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I noticed:

  1. Private citizens with small pistols
  2. Private citizens with hand-cranked machine guns
  3. Soldiers of the old order with guns killing Sano's friends
  4. Soldiers of the new order storming Yutaro's mansion after the rebels camped in it
  5. Revolutionary soldiers practising stabbing motions with special sticks, while the teenage Kenshin practises swordsmanship in Trust and Betrayal

Seems like the opposing factions could acquire guns in the Kenshin universe;
it seemed to come from totally unregulated trade with foreigners, or the same
army which is in #2, #3 and maybe #4. Is this historically accurate? Where did
they all get their guns from?


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rurouni-kenshin
Are guns in Kenshin historically accurate?


Remember, Rurouni Kenshin is set during the late 19th Century. This is just
after the American Civil War, during the British Victorian Era: the height of
the British Empire, and a time when the Western powers were very interested in
the riches of the Far East.

The Western powers were mostly laissez-faire capitalists who would allow their
people to trade anything with anyone; read about the [British opium trade in
China](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_opium_in_China#Growth_of_the_opium_trade)
to get an idea of how trade worked at the time. Western traders would trade
whatever they could for Eastern gold, silver, tea, and silk; that included
guns, which were plentiful and relatively inexpensive in the West--the
Japanese Meiji Era began just a few years after the American Civil War ended,
and there were guns everywhere in America. The factories of Britain, France,
and Germany were also constantly spitting out rifles, revolvers, and cannons.
In this period, the European powers would still have a major war among
themselves every few years (the [Franco-Prussian
War](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco-Prussian_War) broke out during the
same timeframe that Kenshin takes place), so they all wanted to build up
stores of arms in preparation for the next struggle.

Given that guns were everywhere in the West, that they were highly desired in
Japan, and that Western traders desired Eastern riches, it makes sense that
the Western traders would trade guns to the Japanese. Although we don't see it
in Rurouni Kenshin (to my knowledge; I only watched the anime up to the end of
the Kyouto Arc), I always assumed these factions got their guns by trading
goods like silk and tea to Westerners, or by buying them from Japanese
merchants who had traded for them with Westerners. This did happen
historically, as [the article on Firearms of
Japan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firearms_of_Japan#Boshin_War) linked by
@nhahtdh tells us.

As for the regulatory side, things in general were much less regulated back
then. The Western governments of this era had little power to regulate trade,
due to corruption and cronyism. Even if they were able to regulate trade, they
didn't have any incentive to do so; Western governments wanted their merchants
to trade in Japan and bring the riches back home. The Japanese government had
no power to regulate trade on its end either; it had seen what happened when
the Chinese tried to stop the opium trade, and knew it could do almost nothing
to regulate foreign trade until its military was modernized.

From what I can remember, the guns in Rurouni Kenshin are historically
accurate to the period; the Gatling gun [was very new at the time, having been
invented during the American Civil
War](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatling_gun). Revolvers, like the famous
Colt, were also common in the West. According to the article @nhahtdh linked
on [Firearms of Japan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firearms_of_Japan),
firearms from before the Tokugawa period were matchlocks based on the
Portuguese [arquebus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arquebus). Many of these
were destroyed during the Tokugawa period, but some remained, and after the
arrival of Perry, they were converted to
[flintlocks](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flintlock) as part of the
modernization effort (see also [the fourth paragraph,
here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arquebus#History)).


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Actually the Gatling Gun to me seems to be a fusion of the Maxim's exterior
with the Gatling Gun's mechanism. I say this because all known examples of
Gatling guns shows multiple barrels in a circle that rotates and loads with
the cranking of the shaft. For the whole story on the Gatling gun visit:
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/a22451/history-gatling-gun/>.

Image of a known Maxim gun <http://www.deactivated-
guns.co.uk/images/uploads/1a1a44max/1a1a44max-034853_3.jpg>. go rewatch
episode 11 at about 11:38 then look at the maxim. the 2 guns are similar
except the crank and the missing water cooling system


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Yes, for the most part. The animators were very discreet to make sure the guns
that were prevalent were accurate to what Japan had, made or were attainable
at the time. The series was set 10 years after the Boshin War ending or early
1878. At the time the US and other nations were supplying new firearms to the
Meiji's Imperial military. By 1868, Japan adopted the "Snider-Enfield"
breechloader as it's standard service rifle which remained in service til
1880. [![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Od0hW.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Od0hW.jpg)

Accurately seen and depicted in the anime specifically in episode 22. [![enter
image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/cWIqT.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/cWIqT.jpg)

In Episode 6, Gohei attempts to kill kenshin with a Colt Walker revolver.
[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/GV4SO.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/GV4SO.jpg)
[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/CKzQg.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/CKzQg.jpg)

The most infamous gun was Kanryu's "Gatling Gun" thou Many gatlings were made,
during the Boshin war the Shogunate managed to get 2. Kanryu's gatling gun
doesn't appear like any other, namely the gun only has One visible barrel.
[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/RYZMN.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/RYZMN.jpg)
This is erronenous as the weapon more closely resemble Hiram Maxim's machine
gun, which wasn't invented til 1884. [![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/N8u0X.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/N8u0X.jpg)
This is a more accurate representation of a gatling, the Colt 1874. [![enter
image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/ieP9Z.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/ieP9Z.jpg)


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