Mikomotoshima Lighthouse

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Mikomotoshima Lighthouse
神子元島灯台
Mikomotojima-todai.jpg
Mikomotojima Lighthouse
Mikomotoshima Lighthouse
LocationMikomoto Island, Mikomoto Island, Shimoda, Japan OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Coordinates 34°34′31″N138°56′29″E / 34.57536°N 138.94144°E / 34.57536; 138.94144
Tower
Constructed1871  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
ConstructionIzu stone, brick, concrete  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Height23.3 m (76 ft)  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Shapetruncated cone  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Markingsstripe (black and white)  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Heritage Historic Site of Japan   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Light
First lit1 January 1871  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Focal height51 m (167 ft)  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Lensthird order Fresnel lens  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Range19.5 nmi (36.1 km; 22.4 mi)  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Characteristic Fl(2) W 16s  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Japan no.JCG-2447 [1]

Mikomotojima Lighthouse (神子元島灯台, Mikomotojima tōdai) is a lighthouse located on Mikomotojima, a small (0.1 km2) uninhabited islet located 11 kilometres (5.9 nmi) south of Shimoda port, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan.The site was designated a National Historic Site in 1937. [2]

Contents

History

The Mikomotojima Lighthouse was one of eight lighthouses to be built in Meiji period Japan under the provisions of the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Amity and Commerce of 1858, signed by the Bakumatsu period Tokugawa Shogunate. The lighthouse was designed and constructed by British engineer Richard Henry Brunton, and is noteworthy in that it is the first concrete structure to have been built in Japan. Brunton went on to construct another 25 lighthouses from far northern Hokkaidō to southern Kyūshū during his career in Japan. [3]

This lighthouse was one of the first that Brunton designed and was also one of the most difficult to design. The island is situated in a turbulent part of the sea, and the sides of the island are very steep. Brunton wrote in an 1871 essay [4] that:

The lighthouse is of stone, 58 feet high to the sole-plate of the lantern. It is in the shape of a truncated cone and is surmounted by a capital having twenty-four Gothic arched recesses round it. The diameter at the base is 22 feet and at the top 16 feet. The thickness of the walls at the base is 6 feet and at the top 3 feet. It is fitted with a spiral staircase of keyaki. The light shows all-round the horizon, and a red ray of 55" is inserted, which covers all dangers between it and the shore. The work of cutting away the rock to prepare for the foundations of the tower was commenced in April 1869, and the lighthouse was first illuminated on 1 January 1871.

The lighthouse is white with two black horizontal lines. The stone structure sands on a rocky islet with an elevation of 39 meters. The tower is accompanied by structures for the lighthouse keeper, and two warehouses, and Tere are stone walls to serve as windbreaks and for protection against waves. The stone blocks were cut from the Ebisuzaki quarry in Shimoda and are connected by iron bars, with lead poured into the gaps to secure the reinforcing bars. [3] The lighthouse was first lit on January 1, 1871 in a ceremony attended by British consul-general Sir Harry Smith Parkes, and Japanese officials Prince Sanjō Sanetomi, Ōkubo Toshimichi and Ōkuma Shigenobu.

The Mikomotojima Lighthouse is currently the oldest lighthouse still in use in Japan, and is the only one of the eight designated by the 1858 treaty to survive. It is registered with the International Association of Lighthouse Authorities as one of the “One Hundred Most Important Lighthouses in the World” and by the Japanese government as a National Historic Monument. It can be reached in about 35 minutes by boat from Shimoda Port. [3]

Important Bird Area

The island has been recognised as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports a seabird colony of Japanese murrelets. [5]

See also

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References

Notes

  1. Rowlett, Russ. "Lighthouses of Japan: Eastern Shizuoka". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
  2. "神子元島灯台" (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs.
  3. 1 2 3 Isomura, Yukio; Sakai, Hideya (2012). (国指定史跡事典) National Historic Site Encyclopedia. 学生社. ISBN   978-4311750403.(in Japanese)
  4. Brunton, The Japan Lights
  5. "Mikomotojima island". BirdLife Data Zone. BirdLife International. 2021. Retrieved 29 January 2021.