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La storia navale del Giappone può essere fatta risalire alle prime interazioni con gli stati del continente asiatico nei primi secoli del I millennio, con picco di attività nel XVI secolo, un'epoca di scambi culturali con le potenze europee e un commercio estensivo con la terraferma asiatica. A questo seguirono due secoli di isolamento sotto il governo dello shogunato Tokugawa, che terminò nel 1854 in seguito all'intervento statunitense che forzò l'apertura al commercio del Giappone.

Shockati dalla superiorità della tecnologia occidentale il Giappone abbandonò la sua politica di isolamento e iniziò un periodo di rapida modernizzazione e industrializzazione, accompagnato dalla Restaurazione Meiji , che portò la Marina imperiale giapponese a esssere la terza più grande marina militare del mondo nel 1920.

La storia di successi della Marina imperiale giapponese, a volte contro nemici sulla carta più potenti, come nella prima guerra sino giapponese (1894-1895) e nella guerra russo-giapponese (1904-1905) terminò con la sua qusi completa annichilazione nel 1945 contro la United States Navy, e il suo scioglimento ufficiale alla fine del conflitto. La marina militare giapponese attualmente è la Forza di autodifesa marittima al comando delle Forza di autodifesa giapponesi. È ancora una delle principali marine mondiali in termini di budget, ma le sono negati ruoli offensivi dalla Costituzione nazionale e dall'opinione pubblica.

Preistoria

Pare che il Giappone sia stato connesso al continente asiatico durante l'ultima era glaciale, circa 20.000 a.C., sia a causa della glaciazione della superficie del mare, che del concomitante abbassamento del livello del mare di circa 80 - 100 m. Questo ha permesso la migrazione di fauna e flora, e l'instaurazione della cultura Jōmon. Comunque al termine di questo periodo il Giappone venne isolata dal continente asiatico, dipendendo interamente da sporadiche attività navali per le sue interazioni con la terraferma. La rotta marina più breve verso il continente, escludendo quella settentrionale dall'inospitabile Hokkaidō a Sakhalin) è quella attraverso i due stretti di mare larghi circa 50 km, tra la penisola coreana e l'isola di Tsushima e da questa all'isola di Kyūshū.

Vari tratti culturali e genetici sembrano indicare anche influenze dalla direzione dell'Oceano Pacifico, possibilmente in relazione all'espansione delle popolazioni austonesiane.

Primi periodi storici

Visite ambasciatoriali al Giappone dalle ultime dinastie settentrionali cinesi Wei e Jìn (Encounters of the Eastern Barbarians, Wei Chronicles) recorded that some Japanese people claimed to be descendants of Taibo of Wu, refugees after the fall of the Wu state in the 5th century BCE. History books do have records of Wu Taibo sending 4000 males and 4000 females to Japan.

Il Giappone ha alle spalle una lunga storia di rapporti navali col continente asiatico, che iniziano dai primi trasporti di truppe tra Corea e Giappone, all'inizio del Periodo Kofun, nel III secolo.

Yayoi Period

The first major naval contacts occurred in the Yayoi period in the 3rd century BCE, when rice-farming and metallurgy were introduced, from the continent.

The 14 AD incursion of Silla (新羅, Shiragi in Japanese), one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, is the earliest Japanese military action recorded in Samguk Sagi. According to that record, Wa (the proto-Japanese nation) sent one hundred ships and led an incursion on the coastal area of Silla before being driven off.

Yamato Period

During the Yamato period, Japan had intense naval interaction with the Asian continent, largely centered around diplomacy and trade with China, the Korean kingdoms, and other mainland states, since at latest the beginning of the Kofun period in the 3rd century. According to the Nihon Shoki, Empress Jingū is claimed to have invaded Korea in the 3rd century, and to have returned victorious after three years. But no further archeleogical evidences can be find to be true.

The battle of Hakusukinoe (白村江), one of the earliest historical events in Japan's naval history, outside the realm of legend or myth, took place in 663. Japan sent 32,000 troops and possibly as much as 1,000 ships to Korea to support the declining Baekje kingdom (百済国) against Silla and T'ang Dynasty China. They were defeated by the T'ang-Silla combined force.

Origini

La marina come mezzo di trasporto e rifornimento

Un episodio saliente dei rapporti tra Giappone e Corea fu la battaglia di Baekgang del 663, nel periodo Yamato, durante la quale il regno coreano Silla alleato della dinastia cinese Tang sconfisse pesantemente l'altro regno Baekje e i suoi alleati giapponesi, ponendo fine all'influenza nipponica sulla Corea fino al XVI secolo. La marina fu vista dalla casta militare nipponica come un mezzo di trasporto o di combattimento individuale alla ricerca di gloria piuttosto che come uno strumento di potere e controllo del mare; nessuna strategia o tattica di combattimento venne sviluppata, al contrario che per la guerra terrestre, vista come l'unico mezzo per affrontare una guerra offensiva o difensiva; dopo la sconfitta di Baekgang, costata alla marina nipponica 400 navi sulle 1000 impegnate, prevalentemente a causa del fuoco appiccato dagli arcieri coreani e delle tattiche di combattimento di gruppo, con manovre a tenaglia e l'uso di formazioni serrate contro le spesso isolate navi nipponiche; per l'occasione la flotta coreana contava circa 170 navi, anche se più robuste e meglio armate.

Successivamente ai tentativi di Kubilai Khan di invadere il Giappone del 1281, lungo le coste dell'impero cinese divennero molto attivi i pirati giapponesi Wakō. Durante i tentativi di invasione mongola comunque l'opzione di attaccare in mare gli invasori non venne presa in considerazione, lasciando alle forze di terra coadiuvate da opere fortificate il compito di respingere la minaccia. Gli attacchi in mare furono piuttosto iniziative individuali e le stesse unità navali operavano sotto il comando indipendente delle provincie e non sotto un comando unificato.

Samurai giapponesi mentre abbordano delle navi mongole nel 1281.

