Introduced by the Portuguese via the island of Tanegashima (now Kagoshima Prefecture) in 1543, the matchlock (Hinawaju, also known as Tanegashima) radically transformed warfare in Japan. it was most famously used in the Battle of Nagashino of 1575, when the combined forces of Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu systematically employed a large number of matchlock rifles to defeat the army of Takeda katsuyori.
This work illustrates the battle scene of Tokugawa Firing Squad and their matchlocks.
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