Bird gun
| Bird gun | |
|---|---|
 Korean bird gun, 19th century. | |
| Type | Musket |
| Place of origin | Ming China, Joseon |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1558–1895 |
| Used by | |
| Wars | |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Qi Jiguang, King Seonjo |
| Produced | 1558–1621 (in China) 1592-1895 (in Korea) |
| Variants | Rifle |
| Specifications | |
| Length | 104-140 cm |
| Action | Snap matchlock |
| Rate of fire | User dependent, usually 1-2 rounds a minute |
| Feed system | Muzzle-loaded |
A Bird gun (Chinese: 鳥銃; pinyin: Niǎo chòng, Korean: 조총; Hanja: 鳥銃; RR: jochong; MR: choch'ong), is an early type of snap matchlock musket developed in Ming China and Korea in the late 16th century.[1]: 187 [2]: 206 [3]
History
[edit]The term bird gun (鳥銃) was first mentioned in the Chinese military manual Jixiao Xinshu, published in 1560. The book was written by the prominent Ming general Qi Jiguang, who, during the fight against Japanese pirates in southern China (1555-1560), armed his troops with captured Japanese arquebuses, and by 1558, mass production of arquebuses began in Chinese state arsenals - that year the first batch of 10,000 guns was produced.[1]: 172 About 1621 Ottoman arquebuses became available in China and their superiority to locally produced bird guns was quickly recognized. Soon, due to their simple construction, relative reliability and lower cost of production and maintainance, Ottoman-style muskets completely replaced snap-matchlock bird guns.[4]: 456
Though developed in Ming China, bird guns were most widely used in Joseon after 1592. As a loyal vassal of the Ming Empire (1368-1644), the Korean kingdom Joseon (1392-1897) was under the cultural and military influence of the Ming. Korea adopted the Chinese hand cannon for its small military. Since China never developed an arquebus or musket, these weapons were unknown in Korea until the early 16th century.[1]: 181 However, as the Chinese obtained their first matchlock muskets from the Ottoman Empire (between 1513-1524) and from Japanese pirates (after 1543),[2]: 206 Koreans learned of their existence. However, they did not adopt the new weapons until the Japanese invasion of Korea in 1592. Learning the advantages of the Japanese muskets over their own bows and arrows in the first battles against the Japanese (both Korean capitals fell within the first three months of war), Koreans were quick to adopt the matchlock musket. The first Japanese matchlocks, captured from the enemy, were adopted into the Korean military as soon as 1592. Indigenous production started during the war (1592-1598). After the war, Korea started a complete military reform, replacing bows and arrows with muskets.[1]: 181–184
Characteristics
[edit]
Influenced by the Japanese original, Ming and Korean snap matchlock muskets were close copies of the tanegashima guns, but somewhat longer, with larger stock (preserved guns are 104-140 cm long). Korean musket was popularly known as bird gun (the etymology of this name is unclear). Chinese sources of the 16th century (Qi Jiguang) thought that this name was a reflection of their precision, as they could be also used for bird hunting.[1]: 179 Modern interpretation is less flattering, linking the name with the 'pecking' action of the cock which held the match.[1]: 206
A preserved Ming report from 1597 states that of the four known models of matchlock guns at the time (Western, Japanese, Korean, and Ottoman), the Ottoman matchlock musket, which the Chinese report called a Rumi gun,[5] was by far the best. After the Ottoman, the best were the European ones, then the Japanese, and the worst were the Korean guns. The report states that their mechanism was like that of the Japanese guns, but that they were harder to fire.[6]
Use in battle
[edit]Bird guns were first (before 1558) adopted in small numbers into the armament of troops in southern China, who fought against Japanese pirates armed with arquebuses, while troops in northern China retained their archaic hand cannons for a long time. However, Chinese production of arquebuses till the end of the Ming dynasty remained insufficient for the needs of an army of millions, as they were far more complicated and expensive to produce than the old hand cannons. In addition, due to their complicated lock, they were easily damaged and were considered unreliable. Qi Jiguang, an ardent supporter of replacing bows and arrows with arquebuses, recommended that in each squad of 12 soldiers (one officer, 10 soldiers and 1 chamberlain), as many as eight should carry bladed arms (two swords and shields, 4 spears and two bamboo shoots), and only two should carry muskets. Such units, arranged in the so-called Mandarin duck formation, were successfully used by general Qi against Japanese pirates in the south (1555–1560) and the Mongols in the north (1569).[4]: 449–450 Although officially adopted into the Chinese army before 1558, arquebuses never became the dominant infantry weapon in China. At the Battle of Pyongyang (1593) during the Imjin War in Korea, facing a Japanese army heavily armed with arquebuses, less than 10% of the Ming soldiers (only 3,000 of an army of 42,000) had muskets.[4]: 452–453 After 1621, bird guns were replaced by cheaper and more reliable Ottoman-style muskets.[4]: 456 With the fall of the Ming dynasty (1644), arquebuses practically disappeared from the armament of the Chinese army of the Qing dynasty until the 19th century, but they remained present in China as a weapon of bandits and civilians for hunting and self-defense.[2]: 234
The first test for the Korean muskets came in 1619, when a corps of 10,000 Korean musketeers was sent to assist the Ming battle the Manchu. Although the battle was ultimately lost, Koreans inflicted heavy casualties on the Manchu cavalry.[1]: 187
Popular culture
[edit]Bird guns can be seen in the Korean historical drama The Fortress (2017) set in 1636, and also in the Netflix supernatural period drama Kingdom (2019) set in 1601.
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g Andrade, Tonio (2016). THE GUNPOWDER AGE: China, Military Innovation, and the Rise of the West in World History. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-13597-7.
- ^ a b c Peers, C. J. (2006). Soldiers of the Dragon: Chinese Armies 1500 BC-AD 1840. Oxford: Osprey Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-1-84603-098-7.
- ^ 검색, 국립중앙박물관>소장품>소장품. "Home". 국립중앙박물관>소장품>소장품 검색 (in Korean). Retrieved 2025-05-06.
- ^ a b c d Whiting, Marvin C. (2002). Imperial Chinese military history: 8000 BC-1912 AD. San Jose: Writer's Club Press. ISBN 978-0-595-22134-9.
- ^ Rumi was the Chinese name for the Roman Empire and Bizantine empire. Ming Dinasty scholars aplied the same name to the Ottoman Empire, as their successor.
- ^ sina_mobile (2019-07-25). "明朝的"火器大神"，设计出超前的武器，还发现明代火器的软肋". k.sina.cn. Retrieved 2025-05-06.