Abstract Between the arrival of firearms in Japan in 1543 and the crushing of the Shimabara rebellion in 1638, Japan transformed from a fractured country in a permanent state of war into a centralized, peaceful era. However, this was only possible thanks to several transformations made by the Tokugawa regime, not least the firearm itself. The copious amounts of firearms existing in Japan became a domesticated and common element of the Edo period and were prevalent in the country’s transformation. Rather than being just tools of war that could menace the shogunate, firearms gained a range of roles, from tools to regalia, depending on their owners’ social and political context, which sheds light on their social environment.
Arturo Galindo García (Thu,) studied this question.