Anjinsha, Samurai Tanks

Japan's Oldest Iron Tanks!

At the end of the Edo period, foreign ships frequently appeared on the Pacific Coast of Japan, and international pressure to open the self-exiled country to trade and port rights was increasing. The shogunate was reeling from the demands, and many of the daimyo, particularly the traditionally anti-Tokugawa factions in the south and west of Japan were becoming more vocal in their opposition to what they saw as a failure of the shogun to protect Japan and repel the foreigners. Feeling the threat to coastal Mito domain, Lord Tokugawa Nariaki（1800 – 1860）the ninth daimyo of Mito, proceeded with a plan to build
up military forces, centering on coastal defense. During these military reforms, Lord Nariaki was directly involved in the development and manufacture of weapons he designed himself, one of which was the Anjinsha, Japan’s first Samurai tank!