Although not one of eight lighthouses to be built in Meiji period Japan under the provisions of the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Amity and Commerce of 1858, signed by the Bakumatsu period Tokugawa Shogunate, the need for a lighthouse at Cape Inubō for the safety of vessels on the northeastern approaches to Tokyo was recognized at an early time after Japan was opened to the West.

The wreck of the Tokugawa navy warship Mikaho in a typhoon on the rocks of Cape Inubō with the loss of 13 lives on October 6, 1868 further emphasized the need for a lighthouse.

The lighthouse was designed and constructed by British engineer Richard Henry Brunton, born 1841 in Kincardineshire, Scotland, who was under contract by the new Meiji government.

[5] However, Brunton was uncertain of the mechanical strength of the Japanese bricks, so he constructed the tower using a double thickness for the walls.

[1] The Inubōsaki Lighthouse is currently open to the public, who may visit a small museum at its base, and climb to the top for a panoramic view over the Pacific Ocean.