Kadokura Cape

Kadokura Cape forms the southern tip of Tanegashima. In 1543 a Chinese junk carrying Portuguese men drifted ashore at Maenohama Beach beneath the cape. The visitors carried matchlock firearms, and the island's lord, Tanegashima Tokitaka, bought two. He then ordered local craftsmen to make copies, turning an accidental arrival on this outlying shore into an important episode of Japanese weapons manufacture.

Replicating the imported guns demanded more than recognition of their military power: craftsmen had to reproduce unfamiliar mechanisms, including the threaded closure at the rear of the barrel. A later story explains the transmission of this knowledge through a smith's daughter, Wakasa, marrying a Portuguese man. That marriage belongs to local legend. The documented purchase and copying of the weapons gave the cape its lasting association with the introduction of Portuguese firearms to Japan.