Shigeru Yasuda

Shigeru Yasuda was an engineer and inventor responsible for many military advancements such as the Paper Cartridge, Flash powder cap, 12 pounder Yūkawa cannon, 10 pounder Yasuda rifled cannon, 24 Pounder Yūkawa Naval, and 18 pounder Yasuda Naval. Many of his designs would be used around the world, and would lead to the creation of Yasuda Armory inc.

Life and Works

His father, Akira Yasuda was previously a sword smith who took up gun smithing, he had a gunsmith shop in Edo. Yasuda would work in the shop from the age of seven, here he would learn engineering and the design process. There in 1585 he would develop his first rifle design the Yasuda Breechloader. The rifle would get the attention of up and coming general Takeshi Mutō who would buy 50 of these rifles. He would also say to Yasuda "I may have a job for you soon,"
In 1588 when the unification wars finally wrapped up Takeshi would go back to Edo and contract Yasuda to create more designs for the military. He accepted and quickly got to making new weapons in accordance with Takeshi's constraints. He would make the Paper Cartridge, Flashpowder cap, 12 pounder Yūkawa, 24 pounder Yūkawa Naval, 10 pounder Yasuda rifled cannon, and the 18 pounder Yasuda Naval. Impressed by his work Takeshi would allow him to stay and be chief weapons designer for the Japanese military.

Designs

Well after both the Pacific wars and Indo Pacific wars Yasuda, being a dedicated and tireless innovator, would continue his work on new firearms and military technology. He had many ideas would make it into military use and production, such as the Type 55 made in 1595 which was an improved version of the flashpowder rifle, In 1596 The Type 56 which was a flashpowder pistol, and in 1605 the Type 65 flashpowder 'spread gun'. Outside of firearms he would develop new cannons, in addition to the already established Yūkawa and the Yasuda he would create an infantry cannon in 1610 originally name the 'Mutō 3 pounder' but Takeshi shot down the name, it was instead renamed to the Rodriguez 3 pounder. The cannon was a lightweight cannon to be used with highly mobile infantry units, and it would be used as such.
Outside of his produced designs he had many more prototypes which were either deemed too expensive, too impractical, or rejected for other reasons. One example is the 1590 Type 50 rolling block rifle, while well liked it was too expensive for widespread use, however through unknown means 5 of them made it to the Philippines during the Pacific Wars, another was the 1623 Type 83 'gun cart', the weapon was a array of gun barrels arranged in 10 by ten, and have an array of tubes which would link to one flash cap. Operators were expected to load the barrels and then put the cap on the cart and when the enemy was close fire, Takeshi was shown the weapon and his response was "A good idea, but think practical." There were many more prototypes he made, mostly pertaining to breechloading rifles and new ammo types, however none saw much production.

Later work and Life

Shigeru Yasuda was a dedicated and tireless innovator to the point of obsession, his brother would say

"My brother (Shigeru Yasuda) was a genius, no doubt about it, but he had to trade a lot for it. He was constantly at work always thinking, designing, and testing, he always thought he would never have enough time. He would only come out of that shed to eat and drink, he wasn't a very sociable person either, and it was a surprise to nobody that knew him that he remained unmarried and inevitably died alone."
Toyama Yasuda, 1651

He would never retire from his occupation despite being extremely rich. Throughout the entirety of the rest of his life he would work on improving the reliability, performance, and affordability of firearms. He would retire from military weapons designer in 1644 because his brother Toyama Yasuda would start a company called 'Yasuda Armory inc.' which persists to this day, and Shigeru would make designs for the company. His last innovation to be used widely was a new version of the paper cartridge which had the flash-cap imbedded in it, and this would be used in the 1646 Type 06 falling block rifle. He would die in 1651 January 8th, however his body would not be found until January 15th, he was found slumped over his table drawing a design for a new rifle system which nobody knew what it was supposed to be, however in modern times many credit it to being a rudimentary bolt action.

Legacy

The type 55, the type 65, the type 56, paper cartridge, and his many other weapons would see use in the Pacific wars, Indo Pacific wars, Anglo Japanese wars, and many more times. Yasuda Armory still persists to modern day and makes guns. He is celebrated as one of the greatest weapons designers of all time, and many of his innovations are remembered for paving the way to the modern firearm.

The Yasuda Naval holds the record for the most copied Cannon of all time.

Current Location

英雄の霊廟, Eiyū no reibyō, Mausoleum of Heroes

Age

91

Date of Birth

June 3rd

Life

1560 1651