A 1909 Training Ship Preserved on a Tokyo Campus
Unyo Maru (雲鷹丸, also written Unyō Maru) is a three-masted steel sailing ship completed in 1909 and preserved on the Shinagawa campus of Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology in Minato City, Tokyo, entered on Japan's national Register of Tangible Cultural Properties (Structures) on 11 December 1998. The Agency for Cultural Affairs files her under the older name Tokyo University of Fisheries Unyo Maru, after the institution that merged with Tokyo University of Mercantile Marine in 2003 to form the present university.
She is 41.2 metres long with a maximum beam of 8.7 metres. Records of the ship give her gross tonnage as 444.25 and her complement as 81. The hull came out of the Sakurajima yard of Osaka Iron Works, the shipbuilder later known as Hitachi Zosen, on order from the Fisheries Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce.
There was a reason for the order. The Institute's first training vessel, Kaiyo Maru, had been wrecked in Yeongil Bay on the Korean peninsula in 1907, and Unyo Maru was built as her successor.
Barque rig puts square sails on the fore and main masts and fore-and-aft sails on the mizzen. Unyo Maru carried that arrangement over an auxiliary steam plant, a hybrid typical of the decades when canvas and coal shared the same deck. Her distinction lies in the hull itself. Steel, and Japanese-built: among domestically constructed steel vessels she is the oldest that survives.
Why Unyo Maru Was Placed on the National Register
Japan's Register of Tangible Cultural Properties, created in 1996, is a lighter-touch system than designation as an Important Cultural Property. Registration recognises value while leaving owners considerable freedom, and a property qualifies under one of three criteria. Unyo Maru was registered under the third: an object that could not easily be recreated.
That criterion fits her history closely. When she entered service, the Japanese fishing fleet consisted largely of open wooden boats unsuited to long passages, and the government was subsidising western-style hulls to push the industry into distant waters. Unyo Maru belongs to that specific moment of transition, and no comparable Japanese-built steel hull from the period remains.
Her working life ran from May 1909 to August 1929. The university's own account puts the total at 36 voyages over those twenty years, north toward Kamchatka in the warm months and south in winter. Cadets aboard learned whaling, tested nets and gear, and carried out surveys that opened new grounds. In 1926, working with a factory-ship association off eastern Kamchatka, the crew succeeded in canning crab at sea. The large crab factory ships of the following decades grew from that experiment.
Accounts of the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake also credit her crew with rescuing several hundred people while the ship lay at Tsukishima, fending off burning hulks that drifted against her side. After 1929 her duties passed to a successor, Hakuyo Maru, and Unyo Maru finished her career moored as a stationary training platform for sail drill.
The move ashore came in 1962, as part of the seventieth anniversary of Tokyo University of Fisheries. Everything below the waterline was left behind; the upper hull was cut away, carried from the Etchujima campus to Shinagawa, and set up on land, where it was restored and has stood since.
Seeing the Ship: Access, Views, and What to Look For
The campus sits at 4-5-7 Konan, Minato City, roughly a ten to fifteen minute walk east from the Konan exit of Shinagawa Station. Visitors sign in at the gate. The ship stands near the fisheries engineering laboratory building, close to the Takahama Canal at the water's edge of the campus.
You do not have to go inside the gate to see her. The walkway along the Takahama Canal runs beside the campus boundary, and the masts show clearly over the fence; passengers on the Tokyo Monorail and drivers on the Haneda route of the Metropolitan Expressway catch the same view in passing. On the ground, the promenade gives the better angle, especially in late afternoon when raking light picks out the plating.
The interior is not open. The structure has aged, and access has been limited to the exterior for years. Photographing the ship from outside is unrestricted.
Two other things on this campus repay a detour. The Marine Science Museum holds fishery specimens, gear, and models of successive training ships, and the adjoining Whale Gallery displays full skeletons of a right whale and a grey whale. Admission is free, the museum opens on weekdays only, and advance reservation is required, so check the university's pages before setting out.
One comparison is worth making. At the university's other campus in Etchujima, Koto City, lies Meiji Maru, an 1874 iron lighthouse tender that was designated an Important Cultural Property in 1978. Meiji Maru is designated; Unyo Maru is registered. The two tiers sit at different levels of the same protection system, and seeing both ships in one week gives a compact picture of how Japanese naval architecture moved from imported iron to home-rolled steel.
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Q&A
- Can I see Unyo Maru at Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, and does it cost anything?
- Yes. The ship stands outdoors on the Shinagawa campus and can be viewed free of charge after signing in at the gate. She is also visible from the public walkway along the Takahama Canal, which requires no permission at all.
- Is the inside of Unyo Maru open to visitors?
- No. Because of the condition of the structure, viewing is limited to the exterior. There is no regular programme of interior openings.
- What cultural property status does Unyo Maru hold, and when did she receive it?
- She is a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure), registration number 13-0042, entered on 11 December 1998 and gazetted on 25 December of the same year. Registration is a separate and lighter tier from designation as an Important Cultural Property.
- How do I reach Unyo Maru from Shinagawa Station?
- Leave by the Konan exit and walk east for about ten to fifteen minutes, crossing the Takahama Canal. Tennozu Isle station on the Tokyo Monorail is roughly twenty minutes away on foot, and the Rinkai Line station of the same name about twenty-five.
- Can I photograph Unyo Maru, and what else is worth seeing nearby?
- Exterior photography is unrestricted. The Marine Science Museum and Whale Gallery stand a few minutes away on the same campus, both free but weekday-only and requiring advance booking. Meiji Maru, an Important Cultural Property of 1874, is preserved at the Etchujima campus in Koto City.
Basic Information
| Name | Tokyo University of Fisheries Unyo Maru (東京水産大学雲鷹丸) |
|---|---|
| Location | 4-5-7 Konan, Minato City, Tokyo (Shinagawa campus, Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology) |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure); registration number 13-0042; criterion: not easily recreated |
| Year Designated | Registered 11 December 1998; gazetted 25 December 1998 |
| Quantity | 1 vessel |
| Dimensions | Steel sailing ship; length 41.2 m, maximum beam 8.7 m; recorded gross tonnage 444.25 |
| Owner | Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology |
| Public Access | Exterior viewing on campus, free, sign in at the gate; interior closed; also visible from the Takahama Canal walkway |
References
- National Cultural Properties Database, Agency for Cultural Affairs — Tokyo University of Fisheries Unyo Maru
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00000951
- Cultural Heritage Online, Agency for Cultural Affairs — Tokyo University of Fisheries Unyo Maru
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/138221
- Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology — Shared Facilities
- https://www.kaiyodai.ac.jp/overview/facility/
- Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology — Access
- https://www.kaiyodai.ac.jp/overview/access/
- Minato City Tourism Association — Marine Science Museum
- https://visit-minato-city.tokyo/ja-jp/places/2633
Last verified: 2026.08.23