Battle ship at the end of the feudal era
This time, we'd like to describe battle ships at the end of the feudal era. The beginning of manufacturing of battle ships would start in the Sengoku (戦国) era (the Warring States period). Described previously, the manufacturing of battle ships was prohibited by the government at that time when the Edo (江戸) era began. And long time had passed until the restart of the production.
The restart was very end of the Edo era, and also, after the incident named 'the arrival of Perry.' This incident was one of the very important occurrences in the Japan's long history. The history of the restart would be the re-beginning of the Japan's naval force, but more importantly, the beginning of the breakdown of the Edo shogunate.
This story which happened 170 years ago isn't enough time-honored for some readers, however, at least, you would be surprised at many different eras the word 'battle ship' was associated.
Now, we'd overview the history of 'battle ships.' From the very beginning of the Japan's history, the relationship between Japan and China was inseparable.
The ships visited China in the very old time were supposed to be so-called large-ships. But we don't think these ships were the battle ships. Then, about 900 years ago (the end of the Heian (平安) era), several large scale battles were fought near the ocean (e.x. the Battle of Dannoura (壇ノ浦の戦い)). And many ships were used for the battles. These ships wouldn't be called 'battle ships,' because these were diverted merchant ships and multiple-purpose ships.
About 600 years ago (the Muromachi (室町) era), several large-ships were made for the international trade between Japan and China.
Because the trade became active and Japanese people at that time wanted large-ships withstanding ocean voyages. And they were made for commerce but for battles. These ships' capacity was around 100 people.
Moreover, another kind of smaller ships for ocean voyages were produced in Japan near the Korean Peninsula. These ships were used for the piracy. We'd like to call the ships were the first battle ships made in Japan.
Then the Sengoku era was came. And during this era, internal battles got more serious and enlarging of battle ships' size also became stimulated seriously. The first appeared battle ship was called 'Kobaya (小早).' They were made by pirates who were active in the Inland Sea (瀬戸内海). These groups made modifications to attack other ships. These ships had 10 to 20 meters length and the crews were 20 to 50.
According to enlarging of pirate group size, they came to develop the lager ships which were used to take commanders on. Then, the larger ships than 'Kobaya' were made and they were called 'Sekibune (関船).'
These ships had 20 to 30 meters length and the crews were 50 to 150.
And next, navy force people became to think that larger ships had advantages in the situation of navy battles. Then, they invented large ships which were called 'Atakebune (安宅船).' These ships had 30 to 50 meters length and the crews were 100 to 500. In particular, over 50 meters were especially called 'O-atakebune (大安宅船).'
In this era, Japanese battle ships were highly innovated. And numerous naval battles developed innovation, furthermore, famous episodes related with navy were created.
For instance, there was a tale in which Oda Nobunaga (織田信長) invented 'Atakebune' to battle against the Mouri (毛利) group. Because the Mouri group had many pirate subordinates and were assumed to have the dominance in the naval battle fields. So, Oda Nobunaga made 'Atakebune' (enormous sized battle ship) and the Oda (織田) group won the battle.
Then the trend of enlargement of battle ships was started. Let us tell you something, after the incident described above, no major naval battle happened in-country, especially between enlarged battle ships. So, we slightly doubt how epoch-making this Oda Nobunaga's invention was.
In this era, many European countries brought many ships withstanding ocean voyages for missionary work and international trade. For the sake of these activities, Japanese got arquebuses (matchlock guns) and cannons. These newly arrived weapons had impacts on civil wars in Japan. If we highlight the European countries' ships, they were merchant ships but battle ships. Even though merchant ships, they equipped many cannons and strong fighting capability better than all Japanese battle ships.
To our surprise, the parties involved (Japanese war-lords) didn't want to learn the secret of European ships. Why? Maybe, European side avoided to sell ships or instruct technologies, if somebody would have wanted to learn them.
At the end of this era, the civil war was over and Japan was reunited.
And, Japanese warriors invaded the Korean Peninsula. They overestimated the ability of 'O-atakebune (大安宅船)' which got good results in the naval battle-fields in Japan.
However, the opposite way happened which they expected. In the first place, they needed to doubt the durability of their giant-ships when they voyaged to the Korean Peninsula.
Because the situation was dramatically changed comparing the voyage of the Inland Sea.
Furthermore, the naval battles themselves between Korean navy was also unexpected results.
Japanese expected that larger battle ships would overwhelm smaller Korean battle ships.
The result was kind of tragedy. The opposite also happened. Before this invasion, Korean battle ships had already been fighting against Japanese pirates' battle ships long time. And Korean navy had developed firearms (cannons) to counteract 'Kobaya' (Japanese small scale battle ships). The ability of their firearms were also produced good results against Japan's giant battle ships.
