Recently, however, there is one theory which claims that the firearms spread across Southeast Asia were introduced in several regions in Japan by wako (Japanese pirates) around 1543 and in those days they were used as hunting guns (the theory of Takehisa UDAGAWA).
しかし、近年では、東南アジアに広まっていた火器が1543年前後に倭寇勢力により日本の複数の地域に持ち込まれ、伝来当初は猟銃として用いられていたとする説も提示されている（宇田川武久説）。