Japanese Fire Drake Manual Land Mines

A reconstruction of a 700 year-old fragmentatoin Land Mine detailed in the Japanese Fire Drake Manual (1380s.) This mine would originally have been constructed using hollow cast iron spheres, which were then filled with Black Powder and sealed with a wooden bung. The manual proceeds to describe how these mines could be remotely detonated using a trip-wire connected to a pivoting board: a length of cord is attached to a weight and spun round an axle in the base unit; when trigerred, the weight falls and sets a central wheel in motion, generating Prytite sparks which in turn ignite the fuse. Using this method the Land Mine could have been detonated at considerable distances away from the base unit.