The Odaiba and Bakumatsu Coastal Defense — Batteries Built to Guard Edo Bay
The place name "Odaiba" that survives along Tokyo's waterfront is a relic of Bakumatsu tension. Battery emplacements (daiba) built by the shogunate to defend Edo from the arrival of the Black Ships — that is what they were.
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The crisis the Black Ships brought
When a squadron of steamships appeared at the mouth of Edo Bay, the shogunate became acutely aware that Edo itself might come under attack. Defending Edo, the seat of the shogun, was a priority above all else.
What arose then was the plan to build batteries at key points in the bay and block the entry of enemy warships — the idea of coastal defense.
The batteries off Shinagawa
The shogunate hurriedly pressed ahead with works to build artificial islands off Shinagawa in Edo Bay and place gun batteries upon them — the daiba. The plan to throw up several batteries in a short time speaks to the strength of the crisis they felt.
People versed in Western technology and knowledge are said to have been involved in the enterprise. It was an effort that mobilized the resources Japan could muster against the untried challenge of coastal defense.
Awakening to coastal defense
The building of the batteries carried meaning beyond a single set of works. It was the expression of a new way of thinking: to prepare in an organized way against the threat closing in from the sea.
Around the same time, the Naval Training Center opened at Nagasaki, and the attempt to foster a Western-style navy began as well. Defense by batteries and preparation by warships — coastal defense was pursued from several directions.
A name left behind
The batteries built in the Bakumatsu ended their original military role amid the changes of later ages. Yet the place name "Odaiba" survives still, quietly conveying that age of tension.
How to prepare against a threat from across the sea — the proof that the people of the Bakumatsu faced this question raised by the Black Ships in earnest is engraved in the place called the daiba.
The movements around coastal defense and the opening of Japan are explored across Bakumatsu Culture.
Related reading
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The Black Ships and the Opening of Japan — Four Vessels That Ended Two Centuries of Seclusion
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Rangaku and the Tekijuku — The Window onto the West Opened by the Dutch Language
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