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It was 1853 when Commodore Perry forced Japan open to trade with other countries after being closed off for nearly three centuries. Until then, for over 200 years, the Edo Shogunate had forbidden the construction of large ships to prevent the accumulation of military power that might be used to challenge it. However, the unanticipated foreign demands for the country to open its ports that came with the arrival of the American East India Fleet provided the impetus for the Shogunate to lift its shipbuilding ban. It established its own shipbuilding yard in Uraga, not far from Edo (now Tokyo) to build up its naval power. In 1897, following a change of government, management of the large shipyard was transferred to a single company—Uraga Dock—the other of the two predecessors of SHI. Uraga Dock did not limit itself to shipbuilding; it cultivated its technology and expanded into the building of bridges and other steel structures as well. |
