Bombardment of Shimonoseki
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Shimonoseki.JPG
The Bombardment of Shimonoseki (馬関戦争 Bakan sensou) occurred at Shimonoseki during the late shogunate period (Bakumatsu, 1853-67) in 1864.
In reprisal for attacks by the Choshu clan on foreign ships passing through the Kanmon Straits (Kanmon Kaikyo) between the large islands of Honshu and Kyushu, naval forces from four countries, Britain (8 ships), Holland (4 ships), France (3 ships), and the U.S. (one ship) attacked forts in Choshu. The Choshu clan was following an 1863 Imperial Edict to expel the foreign 'barbarians', in what is known as the Sonno joi ("Revere the Emperor, Expel the Barbarians") movement.
The objective of the attack by the four allied powers was to ensure that the straits remained open to foreign ships, this being the quickest sea route from Nagasaki to Osaka and Edo (later called Tokyo). The allied powers also landed forces to complete the destruction of the forts. Choshu quickly made peace.
NavalBrigade&MarinesatShimonoseki.jpg
A full and interesting account is contained in Sir Ernest Satow's A Diplomat in Japan. Satow was present as a young interpreter for the British admiral, Sir Augustus Kuper on the British flagship HMS Euryalus. It was also the action at which Duncan Gordon Boyes won his Victoria Cross at the age of seventeen. Satow described Boyes as receiving the award "for conduct very plucky in one so young." Another VC winner at Shimonoseki was Thomas Pride, and the third was the first American to win the medal, William Seeley.
An indemnity was demanded by the foreign powers in negotiations after the hostilities ceased.
Several life-size replicas of the guns used by Choshu (probably the same as the ones in the image above) are now to be found at Shimonoseki in the spot where they were captured. They were put there by the Shimonoseki city government in 2004, in recognition of the importance of the bombardment in Japanese history. (The replicas are made of hollow steel and include coin-operated sound effects and smoke from the barrels.)
See also
External Links
- Shimonoseki city official home page (http://www.city.shimonoseki.yamaguchi.jp/seisaku/kokusai/english/index-e.htm) (English)