The Nojimazaki Lighthouse was 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.

As completed, the whitewashed octagonal brick structure stood 30 metres (98 ft) high, and had a first-order Fresnel lens, with a kerosene light source.

During the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, the top eight meters of the structure collapsed.

It was repaired after the war with a second-order Fresnel lens, and was subsequently electrified.

The Nojimazaki 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.