is the ruins of an

iron smelting Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including silver, iron, copper, and other base metals. Smelting uses heat and a ch ...

and primitive

blast furnace A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being "forced" or supplied above atmospheric ...

built by the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

during the final years of the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

in the Hashino neighborhood of the city of

Kamaishi, Iwate is a city located on the Sanriku rias coast in Iwate Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 32,609, and a population density of 74 persons per km2, in 16,230 households. The total area of the city is Geography Kamaishi is ...

in the Tohoku region of northern Japan. It has been recognized as the oldest western-style blast furnace in Japan, and is part of the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

World Heritage List A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the UNESCO, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNES ...

as one of the Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution: Iron and Steel, Shipbuilding and Coal Mining.

History

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 govern ...

Ōshima Takatō Ōshima Takatō (大島高任, May 11, 1826–March 29, 1901) was a Japanese engineer who created the first reverberation blast furnace and first Western-style gun in Japan. Ōshima was born of samurai status in Morioka City, Nanbu Domain whic ...

, a

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

/engineer from

Nanbu Domain Nanbu may refer to: Places * Nanbu, Aomori, Japan * Nanbu, Tottori, Japan * Nanbu, Yamanashi, Japan * Nanbu County, Sichuan Province, China * Nanbu Domain, a feudal domain in northeastern Japan People with the surname *, Japanese samurai and ''d ...

, was hired by

Mito Domain was a Japanese domain of the Edo period. It was associated with Hitachi Province in modern-day Ibaraki Prefecture.mortars Mortar may refer to: * Mortar (weapon), an indirect-fire infantry weapon * Mortar (masonry), a material used to fill the gaps between blocks and bind them together * Mortar and pestle, a tool pair used to crush or grind * Mortar, Bihar, a villag ...

. However, the project failed due to the inferior quality of iron produced by the

reverberatory furnace A reverberatory furnace is a metallurgical or process furnace that isolates the material being processed from contact with the fuel, but not from contact with combustion gases. The term ''reverberation'' is used here in a generic sense of ''rebo ...

he produced in Mito Domain in 1855. He returned to

Morioka is the capital city of Iwate Prefecture located in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan. On 1 February 2021, the city had an estimated population of 290,700 in 132,719 households, and a population density of . The total area of the city is . ...

, and assisted by an engineer on loan from

Satsuma Domain The , briefly known as the , was a domain (''han'') of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1602 to 1871. The Satsuma Domain was based at Kagoshima Castle in Satsuma Province, the core of the modern city of Kagoshima, ...

, built a new western-style blast furnace near local deposits of

magnetite Magnetite is a mineral and one of the main iron ores, with the chemical formula Fe2+Fe3+2O4. It is one of the oxides of iron, and is ferrimagnetic; it is attracted to a magnet and can be magnetized to become a permanent magnet itself. With the ...

in 1857. The furnace was based on a design found in the Dutch engineering text ''Het Gietwezen in s' Rijks Ijzer-Geschutgieterij te Luik'' by Huguenin. Although the project was technically successful, the

did not pursue further development due to the

Mito rebellion The , also called the Kantō Insurrection or the , was a civil war that occurred in the area of Mito Domain in Japan between May 1864 and January 1865. It involved an uprising and terrorist actions against the central power of the Shogunate in fav ...

and the suppression of western-style innovation during the

Ansei Purge was a multi-year event in Japanese history of the Edo period between 1858 and 1860, during which the Tokugawa shogunate imprisoned, executed, or exiled those who did not support its authority and foreign trade policies. The purge was undertaken by ...

by the ''

tairō ''Tairō'' (, "great elder") was a high-ranking official position in the Tokugawa shogunate government of Japan, roughly comparable to the office of prime minister. The ''tairō'' presided over the governing ''rōjū'' council in the event of an e ...

Ii Naosuke was ''daimyō'' of Hikone (1850–1860) and also Tairō of the Tokugawa shogunate, Japan, a position he held from April 23, 1858, until his death, assassinated in the Sakuradamon Incident on March 24, 1860. He is most famous for signing the Ha ...

. The new Hashino blast furnace was turned by the shogunate to Morioka Domain in April 1859. Morioka Domain quickly expanded operations, constructing two more blast furnaces to produce 1125 tons of

pig iron Pig iron, also known as crude iron, is an intermediate product of the iron industry in the production of steel which is obtained by smelting iron ore in a blast furnace. Pig iron has a high carbon content, typically 3.8–4.7%, along with silic ...

per year, using over 1000 workers, making it the largest smelter in Japan at the time. Although most of this iron was intended for weapons production, the domain also produced coinage on behalf of the government. When an order came from the government in 1868 to cease production, Morioka Domain continued to mint coins illegally on a large scale through 1869. This came to an end in 1871 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 ...

and the abolition of Morioka Domain, and the No.1 and No.2 blast furnaces were closed at that time. In 1894, the remaining blast furnace was absorbed into the Kamaishi Tanaka Metals Company and was later closed as well. The site fell into ruins, and was excavated in 1955. It received protection as a National Historic Site in 1957. The American Society of Metals recognized the site as a historical landmark in 1984, noting its contribution to the development of the Yawata Iron and Steel Works. In 2015, it was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

References

External links

UNESCO World Heritage Convention Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution: Iron and Steel, Shipbuilding and Coal MiningIwate Tourism information
{{Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution: Iron and Steel, Shipbuilding and Coal Mining World Heritage Sites in Japan Tourist attractions in Iwate Prefecture History of Iwate Prefecture Historic Sites of Japan Kamaishi, Iwate 1857 establishments in Japan Nanbu clan Mutsu Province

History

See also

References

External links