The battery is basically a flat structure to avoid being targeted from enemies’ guns and cannons, so visitors can not easily recognize its whole view. That’s why I recommend seeing the bird’s eye view before or after your visitation.
Later History
The later lives of the Shinagawa batteries have been mixed. The No.1 and 5 Batteries have been engulfed by landfills. The No.2 and No.7 (which was left because of the canceled construction) have been removed due to the convenience of transportation. The No.4 (same as No.7) was sold to the private sector before being used for the ground of a dock. The ground has finally become a redevelopmental area of the waterfront, called Tennoz Isle. The remaining stone walls of the No.4 Battery can be seen as the base of its boardwalk. The No.3 and No.6 are the last remaining historical sites. They were designated as a National Historic Site in 1926 and the No.3 Battery was opened as the Daiba Park in 1928.
Shinagawa Batteries drawn in a Ukiyoe-painting called the illustration of a steam locomotive at the seaside below Yatsuyama Mountain in Tokyo, attributed to Hiroshige Utagawa the third, in the Meiji Era, exhibited by Tokyo Metropolitan Library, The No.2 Battery was used as a lighthouse
The aerial photo around the batteries around 1975
The Tennoz IsleThe boardwalk of Tennoz IsleThe stone walls of the No.4 Battery support the boardwalk
How to get There
Currently, there are two remaining batteries, No.3 and No.6 out of the five completed ones as mentioned above. In addition, only the ruins of the No.3 Battery are open to the public as a park. If you want to visit the No.3 battery ruins, which has now become Daiba Park, it takes about 10 minutes on foot from Odaibakaihinkoen Station on the Yurikamome line.
Odaibakaihinkoen Station
Walking from Tamachi Station
However, in order to look over the whole view of the two ruins (No.3 and No.6), try this route. Get out of the train at Tamachi station on the JR Yamanote Line. Exit from the east entrance of the station. Go along Nagisa street for the time being. You can see the Rainbow Bridge which has promenades on both sides (north and south).
The east entrance of Tamachi StationThe Nagisa streetGoing along the streetYou can see the Rainbow Bridge
Get in the Shibaura entrance of the bridge and go up using the elevator. Select the south route to see the ruins to the south. If you go straight through the promenade, you will first see the whole view of the No.6 Battery.
The Shibaura entrance of the bridgeThe entrance to the promenadeIn the elevatorThe south route
No.6 Battery like Birds’ Paradise
The battery is still isolated in the Tokyo Bay, being left as it has been to keep its original condition as much as possible though the canons and relative facilities were already removed. That’s why it looks as if it was during the first sight. However, if you look at it carefully, it is all covered with trees with uncountable number of birds gathering. According to a historian who visited it with permission from the government, it smells very bad and some structures collapsed naturally. It might have just become the birds’ paradise, so we may need to re-consider how to preserve it.
Getting close to the No.6 BatteryThe No.6 Batterybirds are gathering among the treesPassing by the No.6 Battery
Great View of No.3 Battery
When the promenade goes down with moderate slope, you will be near the park and the view of the No.3 Battery is becoming bigger and bigger. At this point, you will be facing the pier of the battery, it is the biggest one and extremely amazing! It is really a bird’s eye view. It also looks very much better than the No.6 in my opinion. The battery is basically a flat structure to avoid being targeted from enemies’ guns and cannons, so visitors can not easily recognize its whole view. That’s why I recommend seeing the bird’s eye view before or after your visitation.
Getting close to the No.3 BatteryThe great view of the No.3 Battery right in frontThe signpost of the Shinagawa Batteries at the edgeThe stone walls surrounding the battery
The arrival of Matthew Perry’s fleet from the U.S. in 1853 gave a big impact on the shogunate’s policy. The shogunate ordered Hidetatsu Egawa to build the certain defensive system in Edo Bay immediately before Perry’s second arrival.
Odaiba is one of the popular tourist spots in the waterfront area of Tokyo. The land’s name directly means the honorific of batteries and originates from Shinagawa Batteries which were built by the Tokugawa Shogunate to protect Edo City during the end of the Edo Period. The area still has a few of the ruins of the batteries.
Odaiba Seaside Prak, you can see the ruins of No.3 Battery in the sea
When Western ships often appeared around Japan at that time, the shogunate ordered some feudal domain lords and its own divisions to protect the inside and outside of Edo Bay (the current Tokyo Bay) from possible invasions by the ships. However, they were actually not able to protect even the 8km wide Uraga Channel, the mouth of the bay by their batteries because they didn’t have Blue water navy due to their isolationism. That’s why the shogunate’s basic policy of how to treat the Western ships coming to Japan was to hear their purposes, give materials they needed, and persuade them to return their countries. Therefore, the first arrival of Matthew Perry’s fleet from the U.S. in 1853 gave a big impact on the shogunate’s policy. His fleet intentionally broke the line of the bay mouth and demonstrated its power in the bay to ask the shogunate to open the country.