Il Giappone intraprese un grande sforzo costruttivo navale nel XVI secolo, durante l'Epoca Sengoku, quando i signori feudali in lotta per la supremazia organizzarono vaste marine militari costiere composte da centinaia di navi. Pare che in questo periodo, nel 1576, furono sviluppate le prime navi da guerra "corazzate" della storia, quando Oda Nobunaga, un daimyo giapponese, fece costruire, sei Atakebune corazzate in ferro. «Le navi corazzate, comunque non erano una novità per il Giappone e per Hideyoshi; la flotta di Oda Nobunaga, possedeva infatti molte navi corazzate» (riferendosi alla prima comparsa delle corazzate giapponesi (1578) rispetto alle navi tartaruga (o Geobukson) coreane (1592). Nelle fonti occidentali le navi corazzate giapponesi sono descritte in C.R. Boxer The Christian Century in Japan 1549–1650, pag. 122, che cita il resoconto del viaggio in Giappone dal padre gesuita italiano Gnecchi Soldi Organtino nel 1578.

Le prime navi corazzate di Nobunaga sono descritte anche in A History of Japan, 1334–1615 di Georges Samson, pag. 309 ISBN 0-8047-0525-9. Le "navi tartaruga" coreane furono inventate dall'ammiraglioYi Sun-sin (1545–1598), e furono documentate per la prima volta nel 1592. Incidentalmente le placche in ferro delle navi coreane ricoprivano solo il tetto (per impedire intrusioni) e non anche i fianchi delle navi. Durante tutta questa fase, i compiti della marina furono comunque il trasporto, il pattugliamento costiero e la raccolta di informazioni, quest'ultimo compito poco enfatizzato ma ben presente e perfettamente assolvibile con il naviglio leggero a disposizione; il compito di combattere in modo organizzato altre forze navali o di proteggere le rotte di comunicazione non fu mai in questa fase una priorità o oggetto di interesse.

Le prime navi corazzate occidentali risalgono al 1859 con la francese La Gloire (Steam, Steel and Shellfire: The Steam Warship, 1815-1905). Queste navi chiamate Tekkōsen ((鉄甲船^? letteralmente «navi corazzate in ferro») erano chiatte armate con cannoni e fucili di grande calibro per sconfiggere i più grandi, ma non corazzati, vascelli usati dal nemico. Con esse, nel 1578, Nobunaga, sconfisse la marina del Clan Mori alla bocca del fiume Kizu ad Osaka, durante un'operazione di blocco navale. Queste navi erano considerate come fortezze galleggianti, piuttosto che come delle vere navi da guerra e furono usate solo in azioni costiere.

Durante l'invasione giapponese della Corea articolata in diverse successive campagne (1592-1598), Toyotomi Hideyoshi organizzò una flotta di circa 700 navi e 9.200 marinai per il trasporto e il supporto di una forza terrestre di circa 160.000 uomini. Anche in questo caso però la marina venne vista solo come un supporto alla guerra terrestre e non come uno strumento di controllo del mare, tuttavia lo sbarco iniziale riuscì per la mancanza di opposizione a terra; questo però servì solo a utilizzare le navi ancora di più come un supporto alle operazioni terrestri, fino a che le navi da trasporto furono attaccate dalla potente marina della dinastia Joseon; i combattimenti navali venivano gestiti con tattiche mutuate dalle operazioni terrestri, con fuoco concentrato delle armi negli scontri individuali ma senza cooperazione tra le navi. L'ammiraglio coreano Yi Sun-sin sconfisse più volte la marina giapponese, utilizzando le navi tartaruga, fino alla sua morte avvenuta nella vittoriosa battaglia di Noryang. L'unica parentesi di successo fu nella seconda campagna che vide la marina nipponica distruggere circa 160 navi coreane negli scontri di Geojedo e Chilcheollyang, in un momento nel quale Yi era caduto in disgrazia. Dopo aver riorganizzato la marina, il Giappone vinse una battaglia contro l'ammiraglio Won Kyun della marina della dinastia Joseon e diversi scontri minori contro gli ammiragli Yi Eok Ki e Choi Ho della marina della dinastia Ming cinese. La rotta marina tra il Giappone e la costa meridionale della Corea venne protetta dall'attività della marina per tutta la campagna, permettendo la circolazione di uomini e rifornimenti.

Una Nave shuinsen del 1634, che combina tecnologie navali orientali ed occidentali.

Il Giappone costruì le sue prime grandi navi oceaniche all'inizio del XVII secolo in seguito alle relazioni con l'Occidente. Nel 1613 il daimyo di Sendai, d'accordo con il Bakufu Tokugawa costruì la Date Maru, una nave simile ad un galeone da 500 tonn, che trasportò prima l'ambasciata giapponese di Hasekura Tsunenaga alle Americhe e successivamente in Europa. A partire dal 1604 il Bakufu commissionò circa 350 navi shuinsen, solitamente armate e dotate anche di tecnologie occidentali, principalmente per il commercio con il sud est asiatico. La marina dello shogunato aveva già inflitto una sconfitta alle forze di Toyotomi nella battaglia di Osaka del 1614. Sebbene lo Shogunato nel periodo Edo avesse imposto ai daimyō di non costruire navi oltre una certa dimensione, riservando questa prerogativa alla sola marina imperiale, questa non ebbe mai dimensioni imponenti, ed anche la Atakemaru, orgoglio della flotta e costruita nel 1630, venne superata ed infine rottamata nel 1682; da allora quindi rimasero a disposizione solo le navi di minore tonnellaggio, sekibune (unità di dimensione pari a 500 koku, con un koku pari a circa 180 litri) e kobaya (piccole imbarcazioni).

