Editing Uraga Channel

{{Short description|Waterway connecting Tokyo Bay and Sagami Gulf}}
[[Image:tokyobay area.png|thumb|250px|The Uraga Channel is the zone marked in blue. Tokyo Bay, in a narrow sense, is the zone marked in pink; and Tokyo Bay, in a broad sense, is the larger zone of pink plus blue together.]]
<!-- Unsourced image removed: [[Image:tokyobay.png|thumb|right|300px|Map of Tokyo Bay, 1917]] -->
The {{nihongo|'''Uraga Channel'''|浦賀水道|Uraga-suidō}} is a waterway connecting [[Tokyo Bay]] to the [[Sagami Gulf]]. It is an important channel for ships headed from [[Tokyo]], [[Yokohama]], and [[Chiba, Chiba|Chiba]] to the [[Pacific Ocean]] and beyond.

==Geography==
[[Image:Uragasuido 01.jpg|thumb|left|Uraga Channel. Looking at the [[Boso Peninsula]] from the [[Miura Peninsula]].]]
The Uraga channel is at the southern end of Tokyo Bay (formerly known as Edo Bay, prior to 1868).

Tokyo Bay is surrounded by the [[Bōsō Peninsula]] ([[Chiba Prefecture]]) to the east and the [[Miura Peninsula]] ([[Kanagawa Prefecture]]) to the west. In a narrow sense, Tokyo Bay is the area north of the straight line formed by the {{nihongo|[[Cape Kannon (Kanagawa, Japan)|Cape Kannon]]|観音崎|Kannon-zaki}} on the Miura Peninsula on one end and {{nihongo|[[Cape Futtsu]]|富津岬|Futtsu-misaki}} on the Boso Peninsula on the other end. This area covers about 922&nbsp;km². Tokyo Bay, in a broader sense, would be understood to include the Uraga Channel as well (its southwestern demarcation being the straight line between the [[Tsurugisaki Lighthouse]] and [[Sunosaki Lighthouse]]); and the total area of the bay would then be 1320&nbsp;km².

The city of [[Uraga, Kanagawa|Uraga]] is located at the northern end of the channel on the Miura Peninsula.  Due to its strategic location at the entrance of Edo Bay, Uraga has often been the first point of contact between visiting foreign ships and Japan.<ref>[https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F00A16FD3C59177B93C6A8178CD85F478585F9  "Perry Ceremony Today; Japanese and U. S. Officials to Mark 100th Anniversary."] ''New York Times.'' July 14, 1953,</ref>

At its narrowest, between Cape Kannon and Futtsu Point, the channel is 6&nbsp;km wide.  During the late [[Edo period]], it was defended against foreign ships by twelve artillery batteries on both the [[Bōsō Peninsula]] and [[Miura Peninsula]].

==History==
[[Image:VincennesYedoBay1846.PNG|thumb|200px|The USS ''Vincennes'' and an unidentified American crewman in [[Tokyo Bay]] (then known as [[Edo]] Bay).  The work was created by a Japanese artist of the period.]]
In 1846, Captain [[James Biddle (commodore)|James Biddle]] of the U.S. Navy anchored two warships, the [[USS Columbus (1819)|USS ''Columbus'']] and the [[USS Vincennes (1826)|USS ''Vincennes'']] in Uraga Channel at the mouth to Tokyo Bay.  This was a step in what turned out to be an unsuccessful effort to open Japan to trade with the United States.<ref>Sewall, John. (1905). ''The Logbook of the Captain's Clerk: Adventures in the China Seas,'' pp. xxxiv-xxxv, xlix, lvi.</ref>

On July 14, 1853, Commodore [[Matthew Calbraith Perry|Matthew Perry]] lowered the anchor of the squadron the Japanese called the [[Black Ships]] near Uraga at Kurihama (in present-day [[Yokosuka, Kanagawa|Yokosuka]] in [[Kanagawa Prefecture]]) at the mouth of the channel.<ref>Sewall, John S. (1905). ''The Logbook of the Captain's Clerk: Adventures in the China Seas,'' pp. 167-195; Cullen, L.M. (2003). ''A History of Japan, 1582-1941: Internal and External Worlds,'' p. 178.</ref>  On the return of the Commodore's squadron in 1854, the ships by-passed Uraga to anchor closer to Edo at Kanagawa, which is where the city of Yokohama now stands.<ref>Sewall, p. 243-264.</ref>

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* Cullen, L.M. (2003). ''A History of Japan, 1582-1941: Internal and External Worlds.'' Cambridge: [[Cambridge University Press]]. {{ISBN|0-521-82155-X}} (cloth). {{ISBN|0-521-52918-2}} (paper)
* Sewall, John S. (1905). ''The Logbook of the Captain's Clerk: Adventures in the China Seas,'' Bangor, Maine: Chas H. Glass & Co. [reprint by Chicago: R.R. Donnelly & Sons, 1995] {{ISBN|0-548-20912-X}}

==External links==
* Maritime Traffic, 3rd Regional Coast Guard Headquarters: [http://www.kaiho.mlit.go.jp/03kanku/yokohama/service/osirase/osi19-22-1.pdf  Uraga Suido Traffic Route]
* [[National Archives of Japan]], Digital Gallery: Marine survey chart: [http://jpimg.digital.archives.go.jp/jpg_prg/jgmWeb.dll?TmpFileDisp4?si=0&md=0&ql=10&env=jpeg2k_images/ezu/kaigan_jissokuzu/029_yokosuka_e.env&l=9&cy=5981&cx=8107&dy=400&dx=600&i=lossy/kouseisai/ezu/kaigan_jissokuzu/t77o_1_1_29.jp2&file=temp_kuniezu_e.html  Tokyo bay, Kuwanonsaki to Koshiba], published 1876

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[[Category:Bodies of water of Japan]]
[[Category:Channels]]
[[Category:Tokyo Bay]]