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17-502: A series of six island fortresses ( daiba ) constructed in 1853 by Egawa Hidetatsu for the Tokugawa shogunate in order to protect Edo from attack by sea, the primary threat being Commodore Matthew Perry 's Black Ships which had arrived in the same year to force Japan to end its centuries-old national isolation policy Of the originally planned 11 batteries, seven were started construction but only six were ever finished, one of which

34-432: A second line of defense against any ships which might have breached the gun emplacements at the entrance to Tokyo Bay. The third of these islands (the one closest to Cape Kannonzaki) was rendered unusable by land subsidence caused by the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake . It remnants posed an ongoing threat to navigation, and were removed from 2000 to 2007. All fortifications were dismantled at the end of World War II; however,

51-736: The Russo-Japanese War and were deployed to the Siege of Port Arthur , where they were deployed to devastating effect against the Russian Pacific Fleet. From the 1920s and 1930s, many surplus guns of the Imperial Japanese Navy , such as the 12-in main battery of the battleship Aki which had been made available due to the reduction of capital warships per the London Naval Treaty and

68-544: The Washington Naval Treaty , were reused in these coastal artillery installations. An important feature of the Tokyo Bay Fortress was a series of three artificial islands built between Cape Futtsu and Cape Kannonzaki at the entrance to Tokyo Bay in the 1910s. Equipped with 15-cm guns, this enabled the Tokyo Bay Fortress to cover the entire span of Tokyo Bay within firing ranges and provided

85-855: The Japanese failed. His ships were equipped with modern Paixhans shell guns , capable of bringing destruction everywhere a shell landed. Egawa was involved in an important debate at that time, whether to adopt Western guns and methods or not. He advocated that the English had shown great superiority over the Chinese in the 1840 Opium War , and that it was necessary to use their own techniques to repel them. Others, such as Torii Yōzō argued that only traditional Japanese methods should be employed and reinforced. Egawa argued that just as Confucianism and Buddhism had been introduced from abroad, it made sense to introduce useful Western techniques. Sakuma Shōzan

102-612: The West. Watanabe Kazan Watanabe Kazan ( 渡辺 崋山 , October 20, 1793 – November 23, 1841) was a Japanese painter , scholar and statesman member of the samurai class. He was born Watanabe Sadayasu in Edo (now Tokyo ) to a poor samurai family, and his artistic talent was developed from an early age. His family served the lord of the Tahara Domain , located in present-day Aichi prefecture. Watanabe himself served

119-464: The army. Egawa also designed and built the battery emplacements at the entrance of Edo harbour at Odaiba in 1853/54, following the 1853 visit of Commodore Perry and his promise to return the following year. The fortifications were built to prevent the intrusion near Tokyo of the foreign ships. Commodore Perry would effectively stop his fleet at Uraga , southward at the entrance of Edo Bay , fully prepared for hostilities if his negotiations with

136-535: The effects of shading which he learned from European paintings. On the one hand, he was a traditionalist Confucian, who believed in filial piety and loyalty to his daimyō , and on the other he was enthusiastic about Western ideas regarding science and politics. He wrote two private essays which were interpreted as being critical of the Shogunate's defense of Tokyo Bay and promoting Western ideas. Although these papers were discarded by Watanabe, they were found and he

153-541: The group of Watanabe Kazan , and Takano Chōei . Egawa Hidetatsu was put in charge of establishing the defense of Edo Bay against Western intrusions in 1839, following the incident of the Morrison under Charles W. King in 1837. In 1841, Egawa permitted the gunnery demonstrations of Takashima Shūhan to the Tokugawa Shogunate. As early as 1842, Egawa attempted to build a furnace to cast weapons in

170-449: The lord of Tahara as a senior councilor , one of his achievements being said to be protecting the domain from even a single death from starvation during the Tenpō famine . He was heavily influenced by the artistic styles of the West , forming a unique style with elements of Japanese and European art. Like many other Edo-period artists, Kazan painted realistic portraits of his subjects using

187-466: The remains of the Sarushima Battery and Chiyogasaki Battery were designated as National Historic Sites of Japan on March 10, 2015. This was the first instance of post-Meiji period military-facilities receiving this designation. Egawa Hidetatsu Egawa Hidetatsu Tarōzaemon ( 江川英龍太郎左衛門 , June 23, 1801 - March 1, 1855) was a Japanese Bakufu intendant of the 19th century. He

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204-703: The southern tip of the Miura Peninsula to the Uraga Channel at the mouth of Tokyo Bay and extending to Natsushima in the city of Yokosuka in Kanagawa Prefecture . The Tokyo Bay Garrison Command was established in 1894. It was renamed the Tokyo Bay Fortress Command in 1895 and was headquartered at Yokosuka. Many of the 28-cm howitzers installed in the gun emplacements around Tokyo Bay Fortress were removed during

221-589: The village of Nirayama in the Izu Peninsula . After sending a student to study the furnace which had been built in the Saga Domain , a new furnace was built which succeeded in casting cannons in 1858, after the death of Egawa. Egawa taught Western gunnery and techniques to numerous men who would later have a role in the Meiji Restoration . He also advocated the conscription of farmers into

238-518: Was Daikan , in charge of the domains of the Tokugawa shogunate in Izu , Sagami and Kai Provinces during the Bakumatsu period . He took a leading role in the reinforcement of Japanese coastal defenses against Western encroachments in the 19th century. Due to his holdings on the coast, Egawa Hidetatsu was involved in issues of coastal defences, critical to Japan at that time. He was in relations with

255-446: Was a student of a school founded by Egawa Hidetatsu. A theoretical synthesis of "Western knowledge" and "Eastern morality" would later be accomplished by Sakuma Shōzan and Yokoi Shōnan , in view of "controlling the barbarians with their own methods". At one point Egawa hired the services of Nakahama Manjirō , a Japanese castaway who had spent 10 years in the West before returning to Japan, in order to obtain better knowledge of

272-798: Was the artificial island of Odaiba . After the Meiji restoration , the primary threats to the new Empire of Japan were perceived to be Qing China 's Beiyang fleet , followed by the Russian Empire 's Pacific Fleet . The Meiji government ordered the construction of a new set of coastal fortifications starting in 1884. The main facilities were constructed on the western coast of the Boso Peninsula from Cape Susaki in Tateyama to Cape Futtsu in Futtsu , Chiba Prefecture and from Jogashima at

289-407: Was tried and exiled to his home province of Tahara. One of the conditions of his exile was that he wouldn't sell his paintings, however Watanabe continued selling his paintings in secret due to financial hardships. This was eventually discovered leading to the suppression of his works and house arrest . Due to the political turmoil involved in this, Watanabe committed ritual suicide ( seppuku ) as

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