L'isolazionismo

A partire dal 1640 il governo giapponese decise di seguire la politica di isolazionismo (Sakoku) vietando ogni contatto con gli occidentali, sradicando il Cristianesimo e punendo con la morte la costruzione di navi oceaniche. Nel 1639 lo Shogunato proibì le visite alle navi portoghesi, ed i daimyō della costa vennero incaricati della sorveglianza costiera, particolarmente nell'isola di Kyushu, e due diversi tipi di stazioni costiere, urabansho e tōmibansho, vennero ideati e realizzati rispettivamente nel luglio 1639 e giugno 1640; nel maggio 1640 una missione portoghese inviata per chiedere la riapertura dei contatti e dei commerci venne trattata con estrema durezza: circa 60 rappresentanti vennero messi a morte e solo i non cristiani vennero risparmiati; temendo una conseguente rappresaglia portoghese le difese di Nagasaki, porto deputato agli scambi, vennero rafforzate e la loro efficacia venne provata nel 1647 quando due galeoni portoghesi vennero respinti durante una visita al porto; sebbene fosse poi stato notificato che la loro visita era tesa solo al ristabilimento delle relazioni commerciali, circa 1000 navi giapponesi saturarono la baia di Nagasaki circondando i galeoni ed obbligandoli a ritirarsi, dimostrando una effettiva capacità di controllo del mare attraverso una marina di tipo costiero. Questa capacità però decadde rapidamente e nel 1808 (durante le guerre napoleoniche) una nave inglese, la HMS Phaeton, entrò sotto falsa bandiera olandese nella baia di Nagasaki, catturando tutti gli olandesi che si erano avvicinati per festeggiare i compatrioti e poi imponendo un rifornimento coattivo alla nave senza che le difese locali potessero impedirlo.

Lo studio delle tecniche occidentali di ingegneria navale riprese negli anni quaranta del XIX secolo e si intensificò insieme all'aumento di spedizioni occidentali lungo la costa del Giappone, dovuto al commercio con la Cina ed allo sviluppo della caccia alle balene. Nel 1852 il Bakufu, temendo ulteriori incursioni straniere ed avendo avuto notizia della prossima visita di una forza navale statunitense, iniziò a costruire la prima nave da guerra giapponese in stile occidentale dall'epoca dell'isolazionismo, la Shōhei Maru.

Nel 1853 e nel 1854 con una prova di forza delle nuove navi da guerra a vapore statunitensi il commodoro Matthew Perry ottenne l'apertura del paese al commercio internazionale con la convenzione di Kanagawa. Nella prima visita, Perry si presentò con quattro fregate delle quali due a vapore, che impressionarono molto per il loro colore nero e per l'impossibilità di controbatterle, ancorandosi nella baia di Edo (l'attuale baia di Tokyo) ed imponendo ai rappresentanti nipponici che tentarono di dirottarlo verso Nagasaki di accettare una lettera di richieste da parte dell'allora presidente Millard Fillmore con la promessa che sarebbe tornato l'anno seguente per la risposta. In effetti esistevano anche molte spinte interne verso la fine dell'isolazionismo, e comunque non era obiettivo dello Shogunato l'interdizione dei commerci ma solo la limitazione delle influenze esterne sulla società giapponese. Pertanto il 31 marzo 1854 venne firmata la convenzione di Kanegawa cui a breve seguì il trattato di amicizia e commercio del 1858 che permise l'insediamento di concessioni straniere, concesse l'extra-territorialità agli stranieri e impose tasse di importazioni minime sui beni importati dall'estero.

Il tentativo di costruire una forza navale d'altura

La Kanrin Maru, la prima nave giapponese da guerra a vapore con propulsione a elica 1855

Non appena il Giappone fu costretto aprirsi alle influenze estere il governo Tokugawa iniziò una politica attiva di assimilazione delle tecniche navali occidentali. A quel punto venne iniziata una politica di creazione di infrastrutture che permettessero la costruzione di una forza navale, come dei centri di addestramento degli equipaggi a Nagasaki nel 1855 (chiuso nel 1859), Tsukiji (Edo) nel 1857, e Kobe nel 1863 (chiuso nel 1865). Nel 1855, con l'assistenza olandese, la Marina Giapponese acquisì la sua prima nave da guerra a vapore, la Kankō Maru, che venne usata come nave scuola presso il nuovo centro di addestramento navale di Nagasaki. Nel 1857 acquisì la sua prima nave da guerra a vapore con propulsione ad elica, la Kanrin Maru. Nel 1865 l'ingegnere navale francese Léonce Verny venne assunto per costruire i primi cantiere navali moderni giapponesi a Yokosuka e Nagasaki (nel 1861), ed acciaerie a Yokosuka e Yokohama nel 1865. L'addestramento degli equipaggi rimaneva comunque affidato ad istruttori stranieri ed anche la produzione di navi di grosso tonnellaggio veniva affidata a cantieri occidentali. Negli anni 1867-68, una missione navale britannica, guidata dal capitano Richard E. Tracey, collaborò alla formazione della marina Imperiale e all'avviamento della Scuola Navale di Tsukiji. Per diversi anni vennero inviati studenti presso scuole navali occidentali, iniziando una tradizione di dirigenti con un'educazione straniera, come gli ammiragli Tōgō e più tardi Yamamoto.

Prima della fine dello shogunato Tokugawa, nel 1867, la marina Tokugawa possedeva già otto navi da guerra a vapore in stile occidentale al comando dell'ammiraglia Kaiyō Maru, che furono usate contro forze pro-imperatore durante la guerra Boshin, al comando dell'ammiraglio Enomoto. Il conflitto culminò con la battaglia navale di Hakodate nel 1869, la prima battaglia navale moderna su larga scala giapponese e terminò con la sconfitta delle ultime forze fedeli ai Tokugawa e la restaurazione del governo imperiale.

Nel 1867 lo Shogunato acquistò la prima nave corazzata capace di affrontare l'oceano, la Kōtetsu, costruita come CSS Stonewall ma mai entrata in azione a causa della fine della guerra di secessione americana e acquisita dalla US Navy. La nave arrivò in porto giapponese sotto bandiera nipponica nell'aprile 1868 ma essendo in corso la guerra Boshin tra lo shogunato e le forze imperiali, all'equipaggio statunitense venne dato ordine dal residente Van Valkenburgh di issare di nuovo la bandiera USA fino al termine delle ostilità. Nel 1869 venne ceduta alle forze che sostenevano la restaurazione dell'imperatore Meiji e giocò un ruolo importante nella battaglia di Hakodate.

