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.

Brunton constructed another 25 lighthouses from far northern Hokkaidō to southern Kyūshū during his career in Japan.

[3] This lighthouse stands on the cliffs of Owa Island, off the coast of Cape Sata at the tip of the Ōsumi Peninsula in Kagoshima Prefecture.

[4] In 1954, rain containing radioactive fallout from nuclear tests in the South Pacific occurred in various parts of Japan.

Lighthouse personnel who relied on rainwater for drinking water developed radiation sickness.