Shinagawa Battery

Architecture, patrimoine et histoire · Préfecture de Tokyo

At the foot of the Rainbow Bridge, in the heart of modern Odaiba, a square of stone walls recalls the shogunate's alarm at Commodore Perry's "Black Ships". In 1853, a few weeks after they appeared at Uraga, the Tokugawa government entrusted the artillery expert Egawa Hidetatsu (Tarōzaemon) with a line of batteries on artificial islands off Shinagawa, meant to bar the sea approach to Edo. Eleven forts were planned and seven begun, but only a few were completed between 1853 and 1854, with stone shipped from Izu, Sagami and Suruga. The word "daiba", meaning these batteries, gave its name to today's district. Only batteries No. 3 and No. 6 survive. The third, a square about 160 m per side enclosed by stone-faced earthen ramparts, preserves the foundations of the guard post and a powder magazine; joined to the mainland by landfill, it became Daiba Metropolitan Park in 1928. The sixth, still an isolated islet, is closed to the public. Together they form a National Historic Site and are listed among the Continued Top 100 Japanese Castles.