The book is based on the account given by Hisatoki TANEGASHIMA, a local lord, concerning the historical fact of the transmission of guns (specifically, arquebuses) to Japan on Tanegashima island during the Sengoku Period (Period of Warring States), describing how Hisatoki's father Tokitaka TANEGASHIMA had acquired guns and established his gun manufacturing process; this account was edited by the abbot of Satsuma Province's Dairyu-ji Temple, Bunshi Nanpo.
戦国時代(日本)に種子島へ鉄砲（火縄銃）が伝来された史実を領主である種子島久時が、父種子島時堯の鉄砲入手とその製法確立の過程を薩摩国大竜寺の和尚である南浦文之に編纂させたものである。