27Picture of the Tafuse Cannon Casting Facility for the Shogunate Government

This picture is of the reverberatory furnace used exclusively for Shogunate governmental affairs, built by the Saga Domain in Kishigawa-cho along the Tafuse River, current day Ise-cho of Saga City. In 1853, Perry’s fleet from America arrived in Uraga, present-day Yokosuka City in Kanagawa Prefecture, and the Russian fleet under Putyatin arrived in Nagasaki. The Shogunate government, while continuing its diplomatic negotiations, decided to place batteries in Edo Harbor, currently off of Shinagawa, Tokyo, for protection. The government placed orders for the cannons to be provided by the Saga Domain, the domain with the most advanced technology at the time. Upon receiving the order from the government, the Saga Domain, deciding that the Tsuiji reverberatory furnace currently in operation was insufficient, built another furnace to be used exclusively for government affairs, and cast 50 cannons for the government.