The mouth of the bay, seen from Kanaya Port at Boso PeninsulaMatthew Perry, around 1856 to 1858 (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)The monument of Perry’s landing in Kurihama Coast at Miura Peninsula
Hidetatu Egawa builds Batteries at Sea off Shinagawa
After that, the shogunate ordered Hidetatsu Egawa who was an excellent official and learned the Western sciences to build the certain defensive system in Edo Bay immediately before Perry’s second arrival. Hidetatsu thought it would be the priority to build the final protective line for the Shogun’s Edo Castle and the city area, about 2km off the coast beside the Shinagawa Post Station. The line would consist of several batteries in coastal castles which would bring a cross fire to enemies’ ships. Another reason for the location was that the coastal area was too shallow that the large Western battle ships, like Perry’s flag ship, Susquehanna, would not be able to enter it. In addition, the batteries were out of their range, therefore, they would only be able to confront with gun boats.
The self -portrait of Hidetatsu Egawa (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)The final protective line drawn in “The Illustration of Shinagawa Batteries”, exhibited by Tokyo Metropolitan LibrarySusquehanna, the flag ship of the 1853 Perry’s fleet (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)
The number of the batteries in the original plan was 11 and the first three ones (No.1 to 3) were completed within a year before Perry’s return, which would be called Shinagawa Batteries. Each battery was on an artificial isolated square island which was surrounded by stone walls and equipped with cannons and related items, which were generally called redoubts. The basic design of the batteries came from several books of the Western military sciences which Hidetatsu and his staff translated. The canons were provided domestically by emulating the Western canons’ designs. However, some of them were cast iron canons the Saga Domain had just succeeded in producing, which were close to the worldwide level. The stone walls were built in the Japanese style, but the top of them was built using a new method called Hanedashi which emulated the European castles. In addition, one of the original ideas for the batteries was to build breakwater piles around them. They would also be used to prevent enemies’ gun boats from getting close to the batteries.
The specification drawing of No.3 Battery in Shinagawa Batteries, Edo Bay, exhibited by Tokyo Metropolitan LibraryA bronze cannon used in a Shinagawa battery, exhibited by Yushukan Meseum The Hanedashi system seen in No.3 BatteryThe breakwater piles in the specification drawing above
System is maintained until End of Edo Period
The shogunate concluded a treaty with Perry in 1854, known as the Japan–US Treaty of Peace and Amity. The constructions of Shinagawa Batteries continued, but only five (No.1 to 3, 5 and 6) out of the planned 11 were completed and 2 (No.4 and 7) out of 11 were canceled in the middle of their constructions. The reason for it was the shortage of the budget and the stabilization of the diplomatic relationship with the Western Countries after the treaty. The operations of the batteries were done by warriors from several feudal domains. For example, the Oshi Domain, which was based in Oshi Castle, was in charge of the No.3 Battery. The warriors went to the isolated sea battery by using small boats and stayed in the barrack inside with no baths until the next team came.
The current No.3 Battery
The shogunate also thought the defense system was still not enough. It built coast batteries instead of the uncompleted sea batteries, such as the Battery below Goten-yama Mountain, to support the completed sea batteries. It also built their own gun boats to work closely with these batteries. Each sea battery had its pier where the boats were able to stop. The operation of the defense line lasted until 1868 when the shogunate was defeated by the New Government, known as the Meiji Restoration.
The aerial photo around the batteries around 1945 to 1950, the grounds for them remained until then
The ruins of the Battery below Goten-yama Mountain, located around the past coastlineThe tier of the No.6 Battery which may be similar to the original
The evaluation of Shinagawa Batteries may be difficult because they were actually not used for battles and the specs of the cannons installed in the batteries became obsolete quickly. However, historians say the batteries worked as a deterrence for invasion by the Western countries. They pointed out that the qualities of the canons in the batteries were at the same level as those equipped in Perry’s fleet. A diplomat from the U.K., who saw the batteries, reported to his government that the batteries had technology levels which were equivalent to the Western cannons.
Shinagawa Batteries drawn in a Ukiyoe-painting called Takanawa Shugetsu (meaning Autumn Moon in Takanawa), attributed to Hiroshige Utagawa the second, exhibited by Tokyo Metropolitan Library