Medieval period

Naval battles of a very large scale, fought between Japanese clans and involving more than 1000 warships, are recorded from the 12th century. The decisive battle of the Genpei War, and one of the most famous and important naval battles in pre-modern Japanese history, was the 1185 battle of Dan-no-ura, which was fought between the fleets of the Minamoto and Taira clans. These battles consisted first of long-range archery exchanges, then giving way to hand-to-hand combat with swords and daggers. Ships were used largely as floating platforms for what were largely land-based melee tactics.

Mongol invasions (1274–1281)

Japanese samurai boarding Mongol ships in 1281. Mōko Shūrai Ekotoba (蒙古襲来絵詞), circa 1293.

The first major references to Japanese naval actions against other Asian powers occur in the accounts of the Mongol invasions of Japan by Kublai Khan in 1281. Japan had no navy which could seriously challenge the Mongol navy, so most of the action took place on Japanese land. Groups of samurai, transported on small coastal boats, are recorded to have boarded, taken over and burned several ships of the Mongol navy.

Wakō piracy (13th–16th century)

During the following centuries, wakō pirates became very active plundering the coast of the Chinese Empire. Though the term wakō translates directly to "Japanese pirates," Japanese were far from the only sailors to harass shipping and ports in China and other parts of Asia in this period, and the term thus more accurately includes these non-Japanese as well. The first raid by wakō on record occurred in the summer of 1223, on the south coast of Goryeo. At the peak of wakō activity around the end of the 14th century, fleets of 300 to 500 ships, transporting several hundred horsemen and several thousand soldiers, would raid the coast of China. For the next half-century, sailing principally from Iki Island and Tsushima, they engulfed coastal regions of the southern half of Goryeo. Between 1376 and 1385, no fewer than 174 instances of pirate raids were recorded in Korea. However when Josean was founded in Korea, wakō took a massive hit in one of their main homeland of Tsushima during the Oei Invasion. Wakō activity ended for the most part in the 1580s with its interdiction by Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

Official trading missions, such as the Tenryūji-bune, were also sent to China around 1341.

Sengoku period (15th–16th century)

A 16th century Japanese atakebune coastal warship.

Various daimyō clans undertook major naval building efforts in the 16th century, during the Sengoku period, when feudal rulers vying for supremacy built vast coastal navies of several hundred ships. The largest of these ships were called atakebune. Around that time, Japan seems to have developed one of the first ironclad warships in history, when Oda Nobunaga, a Japanese daimyo, had six iron-covered Ō-atakebune ("Great Atakebune") made in 1576 . These ships were called tekkōsen (鉄甲船^?), literally "iron armored ships" and were armed with multiple cannons and large caliber rifles to defeat the large, but all wooden, vessels of the enemy. With these ships, Nobunaga defeated the Mōri clan navy at the mouth of the Kizu River, near Osaka in 1578, and began a successful naval blockade. The Ō-atakebune are regarded as floating fortresses rather than true warships, however, and were only used in coastal actions.

European contacts

Nanban ships arriving for trade in Japan. 16th century painting.

The first Europeans reached Japan in 1543 on Chinese junks, and Portuguese ships started to arrive in Japan soon after. At that time, there was already trade exchanges between Portugal and Goa (since around 1515), consisting in 3 to 4 carracks leaving Lisbon with silver to purchase cotton and spices in India. Out of these, only one carrack went on to China in order to purchase silk, also in exchange for Portuguese silver. Accordingly, the cargo of the first Portuguese ships (usually about 4 smaller-sized ships every year) arriving in Japan almost entirely consisted of Chinese goods (silk, porcelain). The Japanese were very much looking forward to acquiring such goods, but had been prohited from any contacts with by the Emperor of China, as a punishment for wakō pirate raids. The Portuguese (who were called Nanban, lit. Southern Barbarians) therefore found the opportunity to act as intermediaries in Asian trade.

A Portuguese carrack in Nagasaki, 17th century.

From the time of the acquisition of Macau in 1557, and their formal recognition as trade partners by the Chinese, the Portuguese started to regulate trade to Japan, by selling to the highest bidder the annual "captaincy" (ito wappu) to Japan, in effect conferring exclusive trading rights for a single carrack bound for Japan every year. The carracks were very large ships, usually between 1000 and 1500 tons, about double or triple the size of a large galleon or junk.

That trade continued with few interruptions until 1638, when it was prohibited on the grounds that the priests and missionaries associated with the Portuguese traders were perceived as posing a threat to the shogunate's power and the nation's stability.

Portuguese trade was progressively more and more challenged by Chinese smugglers, Japanese Red Seal Ships from around 1592 (about ten ships every year), Spanish ships from Manila from around 1600 (about one ship a year), the Dutch from 1609, and the English from 1613 (about one ship per year). Some Japanese are known to have travelled abroad on foreign ships as well, such as Christopher and Cosmas who crossed the Pacific on a Spanish galleon as early as 1587, and then sailed to Europe with Thomas Cavendish.

The Dutch, who, rather than Nanban were called Kōmō (紅毛^?), lit. "Red Hair" by the Japanese, first arrived in Japan in 1600, onbard the Liefde. Their pilot was William Adams, the first Englishman to reach Japan. In 1605, two of the Liefde's crew were sent to Pattani by Tokugawa Ieyasu, to invite Dutch trade to Japan. The head of the Pattani Dutch trading post, Victor Sprinckel, refused on the grounds that he was too busy dealing with Portuguese opposition in Southeast Asia. In 1609, however, the Dutchman Jacques Specx arrived with two ships in Hirado, and through Adams obtained trading privileges from Ieyasu.

