Yokosuka: Routes and local life | LoreMania
Walk through Uraga and two stories overlap on the same street: the history of the Magistrate's Office as an institution, and the story of one officer who worked there.
This page traces Uraga around Perry's arrival through the Uraga Magistrate's Office, a shogunate institution, and Nakajima Saburōsuke, the officer who served there.
Each section separates the office's institutional role from Nakajima's personal part in events, linked to Yokosuka City's own historical pages.
Routes and local life: names to know first
Established in 1720, the Uraga Magistrate's Office inspected ships entering Edo Bay and handled coastal defense — and its officers made first contact with Perry's fleet in 1853.
Uraga Magistrate’s Office
The Uraga Magistrate's Office was a shogunate outpost established in 1720 when the post was moved from Shimoda, tasked with inspecting ships entering Edo Bay and coastal defense. When Perry arrived in 1853, officer Nakajima Saburōsuke and interpreter Hori Tatsunosuke made first contact with his fleet; a different officer, Kayama Eizaemon, then impersonated the magistrate himself to conduct the negotiations. The office was dissolved in 1868 when the new Meiji government seized it.
Source:横須賀市「横須賀中央エリア」
Routes and local life: connections used in the quiz
Nakajima Saburōsuke, the Uraga officer who first met Perry's fleet, went on to help build Japan's first domestic Western-style warship and shape the country's modern navy.
Nakajima Saburo
Nakajima Saburōsuke was a yoriki officer at the Uraga Magistrate's Office who, with interpreter Hori Tatsunosuke, made first contact with Perry's fleet in 1853. He also helped build Japan's first domestically made Western-style warship, the Hōō Maru, completed in 1854, and sailed aboard her himself as far as Shinagawa in 1855. On the strength of that experience, the shogunate later sent him to train at the Nagasaki Naval Training Center, where he contributed his technical skills to the founding of Japan's modern navy.
Source:横須賀市「横須賀の歴史」
FAQ
Who negotiated with Perry's fleet while claiming to be the 'Uraga magistrate'?
The officer who actually claimed the title was Kayama Eizaemon; the real magistrates, Toda Ujihide and Ido Hiromichi, only appeared later to receive the president's letter at Kurihama. The first contact with Perry's fleet, though, was made by officer Nakajima Saburōsuke and interpreter Hori Tatsunosuke.
What role did Nakajima Saburōsuke play at the Uraga Magistrate's Office?
As a yoriki officer handling coastal defense, he made first contact with Perry's fleet in 1853 and also helped build Japan's first domestically made Western-style warship, the Hōō Maru. He later trained at the Nagasaki Naval Training Center, leaving his mark as a naval engineer in the final years of the shogunate.