Nakaminato Reverberatory Furnace Ruin - Hitachinaka

I stopped by on a walk around Nakaminato on Monday, July 12, 2021. It was restored to the highest point of the lush park almost as it was originally, and I felt that it was a symbol of the former Nakaminato citizens, whose tip can be seen from anywhere in the city of Nakaminato. The information signboard says as follows. ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ Ibaraki Prefecture designated historic site Nakaminato Cannon Foundry At the end of the Tokugawa shogunate, foreign ships began to appear off the coast of Nakaminato. Is a reverberatory furnace (large metal melting furnace). With the cooperation of Norikata Takeshita of the Satsuma Domain, Munehiro Kumada of the Miharu Domain, and Takato Oshima of the Southern Domain, Yoshichi Tobita, a carpenter of Nakaminato, and Senkichi Fukui, a tiler, worked hard on the construction. No. 1 reactor (west) in Ansei 2 (1855), No. 2 in the same 4 years (Donglü) has been completed. It is said that the height is about 15m and the refractory bricks used are about 40,000. It was destroyed by the turbulence of the Genji Koshi in the first year of the Genji era (1864), and in 1945 the current model was restored almost as it was originally. Designated date November 25, 2004 Establisher Hitachinaka City Board of Education ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ Furthermore, the website of the Ibaraki Prefectural Board of Education states as follows. ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ Two reverberatory furnaces of the Mito domain were built during the Ansei era for the purpose of casting iron cannons. A reverberatory furnace is a large metal melting furnace. At that time, it is said that more than a dozen public and private buildings were built nationwide. However, it was destroyed during the feudal clan conflict in the first year of the Genji era (1864) (called the Genji Koshi Rebellion or the Tengu Party Rebellion). Eventually, a movement to restore it began around 1933, and in December 1937, it was restored to its original form on the site of Azumadai. When Tokugawa Nariaki (1800-60) was allowed to participate in the feudal affairs during the Kaei era, the Mito clan became keenly aware of the need for a full range of weapons, especially iron cannon casting instead of conventional copper. As a result, Takato Oshima (Sozaemon), a member of the Southern Clan, was hired as a reverberatory furnace construction engineer. Azumadai was selected as the construction site. The ground is strong, it is the most prosperous area in the clan, which is economically bustling with the shipping industry in the suburbs of Mito Castle 3 ri, it is convenient for procuring and transporting raw iron and fuel coal, and it is drilled. This is probably because it was judged to be a place that meets the conditions such as having convenience in building a watermill. A groundbreaking ceremony was held in August of the first year of Ansei (1854). Under the direction of Yoshichi Tobita (Miya carpenter), who became a carpenter, the soil of Koisago-mura, Nasu-gun (Nakagawa-cho, Naka-gun, Tochigi Prefecture) was used to obtain clay, which is the raw material for refractory bricks, as well as to carry out careful foundation work. We found that is the most suitable, and succeeded in firing bricks that can withstand the fiery fire by mixing it with the powder of flint from Iwaki in a certain ratio. It is said that Oshima et al. Initially planned to build 10 furnaces, but for the time being, they decided to aim for the completion of 2 pots, and started construction in January 1855, and the first one in November. The furnace (West furnace) has been completed. In the same year (1856), he cast and built Mortil guns (mortars) from No. 1 to No. 4. The completed cannon was sent to the shogunate by promise. However, since the amount of iron that can be melted at one time is about 400 pieces, it is not possible to cast a large cannon without two or more furnaces. Therefore, we started the construction of the No. 2 furnace (Donglü), improved the fire area while being the same type as the No. 1 furnace, and completed it in December 1857. However, the previous Mortil cannon did not produce good quality iron, leaving a problem with its strength. Therefore, Oshima went on a business trip to Kamaishi (Kamaishi City, Iwate Prefecture) in the southern part of his hometown, built a Western-style blast furnace there, and made a prospect of supplying high-quality "soft iron" (pig iron refined from iron ore). In January 1858, I returned to Nakaminato and started full-scale casting operations. That is, from February, 3 Mortil cannons and 1 Cannon cannon were cast in 2 reverberatory furnaces, and from April, 2700 pieces of Kamaishi's "soft iron" arrived at Nakaminato, which resulted in 3 inch diameter cannon 3 I was able to cast the gate. In this way, the casting work finally opened up a bright prospect after spending about four years, but it was reported that the former feudal lord Nariaki had been ordered to be reluctant again, and the operation was virtually unavoidable after that. It seems that this could be resumed around December of the first year of Man'en (1860), and although several cannons were cast until February of the first year of Genji (1864), the disturbance of the Genji Koshi that occurred in March of the same year. The influence extended to Nakaminato, and a fierce battle was fought here in October. As a result, both the reverberatory furnace and the watermill were destroyed by fire during the war. As mentioned above, the Nakaminato Reverberatory Furnace was completed in 1855, so it is the fourth largest in Japan after the Saga Domain, Satsuma Domain, and Izu Nirayama of the Shogunate. However, the fact that Oshima's construction of Japan's first Western-style blast furnace was directly linked to the casting business of the Mito Domain and that it succeeded in developing advanced refractory bricks with great significance is important in the history of modern steelmaking and the history of the ceramics industry in Japan. It has. Also, we must not forget the achievements of our predecessors who built a restored model in the place where the reverberatory furnace was built, incorporating some of the bricks left at that time, and preserved the site. In these respects, the Nakaminato Reverberatory Furnace can fully assert its raison d'etre as one of the historic sites of this prefecture.

It is a restored reverberatory furnace trace. The heat-resistant brick kiln was also restored. It is said that the Yamagami Gate at the entrance was relocated, but it seems that the priests at the end of the Edo period, who appear in textbooks, also passed through here. I was surprised because it was an insanely valuable building ?

At the end of the Tokugawa shogunate, it was built by Tokugawa Nariaki, the 9th feudal lord of the Mito Domain, to cast a Western-style cannon that could compete with foreign ships that began to show the shadow of ships on the coast of Japan. Nariaki was particularly conscious of maritime defense and emphasized the need for national defense by strengthening armament. It is said that the cannons built here were installed in Odaiba in various places and presented to the Shogunate (Odaiba).

It was posted on March 3rd. I went to the Nakaminato Reverberatory Furnace site for the first time and took a picture. It was very beautiful and the cherry blossoms were in bloom a little