The JapanSocietyJapan Society of MechamcalMechanical Engineers

The 3rd intemational Conference on Business & fechnology T)ansfer December 9-f7, 2006 fokvo .lapan

Cast Bronze Cannons of Choshu-han

-fechnology Transfer inside the Gunjis-

'lakeshi un'i u.ac.' Gunji,Osaka GakuinUniversity,Osaka, (e-mai!: ) Hiroyuki Kohama, Consulting Engineer, Osaka, Japan (e-mail: a ie-utc.osaka'kohama lil .oen.ne.'

1ft)y vvords: Remaining cannons in Paris and London, The Gunjis and their history] Gunji

foundry at Matsumoto

Abstract: During the of Japan from early 17th to late 19th centurM most institutions of

various categories were patrimonial and technology and art were transferred inside specific families from generation to generation. Regarding the art of cannons, artillery and casting, due to long peaceful time until late 18th centurM the technology was not used for making cannons, but

was used only for casting temple bells, monumental towers, etc. In early 19th centurM Choshu'han

was the strongest Daimyo, and opened fire to allied foreign fleet in 1863, The Gunjis was a family

of specialist in casting and artMery art in Choshu'han. Their history was described as an example

of technology transfer inside of the family.

1. BOMBARDMIIINT BETWI!EN THE ALLIED FOREIGN FLEET ANI) CHOSHU-HAN IN

1863 & 64 At Invalides in Paris, Rljksmuseum in Amsterdam and Royal Artillery Museum in Rotunda

near London remain cast bronze cannons made in Japan in the 19th centuryL They were brought there in 1864 from Shimonoseki, a port at the strait on the western entrance of Inland Sea. Choshu'han was a feudal government that covered Nagato and Suho, present Yhmaguchi Pref, and Mohri was its feudal lord. The port of Shimonoseki was in Nagato under Choshu'han. 's' .o . .

Image 1 & 2 The Choshu-gun cast by Kihelji in 1854(Kaei 7); now placed at Invalides in Paris

`honor On 10th MaM 1863 and afterwards, to execute the policy the emperer and expel barbarians", the batteries of Choshu'han at Shimonoseki opened fire to American, French

and Dutch ships. Tb take revenge in August of the next yeag 4 allied nations of Britain, France, the Netherlands and U.S.A. dispatched their fieet of 18 warships to Shimonoseki and

bombarded the batteries of Choshu'han. On the fo11owing day of the bombardment, their

landing party of 2000 rnen occupied the batteries eliminating the resistance of Choshu'han

armM Cannons of the batteries are dismantled and brought on board. After several days, the

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allied fieet and Choshu'han negotiated and agreed to secure peace of the strait and supply wateg food and fuel to foreign ships at the port of Shimonoseki. Lateg the allied force requested reparations to Shogunate in Edo and obtained $3 million.

Image 3 The lllustrated London News, Image 4 Maeda Battery and Choshu" grins by December 24, 1864 Felice Beato in the Marine Museum (Den Helder)

2. THE GUNJIS: THE PROFESSIONAL FAMI!;Y' OF CAS[[[ING AND ARTILLERY IN CHOSHU-HAN

Origin:The lord Ouchi owned Suho and the surrounding area, and settled their capital at

YZimaguchi in mid"12th century. They had power, wealth and accordingly sophisticated culture

nurtured through trading with foreign countries such as China, Portugal and so forth. St.

Francisco de Xavier was in Ylamaguchi in 1549, and was welcomed by the lord. He was allowed to

promote missionary work to people in the territory of Ouchi. In 1557, the lord Ouchi was

destroyed, and Mohri succeeded the area. In 1600, Mohri lost the war at Sekigahara, and the

territory shrank from 8 distriets to only 2 districts (Suho and Nagato). In 1604, Mohri settled the

capital at Hagi. Since that time, the government of Mohri had been called Choshu-han. The earliest ancestor of the Gunjis is Ylasaburo Gunji, who served for Ouchi. He and his descendants obtained fame in casting of metals. The founder of the Gunjis as the foundry and

gunnery expert was Sanuki GunJ'i, who was the great grandson of Ylisaburo, He learned art of gunnery from his father'in'law, Takayasu Nakamura. Although there were severa} schools of gunnerM such as [fakayasu style, Ogino style, [ibnzan style, Engyoku style, etc., [[bkayasu Nakamura was the patriarch of Thkayasu style. The lord Mohri gave favor to Sanuld's ski11 in gunnery and casting arts. Gunnery officers of other styles had no foundry or casting house. In

addition, the Gunjis did not stick to Takayasu style, but were fiexib!e to improve their art consistently in adopting good points of other styles and making research works. Whenever visitors with excellent skills and materials came to Hagi, the family eagerly studied and took them for themselves.

