The Guns Of Kannonsaki

Kannonsaki Park, facing Tokyo Bay, is a wonderful place to visit and hike --- there is a cool Keikyu hotel and a first-class art museum located there.

But, back in the day, the area was used by the Japanese Imperial Army's Heavy Artillery Regiment to deploy heavy guns (e.g., 28 cm howitzers) for defense of Tokyo Bay.

More to follow, but here are some pictures of what the guns looked-like:

  

During the late-19th century, and early 20th century, Japan's Imperial Army built-up an extensive coastal defense complex/system, to better defend Tokyo Bay from encroaching foreign navies and warships.

In the case of Yokosuka, the Kannonzaki Cape area, with it's great natural view of the entrance to Tokyo Bay (through Uraga Suido [channel]) was one of the primary sites for the Army artillery batteries.

Here is a map which shows the situation:

The Meiji Emperor's Visit

This one is a place-holder .... but there are monuments in Yokosuka which commemorate the visits of the Meiji Emperor .... and this is the leader who became the focus of Japan's efforts to modernize and become strong enough to avoid colonization by the Western Powers...

Here are pictures of a visit to Yoksuka Iron Works, by high-ranking officials, viewing some metallurgic work, as presented by the French naval engineers, headed by Francois Verny, and an overview of Yokosuka naval harbor...

    



















Here is a stone marker, right next to a Honch bar, which memorializes the Meiji Emperor's visit to Yoksuka, all those years ago...

Battleship MIKASA --- Fame's Ups and Downs...

Japan Imperial Navy's battleship MIKASA, is a famous ship, which helped win a famous and decisive sea-battle, in 1905, against the Russian Navy.  Details here.

Here is how MIKASA looked, in its glorious, operational days:

However, decades later, after Japan lost World War II (or, the "Pacific War", as is used in Tokyo), MIKASA fell onto hard times, and had its guns stripped, and it served as the platform for tourism, hosting a dance hall and an aquarium...

  

In the 1960s, the U.S. Navy, led by ADM(Ret) Nimitz, supported a public initiative to renovate & restore MIKASA to its former glory.

In 2009, the NIMITZ-TOGO connection was reinforced.

Nowadays, MIKASA is a proud symbol of Japan's naval heritage...

  

Yokosuka Power Spot Number 3 --- The "EM Club"

Here is a stone marker, which commemorates the former existence of the "EM Club" --- Enlisted Men's Club:

This small monument is located at the corner of a large building, which houses the Yokosuka Arts Theater ( see here ) & the Mercure Hotel --- located across the street from the AEON Shoppers Plaza Mall.

The EM Club was a R&R (rest & relaxation) facility which served a similar function for the sailors of the Japanese Imperial Navy ---- and from 1945 through the early-1980s, the EM Club (also called Club Alliance) served as a unique place, located outside of the Navy Base, where Americans and Japanese came together.

      

The "forgotten story" about the EM Club is that, during the post-World War II years, a whole generation of now-famous Japanese musicians learned to play jazz music in the EM Club.  It was one of the few places where Japanese sax and trumpet players could let-loose, and watch their riffs make Americans dance on the tables.

I cannot do justice to this in one post, so more will follow in the future...    

Enmei-Jizo-Son --- The Tiny Shrine In The Middle Of The Honch

If you walk out the main gate of Yokosuka Navy base, and go cross National Highway 16, you will arrive in a shopping and entertainment street called "Dobu-Ita-Dori", or "The Honch."

Sailors of the U.S. Navy's Seventh Fleet, and others, have been partying, buying souvenirs, and relaxing in Honch establishments since 1945.

Down the street, on the way towards Keikyu Shioiri train station, and amidst all the money-spending, drinking, music, and cacophony, is a small island of peace and spirituality ---- a little shine for "Enmei-Jizo-Son"  延命地蔵尊 ...  (over my many years in Yokosuka, I must have walked past this place hundreds of times, never really knowing what it was)

          

Thanks to Mr. Yoji Kawashima, here is a description:

This tiny shrine at the wayside of Dobuita-Street is dedicated to the Jizoh (a guardian deity for children), whose particular name is “ENMEI-JIZO-SON” (the Jizoh of lengthening of life).  The shrine used to be called Donokuchi Jizoh and was located in Shiodome (currently called Shioiri), closer to the Shioiri Elementary School beyond Keikyu Line.  After the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923, the Jizoh shrine was moved to the present place.

An old book titled “Shin-sen Sagami-koku Fudo-kiko (The Newly-edited History and Culture in the Sagami Province)” -- published in 1841, indicates that this Jizoh was enshrined between 1704 and 1710 as a part of the temple named “Enmyo-san (Lengthening of Life), Saioh-ji Temple, one of the subordinate temples of Ryocho-in Temple (located in Midorigaoka presently).
  　
Another old book titled “Miura Hanjo-ki (Note on Flourishing Miura)” -- published in 1908 indicates the Jizoh shrine is located at Shiodome-cho and is always filled with smoke from incense sticks offered by many people coming and worshiping, morning and evening -- including many girls from the gay quarters, too.

At the shrine, there are stone statues and monuments.  One of which is for the repose of souls of the victims of the Great Kanto Earthquake, on which 45 victims names were inscribed.  Another stone statue there, though very much weathered, of Mother and two Children was erected for the repose of their souls, who died by the fire at the back of the EM Club in the beginning of Showa era (around 1930) while Father was on an overseas business trip.  We see also many small Jizoh stone statues called “Mizuko Jizoh” in the shrine, which are guardian deities for the spirits of aborted and miscarried children.

We see many worshipers visiting here even these days.

Mysterious Mine-layer

In my 08 March entry here I started to examine and explain the large stone monuments which are lined-up along the edge of Yokosuka's Verny park.

The one which was the furthest from the water's edge was, surprisingly, a non-naval memorial to the poet Masaoka Shiki  ----  But the next one to its left, is all-Navy, and looks like this:

  















It is a monument for the Japan Imperial Navy Mine-laying warship, OKINOSHIMA.

From Wikipedia:

"Okinoshima (沖島) was a large mine-layer of the Imperial Japanese Navy, which was in service during the early stages of World War II.  She was named after the Okinoshima Island in the Sea of Japan and the earlier Japanese battleship Okinoshima.  She was the largest purpose-built mine-layer of the Imperial Japanese Navy and the first Japanese mine-layer to be equipped with a reconnaissance seaplane."

The full link is here.

Here is what Okinoshima looked like:

I will continue to check on it, but it is not apparent to me why this particular ship has been memorialized in Yokosuka.  It was built elsewhere -- launched in 1935 at shipyard in Hyogo Prefecture -- and it didn't survive very long into the war, being sunk in May 1942 (by torpedoes from a USN submarine.)

The memorial was erected on 05 December 1983 by a committee which was formed to commemorate Okinoshima.  A prayer and poem are carved into the stone-face, and on the back-side is a list of the names and hometowns of the 61 crew members who were KIA.