In 2023, soldiers carrying out a mine-detection sweep on Geumseongsan, a mountain in Naju, South Korea, discovered a small bronze object. After several years of research, the Naju National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage has announced that this is the earliest gunpowder weapon found to date in Korea.
The artefact is a hwatong or ‘fire tube’, a weapon capable of firing gunpowder-propelled arrows or shot. The example in question is 23.75cm long, with a bore diameter of 1.66cm and a weight of 1,032g. It is inscribed with 28 characters, one of which is on the muzzle and represents the number eight, believed to be an inventory or production number. The other 27 are arranged in columns on the shaft in an inscription translated as follows: ‘In the 12th month of the Jeongsa year, the Hwangja Hwatong was made. Its weight is one geun and 14 nyang. Supervised by Noksa An Hyu-bo; made by the artisan Seok.’
Jeongsa was one of the designated years in the ancient Sexagenary Calendar, which repeated every 60 years. Researchers were therefore able to narrow down the object’s date of production to either 1377, when the Hwatong Dogam (a state agency for the development of gunpowder weapons) was established, or 1437, during King Sejong’s overhaul of firearms. The dating is supported by the round interior of the powder chamber and by analysis of the bronze composition. Either date would be significant, and even the later option would pre-date the previous oldest known example of a gunpowder weapon from Korea by more than a century.
Researchers say that the combination of its securely recorded findspot and its detailed inscription gives the Hwangja Hwatong ‘exceptional research value’.
