Yokosuka Village, Before The Navy Arrived 海軍がくる前の横須賀村

Over the years, some people have asked me:

"What was Yokosuka like before the Japanese Navy Base was built?"

So, I did some checking-around, and here is what I found...

A document ( called: 新編相模国風土記稿  "Shin-hen Sagami-koku Fudoki-ko" ), published in 1840, listed the geographic and cultural aspects of "Sagami Province", in which "Yokosuka Village" was located.

It said --- "Yokosuka Village is located a little over 15 里 "ri" (1 ri = 2.4 miles) from Edo (Tokyo), and it contains 201 homes, and some of the (minor officials) family names are: Sakamoto, Shiori, Yokosuka, Kasugaura, Togatani, Dogatsuka, Nagamine, and Tomari."

Yokosuka was mainly a fishing village, and its population was concentrated in Hon-Cho (the Honch), the area around what is now Keikyu Shioiri train station, and around the central bay & harbor which are now part of the U.S. Navy and Japan Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) bases.

Here is a rare photo of a part of Yokosuka Village, taken in 1871:

                    











Uraga Bay, located just south of Yokosuka Village, also hosted a population from olden times.  This wood block print, from 1858, provides a good impression of how the coastal areas, and local fishing and cargo vessels, looked, back in those days...

Yokosuka's Amazing ”Old Faithful" Spring -- HASHIRI-MIZU 走水

Yokosuka is one of the few cities in Japan which can boast about having its own water-works/supply -- drawn from a powerful natural spring which flows out of the Kannonzaki Hills.

The spring, and the local temple & district is called "Hashiri-mizu" ---  走水  --- the kanji characters literally mean: Running + Water.

Back in the late-1860s, when the French technical & construction engineer team came to Yokosuka to help build the Iron Works (which later turned into the Japanese Imperial Naval Arsenal [Navy Base]), they needed to find a reliable & abundant source of water to supply all of the industrial/facilities infrastructure and the people who worked there.  They were taken to see the Hashiri-mizu spring, and the French immediately saw that it was good for the requirement, and by 1874, a reservoir and piping system were built to supply the growing Naval complex.

Today, the spring and water-works still functions, and provides about 30% of Yokosuka City's needs.

If you drive on road south towards Kannonzaki Park, there is a parking lot (on the left-hand-side) where you can stop, and there are spigots from which you can fill-up bottles with Hashiri-mizu spring water (for free!)

It is said that after the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 (which caused extensive damage to Yokosuka), the spring's flow was not interrupted.

Also, the (restricted) area over the old reservoir is now covered with cherry (sakura) trees, and during the blossoming season (usually a weekend in early-April) it is opened to the public for "Hana-Mi" flower-viewing picnic parties.

Here is a view of the Hashiri-mizu water-works, and nearby beach (the only remaining "large" natural beach on the Tokyo Bay-side of Yokosuka.)

              

  

All Comes Down To Timing...

Originally, when a diplomatic mission from Japan visited the U.S. in 1860 (sailing over there on aboard KANRIN-Maru ... which departed from Yokosuka) ----

One of the Japanese objectives was to study the U.S. Navy (and its harbor & shore facilities) and so they were sure to take notice when disembarking at Washington Navy Yard:

A few years later, Japan wanted U.S, to help design & develop the naval base in Yokosuka --- but due to the ongoing North-South Civil War, that was not possible (and the British & Russians could not be trusted) ---- so, Japan was forced to go with "Plan B", and contracted with France to build the Yokosuka Iron Works, which later became Yokosuka Naval Arsenal...

Monument To A Poet 正岡子規句碑

Verny Park is located right outside of JR Yokosuka Station, running along the harbor -- it used to be part of the Japanese Imperial Navy Base, and, back in the day, was closed to the public.

At the far end of the park, in the direction of the AEON Shopping Center, there is a place where several monuments have been placed.

I assumed they were all related to the Japanese Navy.  I have already described one of them, the Koku-I Kensho Kinen-To -- and, in later-on in this Blog, I will explain each of the others, one-by-one.

Here is how the Verny park monuments area looks:

So, I decided to start going right-to-left, and here is the first monument, which uses a gorgeous large rock (rose-colored granite?):

But, surprise, surprise! --- It is not about the old Japanese Navy, instead it memorializes a famous poet: Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902 -- he died so young)...