While, Japanese battle ships had no experience with foreign navies. So, Japanese battle ships had added improvements against smaller firearms (matchlock guns) only. Japanese giant battle ships were active if the opposite navy also used matchlock guns.
And also, when Japanese bought cannons, the merchants were Europeans. So, they were rare and expensive. (On the other hand, Korean could buy cannons from China, so they had advantage according to equipment.) Japanese giant battle ships lost their dominance in the naval battle field around Korean coastal area.
The end of the civil wars and the establishment of the Edo shogunate resulted in the stop of battle ships' production. To be specific, the shogunate ordered prohibition on building large ships. It was the order to 'Daimyo (大名)' (feudal lords). The shogunate prohibited larger size ships above a certain scale. And they declared that if some 'Daimyo' violated the order, they would attack the 'Daimyo'.
The prohibition of larger size ships caused trouble for the domestic marine transportation. So, the prohibition didn't apply only for merchant ships and the productions of them were allowed. However, these newly made merchant ships were used only for the domestic use. So, extreme enlargement didn't happen during the Edo era. For instance, large size merchant ship named 'Sengokubune (千石船)' had less than 30 meters length and the crews were 10 to 15. If we compare 'Sengokubune' with the battle ships in the Sengoku era, it will be 'Sekibune.'
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Very important incident for the Japanese history happened in 1853. It was the arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry. (He was one of the most famous foreigner of Japan because of the impact of this incident.) Soon after the incident, the order of prohibition of larger size ships was canceled. (The order had notified in 1609.) At the result, Japanese battle ships' production restarted after 244 years.
Perry fleet's action was a business activity to expand their market for USA. On the other hand, for Japanese at that time, it was the changing the status quo by force. So, majority of them couldn't accept Perry's request.
Even though Japanese government had been choosing the closed-door policy, they had information connecting foreign ships. After 1853, because of the prohibition's cancellation they restarted the construction of a battle ship using technology of western countries.
This battle ship was 'Houo (鳳凰)' (1854). It had 36 meters length and equipped 10 cannons but not equipped a steam engine. And expected crew number isn't clear. According to the Internet, it was handed over. We suppose the meaning of 'handed over' is 'transferred to certain private sector. (For your information, 'USS Susquehanna' which was the flagship of the Perry fleet had 76 meters length equipped 9 cannons and the crews were about 300.)
The fact they could construct 'Houo' means they already had the knowledge and capability of constructing western ships. However, 'Houo' was a western style sailing ship but speaking of details, constructing technique of Japanese style ships was used widely. And more than anything, they didn't have the knowledge and capability of constructing steam engine ships.
The first steam engine ship of Japan was 'Kanko (観光)' which had presented from Netherland in 1855. And, it had 53 meters length and 6 cannons, and made in 1850. (Finally, it was demolished in 1876.)
We'd like to introduce the most famous Japanese steam engine ship, 'Kanrin (咸臨).' Japanese government at that time (= the Edo shogunate) bought it from Netherland in 1857. It traveled across the Pacific Ocean by only Japanese crews in 1859.
Purpose of the travel was to exchange an instrument of treaty ratification. And to show the ability of the Japanese navy, they tried the dangerous travel. The ship safely arrived in San Francisco. The Japanese navy could show off the ability of them to the world.
There were only 8 years from the great job of 'Kanrin' to the end of the feudal era. During this time, the shogunate and 'Daimyo,' regional feudal lords bought many western style battle ships and built up their military forces. The number of battle ships was over 110. Many of them were steam engine ships and around 30 were sailing ships.
In this period of time, there wasn't a battle between Japanese battle ships and foreign battle ships. But, between Japanese battle ships, happened several times.
For instance, the shogunate battle ships fought against Daimyo's battle ships in 1866. Furthermore, after the Edo shogunate abandoned the government, the remnants of the shogunate stole the battle ships. The remnants' battle ships fought against the new government's battle ships in 1868.
If we talk about what lay ahead at the end of the feudal era, next era was the Meiji (明治). During the Meiji era, the next government prioritized ruling of the ocean around the Japanese archipelago.
During the Japanese-Russo War, a world-famous naval battle happened (The battle of the Sea of Japan). However, it happened after the end of the samurai's era.
We suppose the battle ships' history at the end of the feudal era was the history changing the status quo by foreign force. It was start from zero. So, we think Japanese government at that time was quite good.
However, if someone say they did nothing noticeable, we cannot counter.
