An was a type of Japanese

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 ...

used during the

Sengoku The was the period in Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Kyōtoku incident (1454), Ōnin War (1467), or (1493) are generally chosen as the period's start ...

and early

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

Description

The ''ōdzutsu'' was used primarily in naval and siege battles during the

Sengoku period The was the period in History of Japan, Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Kyōtoku incident (1454), Ōnin War (1467), or (1493) are generally chosen as th ...

for its efficiency in destroying large enemy structures. Though interpretations of ''ōdzutsu'' differ in literature, it is generally regarded as a weapon of forged

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

to distinguish it from an '' ishibiya'' (a cast

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

hand cannon). Its bullets were about 20 '' maces'' (). It is fixed to a ring or a wooden frame with only the barrel and fired using a difference fire. Some have an

ignition system Ignition systems are used by heat engines to initiate combustion by igniting the fuel-air mixture. In a spark ignition versions of the internal combustion engine (such as petrol engines), the ignition system creates a spark to ignite the fuel-ai ...

and a stock that uses a

matchlock A matchlock or firelock is a historical type of firearm wherein the gunpowder is ignited by a burning piece of flammable cord or twine that is in contact with the gunpowder through a mechanism that the musketeer activates by pulling a lever or Tri ...

. It was considerably more powerful than its cast bronze counterpart, and because it was forged, the risk of the barrel exploding was smaller than that of a cast gun. It could be relatively easily manufactured due to its inexpensive materials, but cannot be produced with too large a diameter due to limited forging techniques at the time. There is a famous large ''ōdzutsu,'' known as the Shibatsuji Gun, located in the

Yūshūkan The is a Japanese military and war museum located within Yasukuni Shrine in Chiyoda, Tokyo. As a museum maintained by the shrine, which is dedicated to the souls of soldiers who died fighting on behalf of the Emperor of Japan including convicted ...

Yasukuni Shrine is a Shinto shrine located in Chiyoda, Tokyo. It was founded by Emperor Meiji in June 1869 and commemorates those who died in service of Empire of Japan, Japan, from the Boshin War of 1868–1869, to the two Sino-Japanese Wars, First Sino-Japane ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

Other remarks

* The range of a 50-mace () ''ōdzutsu'' manufactured by the Kunitomo gunsmiths can reach up to . * The

Izu suigun The Izu Suigun (Japanese: 伊豆水軍, ''Izu suigun'') was a regional naval fleet (''suigun'') based in the Izu Peninsula of Japan. Owing to its later incorporation into the later Hōjō clan, it was also known as the Hojo suigun. The Izu suigun ...

of the Sengoku Jidai used ''ōdzutsu'' extensively in naval battles.

References

{{Early firearms Samurai weapons and equipment Early firearms Firearms of Japan Japanese inventions Artillery of Japan