Qualla: Sarushima: The Phantom Fortress in Tokyo Bay

Sarushima: The Phantom Fortress in Tokyo Bay: Introduction

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Mobius One, CC BY-SA 4.0. A white monkey saved a holy man here, or so the legend goes. In 1253, the Buddhist monk Nichiren was caught in a storm while crossing Tokyo Bay. His boat washed ashore on a small, uninhabited island, and according to tradition, a white monkey appeared from the trees to guide him to shelter in a cave. The island has carried the name ever since: Sarushima, Monkey Island. There are no monkeys here now. There never were, really, apart from that one spectral guide. What the island does hold, hidden beneath a canopy of subtropical overgrowth, is something far more surprising -- an elaborate military fortress built to be invisible from the sea.

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Image: Mobius One | CC BY-SA 4.0

Sarushima: The Phantom Fortress in Tokyo Bay: A Secret Carved from Stone

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Mobius One, CC BY-SA 4.0. The genius of Sarushima's fortifications lies in their concealment. When the Tokugawa shogunate built the island's first artillery battery in 1847, they were responding to increasing Western encursions into Japanese waters. Six years later, Commodore Matthew C. Perry's Black Ship...

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Image: Mobius One | CC BY-SA 4.0

Sarushima: The Phantom Fortress in Tokyo Bay: Brick and Vine

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Mobius One, CC BY-SA 4.0. Walk through Sarushima today and the effect is startling. Brick-lined tunnels stretch through the island's interior, their arched ceilings stained with moisture, their walls built in the French architectural style that Japan's military adopted during the Meiji era. Gun battery re...

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Image: Mobius One | CC BY-SA 4.0

Sarushima: The Phantom Fortress in Tokyo Bay: Wars Hot and Cold

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit 江戸村のとくぞう, CC BY-SA 4.0. Sarushima's military career spanned nearly a century. During the Edo period, it served as the shogunate's first line of defense at the mouth of Tokyo Bay. After the Meiji Restoration in 1868, the island was incorporated into the Yokosuka Navy Yard complex and upgraded with modern...

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Image: 江戸村のとくぞう | CC BY-SA 4.0

Sarushima: The Phantom Fortress in Tokyo Bay: Barbecues Among the Ruins

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Mobius One, CC BY-SA 4.0. The transformation from military installation to public park began after the island's return. Today, Sarushima is uninhabited and accessible only by a short ferry ride from Yokosuka's Mikasa Park. The southern beach -- a rare stretch of natural sand in urbanized Tokyo Bay -- draw...

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Image: Mobius One | CC BY-SA 4.0