Pre-Meiji Kamaishi The area of present-day Kamaishi was part of ancient
Mutsu Province, and has been settled since at least the
Jōmon period. The area was inhabited by the
Emishi people, and came under the control of the
imperial dynasty during the early
Heian period. During the
Sengoku period, the area was dominated by various
samurai clans before coming under the control of the
Nambu clan during the
Edo period, who ruled
Morioka Domain under the
Tokugawa shogunate. Before the discovery of
magnetite in 1727, Kamaishi was little different from any of the other small fishing communities along the coast. However, it was not until 1857, and the construction of the first small
blast furnace, that any real changes could be seen. In the 1850s, the feudal domains of Japan were engaged in an arms race to develop the first Western-style armaments, particularly large guns. The
Nanbu Domain constructed
blast furnaces of a foreign design in Kamaishi under the direction of military engineer
Takatō Ōshima. Ten furnaces were built in all but some were owned by private corporations. The first of these furnaces was lit on December 1, 1857; a day honored as the start of modern iron production in Japan.
Early modern Kamaishi In the
Meiji period establishment of the modern municipalities system, the town of Kamaishi was established within Minamihei District, Iwate on April 1, 1889. Minamihei and Nishihei Districts merged to form
Kamihei District in 1896. Kamaishi attained city status on May 5, 1937, and expanded in 1955 with the absorption of the neighboring villages of Kasshi, Unosumai, Kurihashi from Kamihei District and the village of Tōni from
Kesen District. In 1875, the newly established
Meiji government bought all of the furnaces and created the Kamaishi Iron Works. They also put Ōshima and a German engineer in charge of its modernization. The German director imported two large steam-driven blast furnaces of the latest design from Britain and set up a railway with 15 miles of track and a locomotive purchased from
Manchester to deliver the ore. Production began in 1880 but had to be stopped soon after due to a lack of charcoal. An attempt to resume operations in 1882 by replacing charcoal with
coke failed and the plant was closed. There were
cholera outbreaks in Kamaishi in July 1882 and April 1884. The first left 302 people dead and warnings about the drinking water were posted throughout the prefecture. In 1885, a new foundry was established which used coal from
Hokkaido and iron ore from
China. The
1896 Sanriku earthquake struck on June 15 at 7:32 pm while families were celebrating
Boy's Festival on the beach. The earthquake measured magnitude 8.5 while the
tsunami on the Iwate coast reached as high as 24 meters in places – the highest ever recorded in Japan at the time. The city of Kamaishi was completely destroyed. The French Catholic missionary Henri Lispard was also swept out to sea and died when the wave struck.
Kamaishi in WWII As an important foundry town, Kamaishi played a significant role in the Japanese war effort and was targeted by the
U.S. Navy during
World War II. On 14 July 1945, under the command of Rear Admiral
John F. Shafroth Jr., the
battleships , , , and , the heavy cruisers and , and nine destroyers bombarded the Japan Ironworks and warehouses, along with nearby oil tanks and vessels, to great effect. This was the
first naval bombardment of the Japanese mainland. Later, on 9 August 1945, the battleships & heavy cruisers of the same group attacked Kamaishi again, this time joined by a small detachment of
Royal Navy ships, most notably light cruisers
HMS Newfoundland and
HMNZS Gambia. The iron mill was also the site of the
Sendai Prisoner of War Camp, and 32 Allied prisoners were killed in the raids. A total of 694 civilians and 30 Japanese military personnel were killed in the bombardment.
Kamaishi after WWII Kamaishi played its part in Japan's post-war boom, continuing its reputation as a steel town, a reputation reflected in the name of its rugby team - the Kamaishi Nippon Steel Rugby Club. In 1960, the town was crippled by a tsunami generated by the
Great Chilean Earthquake. However, following the closure of the steel mills in 1988, the economy of the city collapsed, and almost half its population moved away. Kamaishi is now known more for
commercial fishing than heavy industry. On September 30, 2010,
Foreign Policy magazine used Kamaishi as an example of Japan's relative decline in the
Lost Decade.
2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami Kamaishi was heavily damaged by the
2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, in which 1,250 city residents were killed or are missing; at least 4 of the town's 69 designated evacuation sites and three of the town's 14 schools were inundated. Of the 2,900 students who attended the town's schools, five elementary or junior high school students were killed or are missing. Tsunami waves as tall as surmounted the long and deep Kamaishi Tsunami Protection Breakwater, which had been completed in March 2009, after three decades of construction, at a cost of $1.5 billion. The subsequent decision to rebuild the breakwater at a cost of over $650 million was criticised as "a waste of money that aims to protect an area of rapidly declining population with technology that is a proven failure". Numerous news videos were broadcast of the city, which can be recognized by a large green crane in the background and water rushing against tall buildings at the edge of the city. ==Government==