''Kanrin Maru'' was Japan's first sail and screw-driven steam corvette (the first steam-driven Japanese warship, '' Kankō Maru'', was a side-wheeler). She was ordered in 1853 from the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, the only Western country with which Japan had diplomatic relations throughout its period of ''

sakoku was the isolationist foreign policy of the Japanese Tokugawa shogunate under which, for a period of 265 years during the Edo period (from 1603 to 1868), relations and trade between Japan and other countries were severely limited, and nearly ...

'' (seclusion), by the ''

shōgun , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakur ...

''s government, the

Bakufu , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakura ...

. She was delivered on September 21, 1857 (with the name ''Japan''), by Lt. Willem Huyssen van Kattendijke of the Dutch navy. The ship was used at the newly established Naval School of

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in th ...

in order to build up knowledge of Western warship technology. ''Kanrin Maru'', as a screw-driven steam warship, represented a new technological advance in warship design which had been introduced in the West only ten years earlier with . The ship was built by Fop Smit's in Kinderdijk, the Netherlands later known as

L. Smit en Zoon L. Smit en Zoon previously known as Fop Smit, was a Dutch shipbuilding company located in Kinderdijk. Its successor is now part of Royal IHC. Context L. Smit en Zoon shipyard was one of multiple shipyards belonging to the Smit family. In 17 ...

. The virtually identical screw-steamship with schooner-rig ''Bali'' of the Dutch navy was also built here in 1856. She allowed Japan to get its first experience with some of the newest advances in ship design.

Japanese embassy to the US

Kanrin-Maru-Artwork-by-Suzufuji-Yujiro-c1860

Three years later, the Bakufu sent ''Kanrin Maru'' on a mission to the United States, clearly wanting to make a point to the world that Japan had now mastered western navigation techniques and western ship technologies. On 9 February 1860 (18 January in the Japanese calendar), the Kanrin Maru, captained by Katsu Kaishū together with

John Manjiro John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

, Fukuzawa Yukichi, and a total of 96 Japanese sailors, and the American officer

John M. Brooke John Mercer Brooke (December 18, 1826 – December 14, 1906) was an American sailor, engineer, scientist, and educator. He was instrumental in the creation of the Transatlantic Cable, and was a noted marine and military innovator. Early lif ...

, left Uraga for

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. This became the second official Japanese embassy to cross the Pacific Ocean, around 250 years after the embassy of Hasekura Tsunenaga to Mexico and then Europe in 1614, aboard the Japanese-built galleon . ''Kanrin Maru'' was accompanied by a United States Navy ship, the and arrived in San Francisco on March 17, 1860. The official objective of the mission was to send the first ever Japanese embassy to the US, and to ratify the new treaty of Friendship, Commerce, and Navigation between the United States and Japan.

Reclamation of the Bonin Islands

In January 1861, "Kanrin Maru" was dispatched to the

Bonin Islands The Bonin Islands, also known as the , are an archipelago of over 30 subtropical and tropical islands, some directly south of Tokyo, Japan and northwest of Guam. The name "Bonin Islands" comes from the Japanese word ''bunin'' (an archaic readi ...

, also known as Ogasawara Islands in Japanese. A navigator aboard the diplomatic mission, Bankichi Matsuoka was sent to survey the islands. The shogunate of Japan first claimed the Pacific islands and its multi-ethnical settler community in the face of competing Western empires. The islands had previously been claimed by Britain, and the United States had considered making them a navy base. The flagship "Kanrin Maru" was put to use in a display of military power reminiscent of the arrival of Commodore Perry's black ships in Japan just a few years earlier.

Boshin war

By the end of 1867, the

was attacked by pro-imperial forces, initiating the Boshin War which led to 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 ...

. Towards the end of the conflict, in September 1868, after several defeats by the Bakufu, ''Kanrin Maru'' was one of the eight modern ships led by Enomoto Takeaki towards the northern part of Japan, in his final attempt to wage a counter-attack against pro-imperial forces. The fleet encountered a typhoon on its way northward, and ''Kanrin Maru'', having suffered damage, was forced to take refuge in Shimizu harbour, where she was captured by Imperial forces, who bombarded and boarded the ship notwithstanding a white flag of surrender, and put the skeleton crew aboard to the sword.Oliver Statlet, ''Japanese Inn'', Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1982, p. 274. Enomoto Takeaki finally surrendered in May 1869, and after the end of the conflict, ''Kanrin Maru'' was used by the new Imperial government for the development of the northern island of Hokkaido. She was lost there in a typhoon in 1871, at Esashi.

Kanrin Maru today

In 1990, a ship replica twice the size of the original was ordered for manufacture in the

, according to the original plans. The ship was visible in the theme park of Huis Ten Bosch in Kyūshū, in southern Japan. It is now used as a sightseeing ship to the Naruto whirlpools from Minami Awaji harbour.

Notes

References

*H. Huygens, "Z.M. schroef-schooner Bali," in: ''Verhandelingen en berigten betrekkelijk het zeewezen en de zeevaartkunde'', vol. 17 (1857), pp. 178–183, esp. p. 182 * "Steam, Steel and Shellfire. The steam warship 1815-1905" Conway's History of the ship * "The origins of Japanese Trade Supremacy. Development and technology in Asia from 1540 to the Pacific War" Christopher Howe, The University of Chicago Press, * "End of the Bakufu and the Restoration at Hakodate" (Japanese 函館の幕末・維新) *

External links

The Kanrin Maru rebuilt

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kanrin Maru Bali-class sloops Screw sloops of the Imperial Japanese Navy Shipwrecks in the Sea of Japan 1857 ships Ships of the Tokugawa Navy Maritime incidents in 1871 Ships built in the Netherlands