Mendez Pinto, a Portuguese adventurer, was probably the first European who landed on Japanese soil. Pinto, while in China, had got on board a Chinese junk, commanded by a pirate. They were attacked by another corsair, their pilot was killed, and the vessel was driven off the coast by a storm. They made for the Liu Kiu, but, unable to find a harbor, put to sea, and after twenty-three days beating about, sighted the island of Tanegashima (“Island of the Seed”), off the south of Kiushiu, and landed.
The native histories recount the first arrival of Europeans on Tanegashima in 1542, and note that year as the one in which fire-arms were first introduced. Pinto and his two companions were armed with arquebuses, which delighted the people, ever ready to accept whatever will tend to their advantage. They were even more impressed with the novel weapons than by the strangers. Pinto was invited by the daimio of Bungo to visit him, which he did.
The natives began immediately to make guns and powder, the secret of which was taught them by their visitors. In a few years, as we know from Japanese history, fire-arms came into general use. To this day many country people call them “Tanegashima.” Thus, in the beginning, hand-in-hand, came foreigners, Christianity and fire-arms. To many a native they are still each and equal members of a trinity of terrors, and one is a synonym of the other. Christianity to most of “the heathen” still means big guns and powder.
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From General Nelson A. Miles
Thrilling Stories of The Russian-Japanese War, 1904
