Japanese warship Asahi Maru
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| History | |
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 Japan
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| Name: | Asahi Maru |
| Laid down: | 1854 |
| Launched: | 1855 |
| Completed: | June 1856 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | 750 long tons (760 t) |
| Length: | 42.3 m (138 ft 9 in) |
| Beam: | 9.1 m (29 ft 10 in) |
| Draught: | 7.2 m (23 ft 7 in) |
| Sail plan: | Full-rigged ship |
| Armament: | 20 cannon (?) |
Asahi Maru (旭日丸) was a western-style sail frigate, constructed on orders the Tokugawa shogunate of Bakumatsu period Japan by Mito Domain in response to the Perry Expedition and increasing incursions of foreign warships into Japanese territorial waters. She was built from 1854 to 1856 on land adjacent to Mito Domain’s Edo residence at a site which later became IHI Shipyards.
Since the beginning of the seventeenth century, the Tokugawa shogunate ruling Japan pursued a policy of isolating the country from outside influences. Foreign trade was maintained only with the Dutch and the Chinese and was conducted exclusively at Nagasaki under a strict government monopoly. No foreigners were allowed to set foot in Japan, and no Japanese was permitted to travel abroad. In June 1635 a law was proclaimed prohibiting the construction of large, ocean-capable vessels. However, by the early nineteenth century, this policy of isolation was increasingly under challenge. In 1846, an official American expedition led by Commodore James Biddle on an official mission with two ships, including one warship armed with 72 cannons, asking for ports to be opened for trade, but his requests for a trade agreement were refused.
Following the July 1853 visit of Commodore Perry, an intense debate erupted within the Japanese government on how to handle the unprecedented threat to the nation’s capital, and the only universal consensus was that steps be taken immediately to bolster Japan’s coastal defenses. The law forbidding construction of large vessels was repealed, and many of the feudal domains took immediate steps to construct or purchase warships. These included the Hōō Maru constructed by the Uraga bugyō office, and the Shōhei Maru constructed by Satsuma Domain.
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Wikipedia