The Dutch also engaged in piracy and naval combat to weaken Portuguese and Spanish shipping in the Pacific, and ultimately became the only Westerners to be allowed access to Japan. For two centuries beginning in 1638, they were restricted to the island of Dejima in Nagasaki harbor.

Invasions of Korea and the Ryūkyūs

In 1592 and again in 1598, Toyotomi Hideyoshi organized invasions of Korea using some 9,200 ships. From the beginning of the War in 1592, the supreme commander of Hideyoshi's fleet was Kuki Yoshitaka, whose flagship was the 33 meter-long Nihonmaru. Subordinate commanders included Wakisaka Yasuharu and Katō Yoshiaki. After their experience in the Ōei Invasion and other operations against Japanese pirates, the Chinese and Korean navies were more skilled than the Japanese. They also had large, possibly ironclad ships, with large guns which formed effective anti-ship batteries. The Japanese had no such ships, nor did they develop any during the war. Instead, they relied throughout upon large numbers of smaller ships whose crews would attempt to board the enemy. Boarding was the main tactic of almost all navies until the modern era, and Japanese samurai excelled in close combat. The Japanese commonly used many light, swift, boarding ships called Kobaya in an array that resembled a rapid school of fish following the leading boat. This tactic's advantage was that once they succeeded in boarding one ship, they could hop aboard other enemy ships in the vicinity, in a wildfire fashion.

Japanese ships at the time were built with wooden planks and steel nails, which rusted in seawater after some time in service. The ships were built in a curved pentagonal shape with light wood for maximum speeds for their boarding tactics, but it undermined their capability to quickly change direction. Also, they were somewhat susceptible to capsizing in choppy seas and seastorms. The hulls of Japanese ships were not strong enough to support the weight and recoil of cannons. Rarely did Japanese ships have cannons, and those that did usually hung them from overhead beams with ropes and cloth. Instead, the Japanese relied heavily on their muskets and blades.

The Korea Navy attacked a Japanese transportation fleet effectively and caused big damage. Won Kyun and Yi Sun-sin at the Battle of Okpo has destroyed the Japanese convoy, and their failure enabled Korean resistance in Jeolla province, in the south-east of Korea, to continue.

The Japanese renewed the war, sending fresh naval and land forces. Shimazu Yoshihiro won the Battle of Chilcheollyang. Korean Admiral Yi Eokgi and Won Gyun of Korea were killed in this combat, and Korean naval forces were nearly annihilated. Hansan Island was occupied by Japan, consolidating the Japanese hold on the west coast of Korea. To prevent Japan from invading China by way of the Korean peninsula west coast, China sent naval forces.

In August 1597, the Japanese Navy was ordered to occupy the Jeolla. After the Joseon Navy gave a damage Japan Navy in the Battle of Myeongnyang, withdrew North of the Korean peninsula. Jeolla was finally occupied by the Japanese Navy, and the Gang Hang became the captive. Remnants of the Korean navy led by Admiral Yi Sun-sin joined the Ming Chinese fleet under Chen Lin's forces and continued to attack Japanese supply lines. Towards the end of the war, as the remaining Japanese tried to withdraw from Korea, they were beset by Korean and Chinese forces. To rescue his comrades, Shimazu Yoshihiro attacked the allied fleet. At the Battle of Noryang, Shimazu defeated Chinese general Chen Lin. And the Japanese army succeeded in escape from the Korean Peninsula Yi Sun-sin was killed in this action.

Japan's failure to gain control of the sea, and their resulting difficulty in resupplying troops on land, was one of the major reasons for the invasion's ultimate failure. After the death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the main proponent of the invasion, the Japanese ceased attacks on Korea.

Invasion of the Ryūkyūs

In 1609, Shimazu Tadatsune, Lord of Satsuma, invaded the southern islands of Ryūkyū (modern Okinawa) with a fleet of 13 junks and 2,500 samurai, thereby establishing suzerainty over the islands. They faced little opposition from the Ryukyuans, who lacked any significant military capabilities, and who were ordered by King Shō Nei to surrender peacefully rather than suffer the loss of precious lives.

Oceanic trade (16th–17th century)

The first Japanese-built galleon, the 1613 Date Maru.

Japan built her first large ocean-going warships at the beginning of the 17th century, following contacts with the Western nations during the Nanban trade period.

William Adams

In 1604, Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu ordered William Adams and his companions to build Japan's first Western-style sailing ship at Ito, on the east coast of the Izu Peninsula. An 80-ton vessel was completed and the Shogun ordered a larger ship, 120 tons, to be built the following year (both were slightly smaller than the Liefde, the ship in which William Adams came to Japan, which was 150 tons). According to Adams, Ieyasu "came aboard to see it, and the sight whereof gave him great content". The ship, named San Buena Ventura, was lent to shipwrecked Spanish sailors for their return to Mexico in 1610.

Hasekura Tsunenaga

In 1613, the daimyō of Sendai, in agreement with the Tokugawa shogunate, built Date Maru, a 500 ton galleon-type ship that transported a Japanese embassy to the Americas, and then continued to Europe.

Red Seal ships

A 1634 Japanese Red seal ship, combining eastern and western naval technologies.

From 1604, about 350 Red seal ships, usually armed and incorporating some Western technologies, were authorized by the shogunate, mainly for Southeast Asian trade. Japanese ships and samurai helped in the defense of Malacca on the side of the Portuguese against the Dutch Admiral Cornelis Matelief in 1606. Several armed ships of the Japanese adventurer Yamada Nagamasa would play a military role in the wars and court politics of Siam. William Adams, who participated in the Red Seal ship trade, would comment that "the people of this land (Japan) are very stout seamen".

Planned invasion of the Philippines

The Tokugawa shogunate had, for some time, planned to invade the Philippines in order to eradicate Spanish expansionism in Asia, and its support of Christians within Japan. In November 1637 it notified Nicolas Couckebacker, the head of the Dutch East India Company in Japan, of its intentions. About 10,000 samurai were prepared for the expedition, and the Dutch agreed to provide four warships and two yachts to support the Japanese ships against Spanish galleons. The plans were cancelled at the last minute with the advent of the Christian Shimabara Rebellion in Japan in December 1637.

