October 18, 1871
On Kyūshū — the third largest of Japan’s five main islands — a lighthouse built on Cape Sata in the present-day town of Minamiōsumi was first lit. This navigational aid is known as Satamisaki Lighthouse; “Satamisaki,” which is also spelled out as “Sata Misaki,” means “Cape Sata” in English. Work on this lighthouse had begun in January 1870.
Satamisaki Lighthouse was one of the 26 lighthouses in the Land of the Rising Sun that were designed by Scottish-born engineer Richard Henry Brunton (1841-1901) during the early years of the Meiji era. This era in the history of Imperial Japan was defined in large part by the empire’s steady shift from a mostly feudal society to a modern and more outward-looking world power. As a key component of these major reform efforts, the Meiji government commissioned Brunton to help create lighthouses that would better enable foreign ships to sail to and from Japan safely.
More than seven decades after its inauguration, Satamisaki Lighthouse fell victim to the ravages of World War II. This took place on March 18, 1945, when the structure was destroyed during an American air raid. A replica of that lighthouse was built after the war; it first went into service in 1950. This replacement lighthouse, which is pictured in the accompanying photo taken in 2007, remains in operation today.
Photo Credit: hashi photo (licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en)
For more information on Satamisaki Lighthouse, please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satamisaki_Lighthouse
Additional information on lighthouses in that region of Japan is available at https://www.ibiblio.org/lighthouse/jpky1b.htm
Transportation History 
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