Pistol Museum Tanegashima

Pistol Museum (Firearms Museum), Tanegashima 種子島開発総合センター 鉄砲館

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Pistol Museum, (Firearms Museum; Tanegashima Kaihatsu Sogo Center - Teppokan), Tanegashima, Kagoshima Prefecture

The Pistol Museum in Tanegashima off the southern coast of Kagoshima Prefecture goes by a variety of names. It is referred to also as the "Gun Museum," or the "Firearms Museum." It is part of the Tanegashima Kaihatsu Sogo Center - Teppokan (たねがしまかいはつそうごうせんたー（てっぽうかん) in the main port town of Nishinoomote.

The museum is constructed in the shape of a 16th century European ship and displays not just exhibits relating to firearms but also displays on the history, culture and natural environment of Tanegashima Island.

Early guns from India, Pistol Museum, Tanegashima, Kagoshima Prefecture

Pistol Museum, Tanegashima, Kagoshima Prefecture

Exhibits

Tanegashima is famous as the first place where Europeans came ashore in Japan. This was in 1543 when a Chinese ship carrying three Portuguese traders was shipwrecked off the south east coast of the island in a typhoon.

The local authorities came to investigate and were fired on with a warning shot by the crew. Communicating in Chinese characters the locals learned that the ship was from China and agreed to tow it to a safe haven for repair.

The ship's crew stayed on Tanegashima for six months and during this time passed on the secret of making firearms. This development was to change the course of Japanese history and lead to its eventual unification first under Oda Nobunaga, then Toyotomi Hideyoshi and finally Tokugawa Ieyasu after the decisive Battle of Sekigahara in 1600.

As a result firearms in Japan were often referred to during the Edo Period as tanegashima.

There is a literal twist in the tale, however. The locals on the island were already skilled in metalwork before the Portuguese arrived. The island was, and still is, known for its production of scissors.

However, the island's metal workers were unable to reproduce the screws that held the early firearms together. It was not until over a year or more later when a Portuguese ship returned that the technology was successfully transferred.

A 16-year-old daughter of one of the Japanese metal workers, one Yaita Kinbei Kiyosada, left with the Portuguese and sailed off into the mists of history. It is not known if it was a love match or she was given in exchange for the much desired knowledge. A video in the museum addresses the story.

The museum has a superb display of early firearms not just from Japan but from all over the world. These include the matchlock gun that was given to the island's authorities by the Portuguese in 1543 and the first gun produced on the island.

In addition to the displays of firearms, the museum has exhibits of local handicrafts, sea shells, clothing, agricultural implements and other examples of the flora and fauna of the island.

Also on the second floor is a room dedicated to the cultural exchanges between the people of Tanegashima and those of Portugal.

Brass matchlock pistols from the Edo Period, Pistol Museum, Tanegashima

Firearms, Pistol Museum, Tanegashima

Access

Pistol Museum

7585 Nishinoomote, Nishinoomote-shi

Kagoshima Prefecture 891 3101

Tel: 0997 23 3215

Hours: 8.30 am - 5 pm; closed on the 25th of every month (open daily in July and August).

Admission: Adults 420 yen (550 yen with entry to the Gessoutei samurai house), high school students 270 yen, junior high and elementary school students 130 yen.

The museum is a 10 minute walk from the port where the ferries to and from Kagoshima and Yakushima arrive and depart. Within easy walking distance of the museum is Akaogi Castle Cultural Museum Gessoutei (a combined ticket allows reduced admission to both museums) and the Statue of Tanegashima Tokitaka (1528 - 1579), the young feudal lord only 15 years old when he first made contact with the Europeans.

Another excellent museum on the island is the Tanegashima Space Center - also, in its way, connected with exploration and the interaction with other worlds.

Smith, Pistol Museum, Tanegashima

Pistol Museum, (Firearms Museum), Tanegashima, Kagoshima Prefecture

Accommodation in Tanegashima

There is a range of available accommodation on Tanegashima from budget minshuku guest-houses to higher-end western style hotels. In Nishinoomote try the recommended Inomoto Honkan Inn (Tel: 0997 22 1100) which has several associated restaurants, the more upmarket Hotel Lexton Tanegashima, the budget Ryokan Miharusou or the three star Tanegashima Araki Hotel.

Elsewhere on Tanegashima are Zeus House, a guest house on the east coast, Minshuku Seiryukyo and the two star guest house Ebinoyu in Minamitane.

Tanegashima Scissors, Pistol Museum, (Firearms Museum), Tanegashima, Kagoshima Prefecture

Pistol Museum, (Firearms Museum), Tanegashima, Kagoshima Prefecture

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