Japanese warship Hōō Maru

History
Japan
Name:	Hōō Maru
Builder:	Uraga shipyard
Laid down:	October 22, 1853
Commissioned:	June 6, 1854
General characteristics
Displacement:	600 long tons (610 t)
Length:	36.4 m (119 ft 5 in)
Beam:	9.1 m (29 ft 10 in)
Draught:	4.5 m (14 ft 9 in)
Sail plan:	barque
Armament:	10 cannon

Hōō Maru (鳳凰丸^?) was a western-style sail frigate, constructed by the Tokugawa shogunate of Bakumatsu period Japan in response to the Perry Expedition and increasing incursions of foreign warships into Japanese territorial waters.

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 aboard. 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 this incident, a western-style sloop, Soshun Maru was constructed at Uraga, partly based on observations of Biddle’s ship by local shipwrights. Following the July 1853 visit of Commodore Perry, and intense debate erupted within the Japanese government on how to handle the unprecedented threat to the national’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 The law forbidding construction of large vessels was repealed, and many of the feudal domains took immediate steps to construct or purchase warships.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 Shōhei Maru constructed by Satsuma Domain and the Asahi Maru constructed by Mito Domain.

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Wikipedia