奥原マット - Matt Okuhara - 松本城鉄砲隊 - Interpreter for the Matsumoto Castle Gun Corps. Equestrian. Former police officer. Military veteran. Occasional writer.
This is what we do.
The Matsumoto Castle Gun Corps is a shooting display team from the Japanese Alps. We use samurai era guns and practice hōjutsu; the Way of the Gun. #hojutsu#samurai#gunsamurai#matsumoto#japan
Samurai artillery. Kind of. This gun was actually owned by a samurai from the Takashima Clan, in what is now modern day Nagano, and was used during the Battle of the Wada Valley in 1841. During that engagement, gunners from the Matsumoto and Takashima alliance ambushed the Mito rebels as they tried to negotiate the valley, using sustained firepower from elevated shooting positions…
From one uniform to another.
I wrote about my experiences in the British Police in a book called ‘Nuclear Copper - The Secret World of Nuclear Policing’.
If reading is your thing, or if you want to find out about the UKs most heavily armed police force, then check it out on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Waterstones etc… links in bio 🔗
#books #author #samurai #police
We will be shooting at Takashima Castle in Suwa City on the 25th of July! It’s free to visit! And it’s also my birthday! Come and see us if you have time!
Maintenance and notes!
We have over 300 guns in the collection. They are all registered cultural artifacts - items from the samurai era of feudal Japan.
@reluctantm55236 There is legal paperwork, to be able to own the ‘firearm’ and seperate antique paperwork for designated cultural items (such as katana and these hinawaju) 🙏
In hōjutsu, everyone is a white belt!
Actually there are only two members of The Matsumoto Castle Gun Corps that are able to fire this ozutsu.
For those who are interested in the specifics, this is a 770grain loaded into a 30mm barrel. That’s 50g of black powder 💥
Samurai Handcannon.
The largest gun in our collection is this 30mm ozutsu. Ozutsu were typically carried by samurai - as they were deployed to take on very tough targets such as structures, defences and troops in cover.
With only one shot, and a reload time that takes minutes - the gunner would be expected to use their courage and skill to get close enough to the target in order to make that single shot count.