Carrying Containers
Soldiers carried a variety of equipment and accessories. Each gunner had personal containers for gunpowder and ammunition, and porters traveling with the army carried large boxes of ammunition and match cord that were distributed among the troops before battle. This panel from a mid-nineteenth century illustrated encyclopedia entitled Buki nihyaku-zu (Illustrations of 200 Weapons) shows:
- a waist pouch for carrying small items, such as shot or powder; and
- a pair of equipment boxes connected by a pole.
The boxes were used to transport musket balls and gunpowder. They would have been carried on the shoulders of porters who attended the gunners.
The display case below contains examples of boxes, cases, and pouches used by gunners and their attendants. The chest of drawers for carrying musket balls (called a tamabako) was built to be carried onto the battlefield: it has sturdy reinforced corners and opens at the front rather than the top to prevent rain from leaking in.