Seclusion (1640–1840)

A Japanese junk at the end of the Tokugawa period.

The Dutch's cooperation on these, and other matters, would help ensure they were the only Westerners allowed in Japan for the next two centuries. Following these events, the shogunate imposed a system of maritime restrictions (海禁, kaikin), which forbade contacts with foreigners outside of designated channels and areas, banned Christianity, and prohibited the construction of ocean-going ships on pain of death. The size of ships was restricted by law, and design specifications limiting seaworthiness (such as the provision for a gaping hole in the aft of the hull) were implemented. Sailors who happened to be stranded in foreign countries were prohibited from returning to Japan on pain of death.

A tiny Dutch delegation in Dejima, Nagasaki was the only allowed contact with the West, from which the Japanese were kept partly informed of western scientific and technological advances, establishing a body of knowledge known as Rangaku. Extensive contacts with Korea and China were maintained through the Tsushima Domain, the Ryūkyū Kingdom under Satsuma's dominion, and the trading posts at Nagasaki. The Matsumae Domain on Hokkaidō managed contacts with the native Ainu peoples, and with Imperial Russia.

Many isolated attempts to end Japan's seclusion were made by expanding Western powers during the 19th century. American, Russian and French ships all attempted to engage in relationship with Japan, but were rejected.

Japanese 1854 print relating Perry's visit.

These largely unsuccessful attempts continued until, on July 8, 1853, Commodore Matthew Perry of the U.S. Navy with four warships: Mississippi, Plymouth, Saratoga, and Susquehanna steamed into the Bay of Edo (Tokyo) and displayed the threatening power of his ships' Paixhans guns. He demanded that Japan open to trade with the West. These ships became known as the kurofune, or Black Ships.

Barely one month after Perry, the Russian Admiral Yevfimy Putyatin arrived in Nagasaki on August 12, 1853. He made a demonstration of a steam engine on his ship the Pallada, which led to Japan's first manufacture of a steam engine, created by Tanaka Hisashige.

The following year, Perry returned with seven ships and forced the shogun to sign the "Treaty of Peace and Amity", establishing formal diplomatic relations between Japan and the United States, known as the Convention of Kanagawa (March 31, 1854). Within five years Japan had signed similar treaties with other western countries. The Harris Treaty was signed with the United States on July 29, 1858. These treaties were widely regarded by Japanese intellectuals as unequal, having been forced on Japan through gunboat diplomacy, and as a sign of the West's desire to incorporate Japan into the imperialism that had been taking hold of the continent. Among other measures, they gave the Western nations unequivocal control of tariffs on imports and the right of extraterritoriality to all their visiting nationals. They would remain a sticking point in Japan's relations with the West up to the turn of the century.

Modernization: Bakumatsu period (1853-1868)

The 1854 Shōhei Maru.

The study of Western shipbuilding techniques resumed in the 1840s. This process intensified along with the increased activity of Western shipping along the coasts of Japan, due to the China trade and the development of whaling.

From 1852, the government of the Shogun (the Late Tokugawa shogunate or "Bakumatsu") was warned by Holland of the plans of Commodore Perry. Three months after Perry's first visit in 1853, the Bakufu cancelled the law prohibiting the construction of large ships (大船建造禁止令), and started organizing the construction of a fleet of Western-style sail warships, such as the Hou-Ou Maru, the Shouhei Maru or the Asahi Maru, usually asking each fief to build their own modern ships. These ships were built using Dutch sailing manuals, and the know-how of a few returnees from the West, such as Nakahama Manjirō. Also with the help of Nakahama Manjirō, the Satsuma fief built Japan's first steam ship, the Unkoumaru (雲行丸) in 1855. The Bakufu also established defensive coastal fortifications, such as at Odaiba.

Birth of a modern Navy

Kanrin Maru, Japan's first screw-driven steam warship, 1857.

As soon as Japan agreed to open up to foreign influence, the Tokugawa shogun government initiated an active policy of assimilation of Western naval technologies. In 1855, with Dutch assistance, the Shogunate acquired its first steam warship, the Kankō Maru, which was used for training, and established the Nagasaki Naval Training Center. In 1857, it acquired its first screw-driven steam warship, the Kanrin Maru.

In 1860, the Kanrin Maru was sailed to the United States by a group of Japanese, with the assistance of a single US Navy officer John M. Brooke, to deliver the first Japanese embassy to the United States.

Naval students were sent abroad to study Western naval techniques. The Bakufu had initially planned on ordering ships and sending students to the United States, but the American Civil War led to a cancellation of plans. Instead, in 1862 the Bakufu placed its warship orders with the Netherlands and decided to send 15 trainees there. The students, led by Uchida Tsunejirō (内田恒次郎), left Nagasaki on September 11, 1862, and arrived in Rotterdam on April 18, 1863, for a stay of 3 years. They included such figures as the future Admiral Enomoto Takeaki, Sawa Tarosaemon (沢太郎左衛門), Akamatsu Noriyoshi (赤松則良), Taguchi Shunpei (田口俊平), Tsuda Shinichiro (津田真一郎) and the philosopher Nishi Amane. This started a tradition of foreign-educated future leaders such Admirals Togo and, later, Yamamoto.

Japan's first domestically-built steam warship, the 1863 Chiyodagata.

In 1863, Japan completed her first domestically-built steam warship, the Chiyodagata, a 140 ton gunboat commissioned into the Tokugawa Navy (Japan's first steamship was the Unkoumaru -雲行丸- built by the fief of Satsuma in 1855). The ship was manufactured by the future industrial giant, Ishikawajima, thus initiating Japan's efforts to acquire and fully develop shipbuilding capabilities.

