A was an early Japanese

rocket launcher A rocket launcher is a weapon that launches an unguided, rocket-propelled projectile. History The earliest rocket launchers documented in imperial China consisted of arrows modified by the attachment of a rocket motor to the shaft a few i ...

and development of the

fire arrow Fire arrows were one of the earliest forms of weaponized gunpowder, being used from the 9th century onward. Not to be confused with earlier incendiary arrow projectiles, the fire arrow was a gunpowder weapon which receives its name from the tra ...

History and description

Fire arrows of some type have been used in Japan as far back as the 6th century where they are said to have been used during a military campaign in Korea. Bows (

yumi is the Japanese term for a bow. As used in English, refers more specifically to traditional Japanese asymmetrical bows, and includes the longer and the shorter used in the practice of and , or Japanese archery. The was an important we ...

) were used to launch these early fire arrows. In 10th-century China, gunpowder was used to launch fire arrows, and this type of fire arrow was used against the Japanese by Mongolian naval vessels in the 13th century. In 1543, the Japanese acquired

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 ...

technology from the Portuguese, and the resulting firearms developed by the Japanese led to new means of launching fire arrows. These rocket-type bo-hiya had the appearance of a thick arrow with large fins, a wood shaft and a metal tip; they resembled the Korean

chongtong ''Chongtong'' () is a term for military firearms of the Goryeo and Joseon dynasties. ''Chongtong'' varied in size from small firearms to large cannons. There were three generations of ''chongtong''. The well-known ''cheonja'', ''jija'', ''hyeonj ...

, an arrow-firing cannon. Bo-hiya were ignited by lighting a fuse made from incendiary waterproof rope which was wrapped around the shaft; when lit the bo-hiya was launched from either a wide-bore cannon, a form of

tanegashima (Japanese matchlock) , most often called in Japanese and sometimes in English , was a type of matchlock-configured arquebus firearm introduced to Japan through the Portuguese Empire in 1543. It was used by the samurai class and their "foot soldiers", and within a fe ...

called ''hiya zutsu'', or from a mortar-like weapon (''hiya taihou''). By the 16th century,

Japanese pirates ''Wokou'' ( zh, c=, p=Wōkòu; ; 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 17th century.

were reported to have used bo-hiya. During one sea battle it was said the bo hiya were "falling like rain". Bo-hiya were standard equipment on Japanese military vessels, where they were used to set fire to enemy ships.H. A. C. Bonar, "On Maritime Enterprise in Japan", in

Gallery

File:Antique Japanese bohiya or bo hiya fire arrow and hiya taihou (fire arrow cannon).jpg, Antique Japanese (samurai) ''bo hiya'' or ''bohiya'' (rocket) and ''hiya taihou'' (rocket cannon), Matsumoto Castle, in Nagano prefecture, Japan File:Antique Japanese (samurai) bohiya or bo hiya (fire arrow).jpg, Antique Japanese (samurai) ''bohiya'' or ''bo hiya'' (rocket), showing the fuse, Matsumoto Castle, in Nagano prefecture, Japan File:Bo hiya fire arrow.JPG, Bo-hiya File:Hiya-zutsu and bo-hiya 1.jpg, An Edo period wood block print showing samurai gunners using ''hiya zutsu'' (rocket guns) to fire ''bo-hiya'' File:Oozutu.jpg, Bo-hiya (fire arrow), ancient japanese weapon also known as hiya taihou (rocket cannon)

References

External links

{{Early firearms Early firearms Early rocketry Rocket launchers Japanese inventions Technology in Medieval Japan Samurai weapons and equipment Renaissance-era weapons Weapons of Japan

History and description

Gallery

See also

References

External links