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 Cape Shionomisaki, on the southern coast of

Kii Peninsula The is the largest peninsula on the island of Honshū in Japan and is located within the Kansai region. It is named after the ancient Kii Province. The peninsula has long been a sacred place in Buddhism, Shinto, and Shugendo, and many people wou ...

in the

Kansai region The or the lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropol ...

of Japan.Siono Misaki
''Lighthouses of Japan'' Administratively, it is within the town of

Kushimoto file:ShionoMisakiMonument2.JPG, 270px, Shionomisaki Southernmost Point Park is a coastal List of towns in Japan, town located in Higashimuro District, Wakayama, Higashimuro District, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated populati ...

Wakayama Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Wakayama Prefecture has a population of 876,030 () and a geographic area of . Wakayama Prefecture borders Osaka Prefecture to the north, and Mie Prefecture and Nara Prefecture to ...

History

On June 25, 1866, the

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 ...

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

Japan signed a customs and tax treaty with the United States, Great Britain, France, and the Netherlands to normalize trade relations, One of the stipulations of this treaty was that eight lighthouses be erected near the approaches to the

treaty port Treaty ports (; ) were the port cities in China and Japan that were opened to foreign trade mainly by the unequal treaties forced upon them by Western powers, as well as cities in Korea opened up similarly by the Qing dynasty of China (before the ...

s opened for foreign commerce.(Kannonzaki, Nojimasaki, Kashinozaki, Mikomotojima, Kusaki, Iojima, Cape Sata, and Shionomisaki). However, due to the

Boshin War The , sometimes known as the Japanese Revolution or Japanese Civil War, was a civil war in Japan fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and a coalition seeking to seize political power in the name of the Impe ...

, work was not begun until 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 ...

. The new

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 ...

brought in foreign advisors to assist in the modernization efforts, one of whom was the British engineer

Richard Henry Brunton Richard Henry Brunton FRGS MICE (26 December 1841 – 24 April 1901) was a British engineer known as the "Father of Japanese lighthouses". Brunton was born in Muchalls, Kincardineshire, Scotland. He was employed by the government of Meiji pe ...

who specialized in lighthouse design. Aside from the eight lighthouses stipulated by the treaty (i.e. the "treaty lighthouses"), Brunton went on to constructed another 25 lighthouses from far northern

Hokkaidō is the second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by railway via the Seikan Tunnel. The ...

to southern

Kyūshū is the third-largest island of Japan's four main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands (i.e. excluding Okinawa and the other Ryukyu (''Nansei'') Islands). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regio ...

during his career in Japan. Work on the Shionomisaki Lighthouse began in June 1870, and it was first lit on June 10, 1870 with a temporary lighting system. The original structure was a octagonal wooden building, and it was to have been the first western-style wooden lighthouse in Japan; however, the ship containing the light mechanism from the United Kingdom sank in the

East China Sea The East China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean, located directly offshore from East China. China names the body of water along its eastern coast as "East Sea" (, ) due to direction, the name of "East China Sea" is otherwise ...

en route to Japan, and Brunton was forced to improvise using the lantern from a steam locomotive instead. The main lighting equipment was repeatedly delayed, and it was not until September 15, 1873 that its intended light system was installed and declared operational. The lighthouse was rebuilt in April 1878 with the current stone structure. In 1929, the lighting system was replaced with a second-class Fresnel immovable lens and an oil-evaporated incandescent lamp, and the system was electrified in 1938. This lamp was replaced with a 90-cm rotary lamp in 1957. The lighthouse is within the borders of the

Yoshino-Kumano National Park is a national park comprising several non-contiguous areas of Mie, Nara, and Wakayama Prefectures, in the Kansai region of Japan. Established in 1936, the park includes Mount Yoshino, celebrated for its cherry blossoms, as well as elements of ...

. The lighthouse is now operated 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 ...

5th Regional Headquarters

Gallery

Shiono Misaki lighthouse 20090523 - Flickr.jpg, Aerial photograph of Shionomisaki Lighthouse ShionoMisakilighthouseGate.JPG, Entrance ShionoMisakilighthouseEntrance.JPG, Entrance to the lighthouse ShionoMisakilighthouseIndoor1.JPG, Interior of the lighthouse ShionoMisakiLighthouseIndoor2.JPG, Interior of the lighthouse ShionoMisakilighthouseOldLens.JPG, 2nd degree Fresnel lens system ShionoMisakilightOffice.JPG, lightkeeper's house (also by Brunton) ShionoMisakilighthouseView1.JPG, View from the lighthouse ShionoMisakilighthouseView2.JPG, View from the lighthouse

References

External links

Kushimoto Tourist InformationWakayama Prefecture official tourist information site
{{Authority control Lighthouses completed in 1873 Lighthouses in Japan Buildings and structures in Kushimoto, Wakayama

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links