Japanese Warship Fires Railgun At Target Vessel For The First Time

Sometimes I hear people say Japan didn’t have guns during Tokugawa times but of course they did. They had gigantic armories full of matchlocks for their peasant soldiers. But since they didn’t go to war during that time, the guns weren’t used. The samurai themselves acted as officers. They didn’t carry guns for the same reason British, French, and American officers of the time didn’t carry guns. They carried swords and directed combat. Of course by 1855 their matchlocks were awfully outdated.