And on the stone itself, is a "haiku" poem which Masaoka wrote about Yokosuka:

横須賀や           Yokosuka ya            
只帆檣の           Tada ho-bashira
冬木立                Fuyu go-dachi

My attempt at a translation:

     Yokosuka, where
     Sail masts are like
     Tree-groves, this winter day...

Beauty captured forever, on a stone...

A short biography and a selection of his poems can be read here.

日本語の情報はこちらです。

NEWS UPDATE --- Masaoka Shiki, a celebrated haiku poet in the Meiji Era (1868-1912), will be enshrined in the Go Hall of Fame, 15 years after he received similar accolades for his contributions to baseball.  Nihon Ki-in, the Japanese association in charge of the ancient board game, decided on Oct. 24 2017 to honor Shiki (1867-1902) as a person of merit during the 14th commendation committee meeting for the Go Hall of Fame.  Nihon Ki-in started naming go hall of famers in 2004.  Shiki, a many-sided cultural figure, wrote more than 30 haiku poems about go.  He also played and promoted the game of baseball and was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 2002.  Shiki will join other of persons of merit, whose portraits are displayed at Nihon Ki-in’s headquarters in the Ichigaya district of Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward.  Go, a board game popular mainly in China, South Korea and Japan, involves two contestants placing black and white stones on a square grid.  The goal is to encircle the opponent’s stones and seize the most territory.  Its origin dates back thousands of years.

The Mabori Kaigan Flood Of 1996

South of Yokosuka City harbor complex, is located the Mabori Kaigan suburb, which is built on reclaimed land, facing Tokyo Bay.  Many U.S. Navy people rent houses and apartments in the Mabori area.

Mabori Kaigan has a real nice and long seaside pedestrian road (built in 2012), which is a great place to do some jogging or walking.

This is what it looks like today:

The pedestrian roads were built as part of an improved seawall, in response to a disaster which occurred in 1996, when a typhoon drove high-tide waters over the old sea-wall and caused extensive flooding in Mabori Kaigan.

Here is what the 1996 typhoon did...

  

Here is a Japanese Civil Engineering explanation about the improved Mabori seawall project.

Yokosuka Power Spot No.2 --- Awakuchi Shrine 安房口神社

Interestingly, located not too far to the north of the Otsuka-Dai Kofun (see my 19 February 2017 entry), is maybe one of the oldest Shinto Shrines on the Miura Peninsula --- called:  Awakuchi Jinja.

There no actual shrine building, but, instead, a mysterious large stone is located in the holy spot.

More to follow on this, as I continue some research --- but it's definitely an ancient green power spot, located in the middle of a Yokosuka housing suburb area.

Here is a picture of the "holy rock" at the Awakuchi Jinja site:

Nearby, there is a box full of small stones & pebbles, and since Awakuchi is said to have special powers to aid safe childbirth, the local tradition is for an expectant mother or family member to take one stone .... and, after a successful delivery, come back to the shrine and return two stones to the box...

 

Battleship MUTSU's Gun Comes Home

This was the Imperial Japanese Navy Ship (IJNS) MUTSU -- a battleship, at sea:

Built at Yokosuka Naval Arsenal from 1918-1921 .... and it later sank, in June 1943, due to a mysterious explosion inside the ship, while anchored at Hashira-jima (in the Inland Sea, south of Hiroshima) --- truly a hard-luck ship...

Great description available at Wikipedia: Story of Battleship MUTSU

In subsequent years, various parts and pieces of MUTSU were salvaged (some very large) --- for example, one 410 mm gun from its No.4 turret was put on display for many years at the Museum of Maritime Science in Shinagawa, Tokyo.

That same gun was returned to Yokosuka in September 2016 -- "returning home after 80 years" -- and is now on-display at Verny Park, near JR Yokosuka Station.

      

Battleship MUTSU departed Yokosuka in 1936 for operations in the war against China, and then the war with America-&-Allied Forces --- never to return --- until a (big) part of it came back home in 2016...

And...  On 25 March 2017, a ceremony was held to officially open the MUTSU Main Gun monument, as well as memorializing the the 1200+ crew-members who were killed when the ship's ammunition magazine exploded, and it sank to the bottom in the Japanese Inland Sea...

  













In the above photo, the black kanji characters, written on the grey stone in the lower-right foreground, are read:  鎮魂  CHIN-KON  ----  Which means: "Repose of souls"

The calligraphy was done by Ms. Etsuko Oka.