[2] During the Bakumatsu period, the Tokugawa shogunate was increasingly alarmed by incursions by foreign warships into Japanese territorial waters, fearing that these kurofune warships would attempt to end the Japanese self-imposed national isolation policy by force, or would attempt an invasion of Japan by landing hostile military forces.

Egawa Hidetatsu, daikan of the Nirayama Daikansho[3] was assigned a leading role in the reinforcement of Japanese coastal defenses around Edo Bay in 1839.

[4] As early as 1842, Egawa attempted to build a furnace to cast cannon in the village of Nirayama in the Izu Peninsula.

In 1872 it was acquired by Imperial Japanese Army, some repair work was undertaken from 1891 to 1908 by volunteers from Nirayama Village.

After it became a National Historic Site in 1922, control was transferred to the Home Ministry with Nirayama municipality assuming responsibility for upkeep since 1957.