Early Edo: Around 1640, 8 sons of Sanuki served for Choshu'han. They were distinguished in

casting and gunnery and deeply involved in military techniques of Choshu'han. During the 200 years of Edo period, the Gunjis divided into several families, where two served as casting houses and five as gunnery houses, and finally at the end of Edo period 3 professors of gunnery and 2 ' gunnery officers worked for Choshu'han. Kihei, the third son of Sanuki, was excenent in both casting and gunnerM and wen the fame of the wizard. His work remains in Izumo Taisha, one of well'known and the oldest Shinto shrines in

Japan. He made Tbrli, a cast bronze gateway to the shrine, which was donated by the lord [[lsunayoshi Mohri in 1666. The name bf the caster, Kihei Gunji remains clearly at present. ' Tkaro casting houses operated at diffbrent places, Ohmi and Matsumoto. Ohmi was located at the

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Image 5 Tbrii at Izumo'Taisha Image 6 Large Bronze Bell of the Daishoin

south of Hagi Castle and near the Daishoin of Mohri's family temple, There was the casting

foundry of Sanuki's forth son, Jinnojo, and seventh son, Chozaernon. In 1703, Chozaemon

Nobuhisa and his son Shirozaemon Nobuhusa Gunji made a cast bronze cannon to preserve the art of cannon casting. Shirozaemon also cast a large bronze bell of the Daishoin.

Matsumoto was located at the east of Hagi Castle and near the Shoin'shrine now. There was the foundry operated by the posterity of Kihei Nobuyasu Gunii, mainly of Sanuki's second and third sons.Middle

Edo: Circa 1637, Shogunate ordered to close Japan to fbreigners except Netherlanders

and Chinese at Nagasaki. Nagasaki was the only port opened to the ships of these people.

However, Chinese ships so' called Karafune, made access several times to the coast of western

Japan due to shipwreck by storm, false navigation or sometimes smuggling, Shogunate was afraid

of occasional communication between Chinese and Daimyos, and around 1700, ordered Daimyos

to expel Karafunes in case they approached to the coast. Choshu'han appointed the Gunjis to be in

coastal defense applying their art of gunnery. The Gunj'is in charge of defense successfully drove away Karafunes, and for their performance of the task they were promoted to the high position and raised their salaries. The most eminent result was development of carriages of cannons that

made power of firing mobile in field operation, The result was reported to Shagunate in Edo. Gendaihu Guaji, the first of the 5 gunnery houses, was the eldest son ofKihei Nobuyasu. He was skillfu1 in inventing cannons easy to transport in field operation, Ogiu Sorai (1696'1728), the

renowned scholar Qf philosophy and classic literature and the adviser to Shogun, praised the art of Gendaihu in his document and made a poem that appreciated meeting with him in 1724. They became acquainted with each other by mediation of Shuhnan Ylimagata, a professor of classic literature in Choshu'han. Military arts of Choshu'han were preserved even in peacefu1 time. Until 1740, it was reported that these two foundries produced cannons. Without such exceptions, during late 17th and early 19th centuries, peaceful time without any need for weapons continued because the power of Shogunate in Edo was stable and Japan closed the door to foreign countries except the Netherlands and China. Then, the main tasks of the Gunjis were to cast large bronze

bells for Buddhist temp}es or various cast bronze wares for ceremonial, agricultural or daily purposes. Late Edo:In early 19th centurM as foreign ships haunted the coasts of Japan, Shogunate and

Daimyos hastened to fortify coastal defense. In 1814 Choshu'han developed Shinkljin, meaning

the formation of genius ordnance which was intended to transform weapon system to musket gun and cannon from spear and sword. Murata Seihu (1783'1855) was the leader of the deve}opment.

