Sekiyoshi Waterway

The Shuseikan Project was launched in 1851 by Shimazu Nariakira, the 28th head of the Shimazu clan of the Satsuma domain. A wide range of projects were carried out, heralding the industrialization of the Meiji period, including the construction of blast furnaces and reverberatory furnaces for iron production, spinning mills for producing cloth and thread, and glass factories. Japan's industrialization was achieved at an astonishing speed ahead of other Asian regions, and it was Kagoshima, as well as the region centered on Kyushu and Yamaguchi, that promoted it. In 2015, with the aim of spreading awareness and protecting the value of this precious heritage, it was registered as a World Cultural Heritage site as "Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution: Iron and Steel, Shipbuilding and Coal Mining." In Kagoshima, "Former Shuseikan""Terayama charcoal kiln site" and "Sekiyoshi Irrigation Ditch" have been registered as constituent assets.

The Yoshino Canal, which supplied water to Sengan-en, was partially improved to draw water to the waterwheels used to power the blast furnaces at Shuseikan and the device for drilling holes in gun barrels. The remains of the water intake from that time can still be seen.

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Address 1263 Shimodacho, Kagoshima City

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