270px, ruins of Tamukeyama Battery was the name of a group of

coastal fortification 300px, Castillo San Felipe de Barajas in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, an example of an Early Modern coastal defense Coastal defence (or defense) and coastal fortification are measures taken to provide protection against military attack at or ...

s built in the

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

to guard the entrance to

Kanmon Straits The or the Straits of Shimonoseki is the stretch of water separating Honshu and Kyushu, two of Japan's four main islands. On the Honshu side of the strait is Shimonoseki (, which contributed "Kan" () to the name of the strait) and on the Kyushu ...

separating

Honshu , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island ...

and

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surroun ...

, two of Japan's four main islands. These gun batteries and fortifications ceased to be used after the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

History

Passage through the narrow Kanmon Straits, which connected the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it h ...

with the

Seto Inland Sea The , sometimes shortened to the Inland Sea, is the body of water separating Honshū, Shikoku, and Kyūshū, three of the four main islands of Japan. It serves as a waterway connecting the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Japan. It connects to Osa ...

by foreign vessels was always a sensitive issue for Japanese sovereignty. In 1863, during the

Bakumatsu period was the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate ended. Between 1853 and 1867, Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as and changed from a feudal Tokugawa shogunate to the modern empire of the Meiji government. ...

, the forces of

Chōshū Domain The , also known as the , was a domain (''han'') of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1600 to 1871.Deal, William E. (2005) ''Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan,'' p. 81 The Chōshū Domain was ba ...

opened fire on foreign shipping passing through the strait in what was later termed the

Battle of Shimonoseki Straits The Battle of Shimonoseki Straits (Japanese:下関海戦, ''Shimonoseki Kaisen'') was a naval engagement fought on July 16, 1863, by the United States Navy warship against the powerful ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) Mōri Takachika of the Chōshū ...

. This led to a punitive action by Western powers, the

Bombardment of Shimonoseki The refers to a series of military engagements in 1863 and 1864, fought to control the Shimonoseki Straits of Japan by joint naval forces from Great Britain, France, the Netherlands and the United States, against the Japanese feudal domain of ...

in which joint naval forces from Great Britain, France, the Netherlands and the United States, destroyed the Chōshū coastal artillery batteries . 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 practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were r ...

, the primary threats to the new

Empire of Japan The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent for ...

were perceived to be

Qing China The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

Beiyang fleet The Beiyang Fleet (Pei-yang Fleet; , alternatively Northern Seas Fleet) was one of the four modernized Chinese navies in the late Qing dynasty. Among the four, the Beiyang Fleet was particularly sponsored by Li Hongzhang, one of the most tru ...

, followed by the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...

's Pacific Fleet. The

Meiji government The was the government that was formed by politicians of the Satsuma Domain and Chōshū Domain in the 1860s. The Meiji government was the early government of the Empire of Japan. Politicians of the Meiji government were known as the Meiji ...

ordered the construction of a new set of coastal fortifications starting in 1884, and construction started to re-fortify the Kanmon Strait from September 1887. The main facilities were constructed on the western coast of

Yamaguchi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Yamaguchi Prefecture has a population of 1,377,631 (1 February 2018) and has a geographic area of 6,112 km2 (2,359 sq mi). Yamaguchi Prefecture borders Shimane Prefecture to ...

in the city of

Shimonoseki is a city located in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. With a population of 265,684, it is the largest city in Yamaguchi Prefecture and the fifth-largest city in the Chūgoku region. It is located at the southwestern tip of Honshu facing the Tsush ...

and the eastern coast of

Fukuoka Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Fukuoka Prefecture has a population of 5,109,323 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,986 km2 (1,925 sq mi). Fukuoka Prefecture borders Saga Prefecture to the southwest, Kumamo ...

in what is now Kokurakita-ku and Moji-ku, Kitakyushu city, as well as on several small islands in the

Genkai Sea The is a body of water that comprises the southwestern tip of the Sea of Japan and borders the northern coasts of Fukuoka and Saga is a series of science fantasy role-playing video games by Square Enix. The series originated on the Game B ...

. The Shimonoseki Garrison Command was established in April 1895. It was renamed the Shimonoseki Fortress Command in 1899. Some of these batteries were equipped with the 28-cm howitzers of the same type which were used during the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

at the

Siege of Port Arthur The siege of Port Arthur ( ja, 旅順攻囲戦, ''Ryojun Kōisen''; russian: link=no, Оборона Порт-Артура, ''Oborona Port-Artura'', August 1, 1904 – January 2, 1905) was the List of battles of the Russo-Japanese War, longes ...

to devastating effect against the

Russian Pacific Fleet , image = Great emblem of the Pacific Fleet.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Russian Pacific Fleet Great emblem , dates = 1731–present , country ...

. From the 1920s and 1930s, many surplus guns of the

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...

, which had been made available due to the reduction of capital warships per the London Naval Treaty and the

Washington Naval Treaty The Washington Naval Treaty, also known as the Five-Power Treaty, was a treaty signed during 1922 among the major Allies of World War I, which agreed to prevent an arms race by limiting naval construction. It was negotiated at the Washington ...

, were reused in these coastal artillery installations. After the end of the

, some of the fortifications were dismantled; however, in the 1920s and 1930s, many were re-armed, with the intention that Shimonoseki Fortress would form a link with Iki Fortress and

Tsushima Fortress Tsushima may refer to: Places * Tsushima Island, part of Nagasaki Prefecture ** Tsushima, Nagasaki, a city in Nagasaki Prefecture (coterminous with Tsushima Island) ** Tsushima Province, a historical province, coterminous with modern Tsushima Subp ...

to control the entire Strait of Korea and thus the Japanese Empire's vitally important sea route to

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republi ...

Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of (Great) Manchuria after 1934, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Manchuria from 1932 until 1945. It was founded as a republic in 1932 after the Japanese in ...

and the Asian continent. In addition, many anti-aircraft guns were installed to help protect the approaches to

Kokura is an ancient castle town and the center of Kitakyushu, Japan, guarding the Straits of Shimonoseki between Honshu and Kyushu with its suburb Moji. Kokura is also the name of the penultimate station on the southbound San'yō Shinkansen li ...

in northern Kyushu, which was a major industrial zone with many munitions plants. All fortifications were dismantled at the end of World War II.

Components of the Shimonoseki Fortress

Kyushu

*Tamukeyama Battery *Tominoyama Magazine *Kojoyama Battery *Sasaoyama Battery *Yahazuyama Magazine *Mekari Battery *Takakurayama Battery

Shimonoseki

*Tanokubi Battery *Hinoyama Battery *Senjogahara Battery *Ichiriyama Magazine *Konpirayama Mountain Artillery Battery * Reisagiyama Magazine *Tsujiyama Battery *Oinoyama Battery *Deshimatsu Battery *Suzuyama Battery *Kannonzaki Battery

Genkai Sea

*Futaoijima Battery *Tsunoshima Battery *Mutsureshima Battery *Oshima Battery *Okinoshima Battery *Shirashima Battery

References

*{{cite book , last1=Ness , first1=Leland , title=Rikugun: Guide to Japanese Ground Forces 1937-1945 , date=2014 , publisher=Helion & Company , asin=B00SLVGP2M History of Yamaguchi Prefecture History of Fukuoka Prefecture Coastal fortifications Imperial Japanese Army