The island where guns first came to Japan. Tanegashima lies in the East China Sea, far south of the mainland's southern tip. In 1543, a Portuguese ship drifted ashore here, and aboard it was a matchlock firearm, a weapon the Japanese had never seen. The island's lord, Tokitaka Tanegashima, bought it for a fortune and ordered his swordsmiths to make copies. Japanese gunmaking began on this island. The summer festival reenacts that history, with matchlock demonstrations, the roar and smoke of gunfire, and a costumed parade staging the moment of arrival. What happened on one small island eventually changed the very shape of warfare in Japan. Why here, on so remote an island? History sometimes moves from its margins. Something that came from beyond the sea transformed this country.