He also reformed Choshu'han to overcome the political crisis in 1840 named [[bmpou reform, and consequently improved the financial balance of Choshu'han, made domestic trades prosper and created manufacturing of local gpecialty products. It vitalized Choshu'han which became one of

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the strongest leaders in the late Edo period, In 1843, Choshu'han made a large'scale field demonstration of Shinltijin at Haganodai near Hagi. Several cannons were cast for Shinkljin,

which were in traditional Japanese design.

Around the time, European way of military aTts came to be considered superior to that of the traditional style, because the Dutch liaison officer in Nagasaki brought the news ef Opium War in

China, In 1841 Takashima Shuhan(1797'`- 1866), who opened the school ofEuropean military arts

in Nagasaki, made the large'scale demonstration of European sty!e military formation at

[[bkumaruhara in Edo. European style was authorized and adopted by Shogunate and Daimyos

after that time. In 1841, Choshu'han selected and dispatched Gennojou Gunji to Nagasaki to

study new military arts in the school of [fakashima. After finishing the study Gennojou came back

in 1844, and served for Choshu'han to furnish the ordnance in new style. Following him,

Kakunoshin and Kumajiro Gunji were dispatched to Nagasaki several times to study the gunnery arts. Casting house at Matsumoto was administrated by Kihelji Nobuyasu, and at Ohmi by

parents ofYasaburo Nobuzane and Tbmizo Nobunari Guoji. Kiheiji at Matsumoto made one of the

two cannons that remain at Rotunda, and (rbmizo at Ohmi cast the other. They were both in

traditional Japanese style with inscriptions of [Ebmpou 15, the Japanese nominal year of 1844.

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Image 7 Japanese'Style Gun made by Kihelji Image 8 Screw-threaded breech plug and [[bmizo in 1844(Tbnpou 15)

Western styIe introduced: In 1853 after studying at Nagasaki, Kakunoshin cast cannons for 80

and 20 pounds balls, and began to organize the gunnery formation in new style. At the same time, Kakunoshin started the preparation of a reverberating furnace for the mass production of cannons, but the plan wag interrupted and never completed. In Hagi remains a furnace, which ig said to be the bench size furnace of the plan. In June 1853, Commodore Perry arrived at Uraga. Choshu'han

was ordered to defend Sagami district near Edo, and to cast cannons. In December 1853,

Choshu'han selected Takenosuke Gunji as the master of gunnerM and ordered him to prepare cannons with Kihelji. Casting foundries at Matsumoto and Ubakura became busy in producing cannons. Parallel to the above production, for the defense of Sagami, Choshu'han dispatched

Kihelji Gunji to Katsushika"Sunamura where the facility of Choshu'han in Edo is located, for the urgent production of cannons. In 1854, with the guidance of Sakuma Shouzan (1811-64), a renowned scholar of European

technology and the founder of the school of European artillery in Edo, Kihelji cast 36 cannons at

Katsushika'Sunamura. Later he was said to cast 130 cannons in his life, Produced cannons were

not any more in Japanese style, but in new European style. A crest of thrlee stars, Nagatoboshi of

Mohri was inscribed on each cannon. The cannon kept at Invalides in Paris has the crest.

In 1855, Senzaemon, renamed Kakunoshin, and Kumajirou were again dispatehed to Edo and

Nagasaki for further study of military arts. In October 1855, Shogunate opened the Navy School in Nagasaki (Nagasaki Kaigun Denshuusho) with professors and trainers from the Netherlands.

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In 1858, Choshu'han dispatched Senzaemon and other 15 persons to the School. In 1860, Senzaemon was appointed the professor of gunnery arts in Meirinkan, the military school of Choshu-han at Ylamaguchi, after graduating Kohbusho, the Shogunate military school in Edo, Senzaemon started to establish a new casting foundry in Okihara in the same year. In 1868, Melji'Ishin took place, and the modernization of Japan started. In 1871, Choshu-han was abolished to become Ylimaguchi PrefectuTe under the new government system. Several persons above mentioned survived during Mein' period and applied their ski11 to establish modern Japan.

