, musket, or rifle, which became commonplace by the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars in Europe. The word is derived from the identical F ...

s carrying multiple guns (a fact made possible by their compact size).

Seungja-Chongtong

The 'Victor' () fired various small projectiles like pellets, bullets, arrows, arrows with war head, etc.

Gallery

File:Cheonjachongtong-etc.jpg, This Cheonja-chongtong is the largest size. File:지자총통 (862호).jpg, A jija-chongtong. File:Hyunjachongtong.jpg, This Hyeonja-chongtong is middle sized cannon. File:Byeolhwangja-chongtong.jpg, Byeolhwangja-chongtong, which was one of the smaller cannons. File:황자총통.jpg, A Hwangja-chongtong. File:승자총통 (1).JPG, Seungja-chongtong, a hand cannon.

Other firearms used by Koreans in the 16th century

Similar weapons

* Cetbang, Javanese cannon adapted from the Yuan guns * Bo-hiya, Japanese rocket * Huochong, Chinese hand cannon * Bedil tombak, Nusantaran hand cannon

References

{{Early firearms Cannon Weapons of Korea Military of Joseon Early firearms Early rocketry