Kawagoe Army Arsenal Site (Fukuoka Ammunition Factory)

The Kawagoe works of the Tokyo First Army Arsenal stood in what is now Fujimino, Saitama, rather than at the arsenal headquarters in Tokyo. Local people called it the Kako-sho, or ammunition works. It began operating in 1937 as the Fukuoka factory and became the Kawagoe Manufacturing Establishment in 1942. The different names describe the same local factory complex, whose grounds extended across today's Fukuoka and Uenodai neighbourhoods.

Its products included rifle and machine-gun ammunition, ceramic hand grenades, and electrical detonator and fuze components for balloon bombs. Other factories supplied components for operations such as explosive filling and assembly. Dangerous workshops were separated by thick blast walls, while ammunition stores were protected by earth banks. Students from surrounding schools were mobilized into this hazardous work during the later stages of the war, linking the factory to the interruption of local education and the mobilization of young people.

Military production ended in 1945. The site subsequently underwent substantial redevelopment: Uenodai housing estate began receiving residents in 1960, and the wider grounds now include municipal offices, schools, residential areas and private factories. Archaeological investigations have recovered physical traces beneath this changed landscape. The former water tower, once a conspicuous landmark, survived until 2004 and should not be expected to be standing today.

The approximate marker uses Fujimino City Hall as a recognizable point within the documented former factory area. City hall is a modern building, not a surviving arsenal office. The location represents a largely transformed industrial site, not an open-air museum. The municipal access guide places city hall about fifteen minutes on foot from Kamifukuoka Station's east exit. Public streets provide a way to understand the surrounding layout; school grounds, residential property and operating factories are not implied to be open for historic-site visits.