和平时期，日本为何保留火枪？

Sources consulted 16 September 2026. This essay concerns historical possession, institutions, and uses, not present firearm policy. It offers no national gun-count estimate and does not equate relative peace among major lords with an absence of violence throughout Tokugawa society.

1. [1]

   Sakai City, 「放鳥銃定限記碑」, cultural-property explanation, updated 9 February 2017. The record identifies the 1664 inscription, its tribute to a gunnery master, and its account of the Shichidōhama testing ground. The inscription was not independently deciphered. Its compressed narrative of first firearm introduction is not needed for this essay. https://www.city.sakai.lg.jp/kanko/rekishi/bunkazai/bunkazai/shokai/bunya/rekishi/teigenki.html

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2. [2]

   Fukuoka City Museum, 「市美×市博 黒田資料名品展Ⅴ 黒田家と鉄砲」, exhibition no. 504 (2017–2018), historical introduction and discussion of the Kuroda household; see also the dated institutional records in notes 4 and 7. The Tokugawa dates provide period orientation, not a claim that every form of warfare or domestic violence ended in 1603. https://museum.city.fukuoka.jp/exhibition/504/index.html

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3. [3]

   Fukuoka City Museum, same exhibition, section 2, 「長政愛用の火縄銃たち」. Used for instruction under Inatomi Ichimu, certification, named guns, and their later custody. The collection account is not a directly read training certificate or inventory. The museum's unsupported comparative claim about Japanese and European accuracy is not adopted; an inconsistent date elsewhere in the account is not used. https://museum.city.fukuoka.jp/exhibition/504/index.html

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4. [4]

   Sakai Municipal Machiya Historical Museums, 「鉄炮鍛冶屋敷」, sections on the Inoue house, surviving records, and the family's background. See the institution's account of the 1689 map, archive, and Katō connection. The stipend relationship is distinguished from the house's business; the map and original family records were not newly inspected. https://www.sakai-machiyamuseums.com/teppoukaji/

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5. [5]

   Sakai Tourism and Convention Bureau, 「祝・開館！『鉄炮鍛冶屋敷』見学レポート」 (2024), attributed explanations by Sakai curator Kitabayashi Chiaki: the Inoue archive, subcontracting, and commission-based business. Expansion refers to this enterprise, not proof that national production rose continuously. The page's large market-share figures and promotional superlatives are not used. https://www.sakai-tcb.or.jp/feature/detail/84

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6. [6]

   Kawagoe City, 「市指定有形文化財 神明町矢沢家文書」, description of the family business, updated 22 November 2024. See the complete historical description of utensils, agricultural tools, bells, supplies to the Akimoto house in the Kyōhō era, and lending. These identify different documented activities, not an assertion that the same individual or workshop station performed all of them simultaneously. https://www.city.kawagoe.saitama.jp/kurashi/bunka/1003787/1003798/1003884/1003925/1003958.html

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7. [7]

   Gyōda City, 「忍藩砲術師範井狩家資料」, cultural-property description, updated 29 January 2025. The 1800 appointment belongs to service of the Matsudaira house; the essay does not project the later Oshi association backward into an unchanged domain location. The training materials are described at catalogue level, not used to reconstruct an unexamined drill. https://www.city.gyoda.lg.jp/soshiki/shougaigakusyubu/bunkazaihogo/gyomu/rekishi_bunkazai/1/10330.html

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8. [8]

   Kodaira City Library, 「市史編さんこぼれ話No24『村の鉄砲の行方』」, 25 February 2013, opening two historical paragraphs. Used for the locally reported crop-protection requests and the distinction between hunting matchlocks and later militia loans. Its absolute phrase about a return to weapons after 250 years is not adopted as a finding about all villagers. https://www.city.kodaira.tokyo.jp/kurashi/031/031806.html

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9. [9]

   David L. Howell, “The Social Life of Firearms in Tokugawa Japan,” Japanese Studies 29, no. 1 (2009): 65–80, DOI 10.1080/10371390902780530. The publisher's accessible abstract and notes were read; the complete main text was not available. The two short attributed propositions concern rural implements and the shift associated with insecurity from the 1840s. No nationwide statistical conclusion is inferred from them. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10371390902780530

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10. [10]

    National Museum of Japanese History, khirin a, Chiba village-history collection, item sab-36, 「四季打鉄炮願『乍恐以書付奉願上候』（猪鹿威しにつき四季打鉄砲所持願）」. The entry identifies a request by Hanashima village representatives, dated Meiji 1, twelfth lunar month, second day; that date is not silently rendered as a Gregorian day in 1868. The original petition and a resulting approval were not examined. https://khirin-a.rekihaku.ac.jp/chibaumachino/sab-36

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11. [11]

    Howell, published note 13, identifying Gunma Prefectural Archives, Iizuka-family documents P8214-9400, dated 1729, sixth month, twenty-fourth day. The accessible note describes the thirty-five-gun repair receipt, seven replacement barrels, and appended administrative message. This is a reported archival item in the scholarly note, not an independent reading of the manuscript; no cost conversion or undocumented repair process is supplied. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10371390902780530

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12. [12]

    Itabashi Historical Museum, 「高島平の地名の由来は高島秋帆（令和4年度）」, historical section, updated 6 May 2023; and the museum's “高島秋帆～高島平のはじまり～” exhibition description (2026). Used for the 1841 shogunally ordered demonstration, pupils' participation, and Nagasaki background. The lunar fifth-month date is not converted to Gregorian May. The essay does not reproduce the exercise or claim that a single demonstration settled the whole military reform process. https://www.city.itabashi.tokyo.jp/kyodoshiryokan/oshirase/3000460/3000469.html ; https://www.city.itabashi.tokyo.jp/kyodoshiryokan/exhibition/3000727/3000728.html

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13. [13]

    Kodaira City Library, same article as note 8, paragraph beginning 「明治維新後、農兵に貸与された鉄砲は」. The account identifies the 1870 eleven-village petition to Nirayama Prefecture, its stated security concern, and replacement of earlier loans with Minié rifles. The petition's perception of danger is not an independently calculated crime rate. Later regulations and surveys are outside this essay's detailed discussion. https://www.city.kodaira.tokyo.jp/kurashi/031/031806.html

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