Following the humiliations at the hands of foreign navies in the Bombardment of Kagoshima in 1863, and the Battle of Shimonoseki in 1864, the Shogunate stepped up efforts to modernize, relying more and more on French and British assistance. In 1865, the French naval engineer Léonce Verny was hired to build Japan's first modern naval arsenals, at Yokosuka and Nagasaki. More ships were imported, such as the Jho Sho Maru, the Ho Sho Maru and the Kagoshima, all built by Thomas Blake Glover in Aberdeen.

The Naval Battle of Hakodate (1869) between Tokugawa and pro-Imperial forces.

By the end of the Tokugawa shogunate in 1867, the Japanese navy already possessed eight Western-style steam warships around the flagship Kaiyou Maru which were used against pro-imperial forces during the Boshin war, under the command of Admiral Enomoto. The conflict culminated with the Naval Battle of Hakodate in 1869, Japan's first large-scale modern naval battle.

In 1869, Japan acquired its first ocean-going ironclad warship, the Kōtetsu, ordered by the Bakufu but received by the new Imperial government, barely ten years after such ships were first introduced in the West with the launch of the French La Gloire.

Meiji restoration (1868): creation of the Imperial Japanese Navy

Kotetsu (ex CSS Stonewall), Japan's first modern ironclad, 1869.

The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) (in giapponese 大日本帝国海軍^?) was the navy of Japan between 1867 and until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional renouncement of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes.

From 1868, the restored Meiji Emperor continued with reforms to industrialize and militarize Japan in order to prevent it from being overwhelmed by the United States and European powers. The Imperial Japanese Navy was formally established in 1869. The new government drafted a very ambitious plan to create a Navy with 200 ships, organized into 10 fleets, but the plan was abandoned within a year due to lack of resources. Internally, domestic rebellions, and especially the Satsuma Rebellion (1877) forced the government to focus on land warfare. Naval policy, expressed by the slogan Shusei Kokubou (Jp:守勢国防, lit. "Static Defense"), focused on coastal defenses, a standing army, and a coastal Navy, leading to a military organization under the Rikushu Kaiju (Jp:陸主海従, Army first, Navy second) principle.

During the 1870s and 1880s, the Japanese Navy remained an essentially coastal defense force, although the Meiji government continued to modernize it. In 1870 an Imperial decree determined that the British Navy should be the model for development, and the second British naval mission to Japan, the Douglas Mission (1873-79) led by Archibald Lucius Douglas laid the foundations of naval officer training and education. (See Ian Gow, 'The Douglas Mission (1873-79) and Meiji Naval Education' in J.E. Hoare ed., Britain & Japan: Biographical Portraits Volume III, Japan Library 1999.) Togo Heihachiro was trained by the British navy.

The French-built Matsushima, flagship of the Imperial Japanese Navy at the Battle of Yalu River (1894).

During the 1880s, France took the lead in influence, due to its "Jeune Ecole" doctrine favoring small, fast warships, especially cruisers and torpedo boats, against bigger units. The Meiji government issued its First Naval Expansion bill in 1882, requiring the construction of 48 warships, of which 22 were to be torpedo boats. The naval successes of the French Navy against China in the Sino-French War of 1883-85 seemed to validate the potential of torpedo boats, an approach which was also attractive to the limited resources of Japan. In 1885, the new Navy slogan became Kaikoku Nippon (Jp:海国日本, lit. "Maritime Japan").

In 1886, the leading French Navy engineer Emile Bertin was hired for four years to reinforce the Japanese Navy, and to direct the construction of the arsenals of Kure and Sasebo. He developed the Sanseikan class of cruisers, 3 units featuring a single but powerful main gun, the 12.6 inch Canet gun.

This period also allowed Japan to adopt new technologies such as torpedoes, torpedo-boats and mines, which were actively promoted by the French Navy (Howe, p281). Japan acquired its first torpedoes in 1884, and established a "Torpedo Training Center" at Yokosuka in 1886.

Sino-Japanese War

Japan continued the modernization of its navy, especially as China was also building a powerful modern fleet with foreign, especially German, assistance, and the pressure was building between the two countries to take control of Korea. The Sino-Japanese war was officially declared on August 1, 1894, though some naval fighting had already taken place.

Video footage of a naval battle during the first Sino-Japanese war (See video).

The Japanese navy devastated Qing's northern fleet off the mouth of the Yalu River at the Battle of Yalu River on September 17, 1894, in which the Chinese fleet lost 8 out of 12 warships. Although Japan turned out victorious, the two large German-made battleships of the Chinese Navy remained almost impervious to Japanese guns, highlighting the need for bigger capital ships in the Japanese Navy (the Ting Yuan was finally sunk by torpedoes, and the Chen-Yuan was captured with little damage). The next step of the Imperial Japanese Navy's expansion would thus involve a combination of heavily armed large warships, with smaller and innovative offensive units permitting aggressive tactics.

The Imperial Japanese Navy further intervened in China in 1900, by participating together with Western Powers to the suppression of the Chinese Boxer Rebellion. The Navy supplied the largest number of warships (18, out of a total of 50 warships), and delivered the largest contingent of Army and Navy troops among the intervening nations (20,840 soldiers, out of total of 54,000).

Russo-Japanese War

The British-built Mikasa, the most powerful battleship of her time, in 1905.

Following the Sino-Japanese War, and the humiliation of the forced return of the Liaotung peninsula to China under Russian pressure (the "Triple Intervention"), Japan began to build up its military strength in preparation for further confrontations. Japan promulgated a ten-year naval build-up program, under the slogan "Perseverance and determination" (Jp:臥薪嘗胆, Gashinshoutan), in which it commissioned 109 warships, for a total of 200,000 tons, and increased its Navy personnel from 15,100 to 40,800.

These dispositions culminated with the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905). At the Battle of Tsushima, the Mikasa led the combined Japanese fleet into what has been called "the most decisive naval battle in history". The Russian fleet was almost completely annihilated: out of 38 Russian ships, 21 were sunk, 7 captured, 6 disarmed, 4,545 Russian servicemen died and 6,106 were taken prisoner. On the other hand, the Japanese only lost 116 men and 3 torpedo boats.

