Before you stand the remains of a reverberatory furnace built under Shimazu Nariakira.
A reverberatory furnace reflects heat and flame within an arched structure, allowing iron to be melted at temperatures exceeding 1,500 degrees Celsius. In late-Edo Japan, such furnaces were introduced primarily to cast iron cannons.
At that time, the furnace and its chimney rose nearly 20 meters above this stone foundation.
At the time of construction, Japan was still under its policy of national isolation, making the introduction of Western technology far from easy. Even so, Nariakira pressed forward, relying only on imported Dutch technical books to study and begin construction.
The project met repeated failures. When his retainers grew discouraged, Nariakira is said to have persuaded them by saying,“The westerners are mere men, just as we are.”
The stone foundation that remains today belongs to the second furnace. The first suffered from problems, including insufficient heat due to moisture and structural instability. Drawing on the lessons learned the second furnace was built using advanced stone masonry techniques originally developed for castle construction, along with ventilation systems to control humidity.
Fire-resistant bricks were produced using the skills of Satsuma pottery craftsmen. Through persistent trial and error, Western knowledge and Japanese craftsmanship were successfully combined, giving birth to the Shuseikan reverberatory furnace.