is a

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens (optics), lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Ligh ...

located on the island of Jōgashima () in the city of Miura,

Kanagawa Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the List of Japanese prefectures by population, second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-dens ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, off the southernmost and western tip of

Miura Peninsula is a peninsula located in Kanagawa, Japan. It lies south of Yokohama and Tokyo and divides Tokyo Bay, to the east, from Sagami Bay, to the west. Cities and towns on the Miura Peninsula include Yokosuka, Miura, Hayama, Zushi, and Kamak ...

, facing

Sagami Bay lies south of Kanagawa Prefecture in Honshu, central Japan, contained within the scope of the Miura Peninsula, in Kanagawa, to the east, the Izu Peninsula, in Shizuoka Prefecture, to the west, and the Shōnan coastline to the north, while the i ...

. It is the fourth oldest western style lighthouse to be built in Japan, and the second oldest surviving to the present day.

History

The Jōgashima Lighthouse was one of eight lighthouses built in Japan under the provisions of the

Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Amity and Commerce The was signed on 26 August 1858 by Lord Elgin and the then representatives of the Japanese government (the Tokugawa shogunate), and was ratified between Queen Victoria and the Tycoon of Japan at Yedo on 11 July 1859. The concessions which J ...

of 1858, signed by the

Bakumatsu period were the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate ended. Between 1853 and 1867, under foreign diplomatic and military pressure, Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as and changed from a feudal Tokugawa shogunat ...

Tokugawa Shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

. The lighthouse was designed and constructed by expatriate French engineer Léonce Verny. Verny constructed another three lighthouses around

Tokyo Bay is a bay located in the southern Kantō region of Japan spanning the coasts of Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Chiba Prefecture, on the southern coast of the island of Honshu. Tokyo Bay is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Uraga Channel. Th ...

, and was also the engineer who built the nearby

Yokosuka Naval Arsenal was one of four principal naval shipyards owned and operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy, and was located at Yokosuka, Kanagawa, Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture on Tokyo Bay, south of Yokohama. History In 1866, the Tokugawa shogunate govern ...

during his career in Japan. MisakiHarbour

The Jōgashima Lighthouse was completed on September 8, 1870, after the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

, and was originally built of brick. The original structure was destroyed during the Great Kantō earthquake on September 1, 1923, and was replaced with the current reinforced-

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...

round structure on August 1, 1925. In 1928, its light source was changed from

acetylene Acetylene (Chemical nomenclature, systematic name: ethyne) is a chemical compound with the formula and structure . It is a hydrocarbon and the simplest alkyne. This colorless gas is widely used as a fuel and a chemical building block. It is u ...

to electric, greatly increasing its visibility. The lighthouse has been unmanned since 1991. It is currently maintained by the

Japan Coast Guard The is the coast guard responsible for the protection of the Geography of Japan#Composition, topography and geography, coastline of Japan under the oversight of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. It consists of about ...

References

*Pedlar, Neil. ''The Imported Pioneers: Westerners who Helped Build Modern Japan''. Routledge, 1990.

Notes

External links

*
Lighthouses in Japan
Lighthouses completed in 1870 Lighthouses completed in 1925 Lighthouses in Kanagawa Prefecture 1870 establishments in Japan 1925 establishments in Japan Miura, Kanagawa {{lighthouse-stub

History

See also

References

Notes

External links