Lighthouse twinning arrangements
The Japan Coast Guard and the Northern Lighthouse Board reported at Council 80 at the end of June that they have been cooperating on a joint endeavour to establish a twinning arrangement between lights in Japan and Scotland.
Japan and Scotland have a proud shared heritage through the Stevenson family. The Stevensons were Engineers to the Northern Lighthouse Board and were contracted by the Tokugawa shogunate to chart Japan’s coastal waters and to build lighthouses. In 1868, after receiving training from the Stevensons, Scottish Engineer Richard Henry Brunton was sent from Edinburgh to lead the project. Over the following seven and a half years Brunton designed and supervised the construction of 26 lighthouses along the coast of Japan. Known as the “Father of Japanese Lighthouses”, he was devoted to enhancing the safety of navigation in Japanese waters.
The aim of linking individual lighthouses in Japan and Scotland together in a twinning partnership is to highlight the shared heritage and to promote tourism in each other’s country. Initial discussions have taken place to twin the Mull of Galloway Lighthouse on the West coast of Scotland with Inubosaki Lighthouse on Japan’s Pacific coast. These two lighthouses were matched due to the impact they have on the local community and their importance to tourism and maritime history.
The Inubosaki Lighthouse designed and built by Brunton in 1874 served as the most important coastal lighthouse to support the safety of maritime traffic in the Pacific Ocean approaches, from and to Tokyo and Yokohama. Because of its practical importance as well as historical value, the Brunton Association was established by the local community to support the research of the lighthouse and to raise public awareness.
The Mull of Galloway Lighthouse was established in 1830 and engineered by Robert Stevenson. On 4 July 2013, the former lightkeepers cottages, engine room, Fog Horn and 30 acres of heathland at the Mull of Galloway were successfully bought by the local community and the Mull of Galloway Trust was formed. The Northern Lighthouse Board still own and operate the lighthouse.
The Japan Coast Guard is delighted with the Northern Lighthouse Board’s proposal to arrange this twinning partnership and it is hoped that other nations with a shared lighthouse heritage will follow and adopt a similar model.
Based on material kindly provided by The Northern Lighthouse Board and the Japan Coast Guard.
Rapporteur: Paul Ridgway
