Morse Seaside Laboratory Site

A scenic island near Kamakura, Enoshima is a popular destination known for its fresh seafood, romantic folklore, historic shrines, and fantastic caves. It’s small enough to explore in a couple of hours without missing its major attractions. Minor historical details, on the other hand, often go unnoticed by casual visitors. One such example is the site of the Morse Seaside Laboratory, despite it being commemorated at two locations just off the island’s busy tourist area.

“Morse” here does not refer to Samuel F. B. Morse, the inventor of the Morse code, but rather the American zoologist Edward S. Morse, who came to Japan in 1877 to study its brachiopods and discovered the Omori Shell Mound on the very day he arrived, while aboard a train from Yokohama to Shimbashi.

The “father of Japanese archaeology” was immediately hired by the Tokyo Imperial University and went on to establish the Seaside Laboratory in Enoshima. Though it was only active for a month or so, it was one of the first dedicated marine biological research facilities in the world.

Today, the site of Morse’s laboratory is commemorated by a historical marker in an alley off the Benzaiten Nakamise street, as well as a bronze relief on the edge of the island, hidden in plain sight in a park overlooking Sagami Bay.