AHC/WI: Japan Develops a Strong Gun Culture

I read somewhere that at one point, Japan had more firearms per capita than any other nation on Earth, and Japanese gunsmiths produced a variety of high quality arms. However, the ruling samurai class was eventually able to heavily restrict their manufacture and ownership, and a gun culture never emerged in Japan.

What if instead of restricting firearms, the samurai class had incorporated them into their existing style of fighting, only prohibiting them for non-samurai? Alternatively, what if the samurai had been unable to stop the technology from proliferating, and firearms became commonplace?

That was like... the entire late Sengoku period.

Firearms did become incredibly commonplace and integrated with the samurai, otherwise they never would have produced so much. The issue was there was no one left to fight by the time they ceased active military development. Classic guns and butter issue.

When there was actually a need to fight again, Japan rearmed and adapted surprisingly quickly.

Why do you think they went apes**t on Korea right after uniting Japan? IIRC Japan post civil war had something like a million battle hardened soldiers with nothing to do....
perhaps have them invade Indonesia (ASB?) or some other easier target, or have them secure a Spanish/Portuguese naval alliance. Korea had a crappy army but an excellent navy whereas Japan had an amazing army but a horrible navy, add even a handful of Spanish galleons and the invasion of Korea is turned around... whether they can hold it or not, is another question.
Could lead to an attempted colonization/invasion of China? Korea was a Ming tributary state so they got involved, and wouldn't take kindly to Japan conquering it.

I'm not sure how desirable or feasible an alliance between Japan and Portugal or Spain would be. The Japanese were fond of Western technology but not Western culture, especially the attempts to convert the country to Catholicism. The Dutch weren't such big sticklers on religion, so the Japanese got along with them better, and it would be a less problematic alliance. I still think there was something of a taboo in Europe at the time of allying with non-Christian powers though, so it could still be an issue on the Dutch end.

The taboo didn't stop the French from allying with the Ottomans. Venice also briefly allied with the Mamluks, Ottomans and IIRC the Persians in a last ditch attempt to counter Portuguese influence in the Horn of Africa. And Portugal did ally with the Kongo after they converted- perhaps tbe converted Otomo clan does better and unifies Kyushu?

The Undead Martyr said:

The taboo didn't stop the French from allying with the Ottomans. Venice also briefly allied with the Mamluks, Ottomans and IIRC the Persians in a last ditch attempt to counter Portuguese influence in the Horn of Africa. And Portugal did ally with the Kongo after they converted- perhaps tbe converted Otomo clan does better and unifies Kyushu?

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Japan converting to Catholicism is a PoD of its own, and an interesting one too.

I'm kind of looking more at Japan ritualizing firearms and the like as they did with other arms though, not necessarily keeping a large standing army equipped with firearms. Perhaps a code of reverence towards firearms on par with katanas, incorporating firearms into seppuku, etc. Something like a cross between Japanese samurai culture and Western American frontier culture with regards to firearms.

Well it could take over the old place of bows which guns replaced once they became more useful than not. The whole sword thing was adopted later because most samurai where primarily seen as expert bowmen who could kill from horseback or from a range and the katana was mostly for last ditch defense and such. It was seen as a bad thing if you had to use your sword in combat because it meant you were a bad archer.

Delta Force said:

Japan converting to Catholicism is a PoD of its own, and an interesting one too.

I'm kind of looking more at Japan ritualizing firearms and the like as they did with other arms though, not necessarily keeping a large standing army equipped with firearms. Perhaps a code of reverence towards firearms on par with katanas, incorporating firearms into seppuku, etc. Something like a cross between Japanese samurai culture and Western American frontier culture with regards to firearms.

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I dont recall American frontier culture ever putting firearms on the pedestal of ritual suicide.

For that matter, I think you might be overestimating the ritualization of katanas as well. The samurai liked guns, when the war ended they used them for things like hunting and sport shooting. It is more practical to carry two swords around for every day dress than a full length firearm though.

One of the main reasons the Tokugawa Shogunate ended up rolling back the widespread possession of firearms was because of the threat it posed to the ruling samurai elite. Keep in mind prior to and especially during the Sengoku period anyone with a weapon could be samurai; it wasn't until Toyotomi Hideyoshi established the new caste system that Tokugawa reinforced when samurai truly became the top dogs in law as well as fact. If guns were still widely available then any sufficiently well-equipped uprising could upset that system while disarming the populace and falling back on the samurai worked for keeping everyone in line.

You'd need the Sengoku period to shake out in a radically different fashion either in term of Hideyoshi's invasion of Korea somehow succeeding or some kind of more populist faction coming out on top.

Delta Force said:

I'm not sure how desirable or feasible an alliance between Japan and Portugal or Spain would be. The Japanese were fond of Western technology but not Western culture, especially the attempts to convert the country to Catholicism. The Dutch weren't such big sticklers on religion, so the Japanese got along with them better, and it would be a less problematic alliance. I still think there was something of a taboo in Europe at the time of allying with non-Christian powers though, so it could still be an issue on the Dutch end.

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That taboo didn't exist for the Dutch. They were pretty good friends with the Ottoman Empire, since both were fighting against Spain. They had to deal with all kind of non-Christians in the colonies, to trade with and make alliances. Actualy I think that taboo was more of a Spanish thing than a Christian thing, since both Britain and France had some non-Christian allies in the colonies. So a Japanese-Dutch alliance is possible, if it is in some way usefull to both parties.