World War II

In the years before World War II the IJN began to structure itself specifically to fight the United States. A long stretch of militaristic expansion and the start of the Second Sino-Japanese war in 1937 had alienated the United States, and the country was seen as a rival of Japan.

Hosho, the first purpose-designed aircraft carrier in the world (1922)

To achieve Japan’s expansionist policies, the Imperial Japanese Navy also had to fight off the largest navies in the world (The 1922 Washington Naval Treaty allotted a 5/5/3 ratio for the navies of Great Britain, the United States and Japan). She was therefore numerically inferior and her industrial base for expansion was limited (in particular compared to the United States). Her battle tactics therefore tended to rely on technical superiority (fewer, but faster, more powerful ships), and aggressive tactics (daring and speedy attacks overwhelming the enemy, a recipe for success in her previous conflicts). The Naval Treaties also provided an unintentional boost to Japan because the numerical restrictions on battleships prompted them to build more aircraft carriers to try to compensate for the United States' larger battleship fleet.

The Imperial Japanese Navy was administered by the Ministry of the Navy of Japan and controlled by the Chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff at Imperial General Headquarters. In order to combat the numerically superior American navy, the IJN devoted large amounts of resources to creating a force superior in quality to any navy at the time. Consequently, at the beginning of World War II, Japan probably had the most sophisticated Navy in the world. Betting on the speedy success of aggressive tactics, Japan did not invest significantly on defensive organization: she should also have been able to protect her long shipping lines against enemy submarines, which she never managed to do, particularly under-investing in anti-submarine escort ships and escort aircraft carriers.

The Japanese Navy enjoyed spectacular success during the first part of the hostilities, but American forces ultimately managed to gain the upper hand through technological upgrades to its air and naval forces, and a vastly stronger industrial output. Japan's reluctance to use their submarine fleet for commerce raiding and failure to secure their communications also added to their defeat. During the last phase of the war the Imperial Japanese Navy resorted to a series of desperate measures, including Kamikaze (suicide) actions.

Self-Defense Forces

Japanese Sailors besides the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) training vessel JDS Kashima, in Pearl Harbor.

Following Japan's surrender to the United States at the conclusion of World War II, and Japan's subsequent occupation, Japan's entire imperial military was dissolved in the new 1947 constitution which states, "The Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes." Japan's current navy falls under the umbrella of the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) as the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF).

The Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) had an authorized strength in 1992 of 46,000 and maintained some 44,400 personnel and operated 155 major combatants, including thirteen submarines, sixty-four destroyers and frigates, forty-three mine warfare ships and boats, eleven patrol craft, and six amphibious ships. It also flew some 205 fixed-wing aircraft and 134 helicopters. Most of these aircraft were used in antisubmarine and mine warfare operations.

See also

• "Strike South" Group
• Fleet Faction - Navy political group
• Treaty Faction - Navy political group
• May 15 Incident - coup d'état with Navy support
• Imperial Way Faction
• Japanese nationalism

References

• Boxer, C.R. (1993) "The Christian Century in Japan 1549-1650", ISBN 1-85754-035-2
• Delorme, Pierre, Les Grandes Batailles de l'Histoire, Port-Arthur 1904, Socomer Editions (French)
• Dull, Paul S. (1978) A Battle History of The Imperial Japanese Navy ISBN 0-85059-295-X
• Evans, David C & Peattie, Mark R. (1997) Kaigun: strategy, tactics, and technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887-1941 Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland ISBN 0-87021-192-7
• Gardiner, Robert (editor) (2001) Steam, Steel and Shellfire, The Steam Warship 1815-1905, ISBN 0-7858-1413-2
• Howe, Christopher (1996) The origins of Japanese Trade Supremacy, Development and technology in Asia from 1540 to the Pacific War, The University of Chicago Press ISBN 0-226-35485-7
• Ireland, Bernard (1996) Jane's Battleships of the 20th Century ISBN 0-00-470997-7
• Lyon, D.J. (1976) World War II warships, Excalibur Books ISBN 0-85613-220-9
• Nagazumi, Yōko (永積洋子) Red Seal Ships (朱印船), ISBN 4-642-06659-4 (Japanese)
• Tōgō Shrine and Tōgō Association (東郷神社・東郷会), Togo Heihachiro in images, illustrated Meiji Navy (図説東郷平八郎、目で見る明治の海軍), (Japanese)
• Japanese submarines 潜水艦大作戦, Jinbutsu publishing (新人物従来社) (Japanese)

Notes

1. ^ Video footage of the Sino-Japanese war: Video (external link).
2. ^  :
3. ^ Nagazumi Red Seal Ships, p21
4. ^ THE FIRST IRONCLADS In Japanese: [7], [8]. Also in English: [9]: "Iron clad ships, however, were not new to Japan and Hideyoshi; Oda Nobunaga, in fact, had many iron clad ships in his fleet." (referring to the anteriority of Japanese ironclads (1578) to the Korean Turtle ships (1592)). In Western sources, Japanese ironclads are described in CR Boxer "The Christian Century in Japan 1549-1650", p122, quoting the account of the Italian Jesuit Organtino visiting Japan in 1578. Nobunaga's ironclad fleet is also described in "A History of Japan, 1334-1615", Georges Samson, p309 ISBN 0-8047-0525-9. Korea's "ironclad Turtle ships" were invented by Admiral Yi Sun-sin (1545-1598), and are first documented in 1592. Incidentally, Korea's iron plates only covered the roof (to prevent intrusion), and not the sides of their ships. The first Western ironclads date to 1859 with the French Gloire ("Steam, Steel and Shellfire").
5. ^ Corbett Maritime Operations in the Russo-Japanese War, 2:333
6. ^ Howe, p286

External links

• Nobunaga's ironclad navy
• Hiroshi Nishida's IJN site
• Imperial Japanese Navy Page
• JSDF video commercial
• the russojapanese war society homepage
• Imperial Japanese Navy Awards of the Golden Kite in World War 2, a Note