3. GUNJI'S FOUNDRY A[I7 MATSUMOTO, EXCAVA[VED AND RECONSTRUCTED AS A

HISTORICAL MONUMENT The descendants of Kihei Nobuyasu Gunji who cast Tbrii for Izumo'thisha, kept the foundry

at Matsumoto, on the hillside in east suburban area of Hagi beyond River Matsumoto and near

the Shoin'shrine now as mentioned before. Their skM had been appreciated by Choshu'han. So,

although they operated their foundry independently of the government, they were classified as Samurai and given the salary though only in small amount. In 1853, by the urgent need to produce cannons, Choshu'han used the facility of Gunji at Matsumoto to run the foundry

completely by themselves, and expanded the capacity to cast bronze cann6ns having more than 3

m length to shoot 80 pounds balls.

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Image 9 Remains of GunJ'i foundry at Matsumoto Image 10 Memorial Park of Gunii foundry

In late 1990s, according to the Hagi City's p!anning, a crossroad must be placed at the site of the remaining foundry at Matsumoto. Therefore, the ground was dug out and investigated by professional historians. The excavation revealed many new findings. Also the historians found

that the site was the only one remaining foundry that can inform us of casting techniques in the

old time in Japan. In 2004, it was reconstructed as a monument to celebrate the 400 anniversary

of settlement of Hagi City as the capital of Choshu'han in early Edo period. The remains were supposed to be the casting pit that was expanded by the request for 80 pounds cannons in 1853. Original sight of the foundry was supposed and presented in the picture, A casting pit of 4.5 m depth were built with three piled stonewalls having two gentle slopes. Casting moids were located in the center of the pit on a 1.5 m square wooden frame fi11ed with clean sands. Molds were divided laterally into 10 modules and bound together tightly. The insert was placed in the mo!d to

cast the cannon bored. [Eb secure the centering of the insert, three copper stays named [[bmbodou

(dragonfly bronze ring) were placed at the bottom. The inside volume of the molds was measured by filling dry clean sands to calculate the weight of copper and tin ingots necessary to produce a cast bronze cannon. Then molds were buried in sand for easy operation and safety of casting.

Melting furnaces named Koshiki, small cupola furnaces, were located near the pit. By accounting

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Image 11 Reconstruction of Casting Pit Image 12 Casting Wbrk exhibited at Memorial of Guaji foundry at Matsumoto Park

the melting capacity fbr the size of cast cannons, the number of Koshiki should be three. The

outside casing of Koshiki was made of cast iron and from three parts, and inside of Koshiki was lined by heat resistant bricks. Hard charcoal of oak and ingots of copper and tin in proper proportion usually qround 90%llO%, were thrown in layer by layer. A large sized bellows operated by treading of persons was located near each fUrnace to blast it up to high temperature for metals to melt down. [Ebreading persons, so'called Banko, were protected from severe heat of the furnace by shadowing walls. Melting metals and casting them might finish in one or two days. However,

the preparation of molds and treatment after casting might take much more timeL The bores of cast cannons might be machined smoothlM and the touchhole might be drilled, but details are not clear. As mentioned above, the place of the remains of the casting pit was just at the intersection in the CitM so it was moved to the new place near the original site and was reconstructed. Pieces of

molds for cannons, shells, balls, agricultural tools etc. were found near the furnace, and remains

of big wooden frame filled with sands under fabricated molds were found with its supporting

woods and excavated from wet earth. The moisten water of the wooden frame was removed and

replaced with polyethylene glycol to resi$t open air and to keep it in dry condition. Stonewalls of the casting pit were added with replicas of molds on the wooden frame, melting furnaces and troughs between fUrnaces and molds. An illustration that depicts the active operation of casting

was drawn on a ceramic color plate and was exhibited at the site. A replica of a 20 pounds cannon on its carriage whee}s was also exhibited near the furnace. Drawings, documents, chemically

treated wooden frames and pieces of parts of the foundry are preserved at the Hagi Museum and

Yamaguchi Prefecture Center of Cultural Assets.

References: [1] The Illustrated London News, December 24,1864 [2] Dictionary ofJapanese History in Japanese (FgptV

FojikawaShoten. 1935, inJapanese (rMft=tatr7UasM-tr7ncnc])

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