「日本を欧米のような近代国家にするには、こういう造船所を造ることが第一歩だ」、1860（万延元）年ワシントン海軍造船所を見学した遣米使節小栗上野介はこう確信した。

　チョンマゲ姿で訪れたアメリカは、映画『風とともに去りぬ』の世界。汽車が走り、ガス燈がともり、電信機が情報を伝え、フェリーが汽車を載せて河を渡った。ホテルの柵は鉄棒、川には鉄の橋が五つも見える。町外れに使われなくなった鉄製品が捨てられ、誰も拾う者がいない。「この国は鉄があふれている！」。痛切な実感だった。

After visiting the Washington Naval Shipyard as one of the envoys to the U.S. in 1860, Kozukenosuke Oguri was convinced that "the first step to make Japan a modern nation like the West is to build a shipyard like this one."

The America they visited with the chonmage (topknot) style was like the world of the movie "Gone with the Wind." Trains ran, gas lamps lit, telegraphs transmitted information, and ferries carried trains across rivers. The hotel fence was made of iron bars, and iron bridges could be seen over the river. Disused iron products were thrown away on the outskirts of towns, and no one picked them up. Oguri thought to himself, "This country is overflowing with iron!" He fully realized that was the reality.

　では木の国日本を鉄の国に変えるには何から手をつけたらスタートラインに立てるか、それを模索しているとき案内されたのが造船所だった。そこは製鉄を基盤として、あらゆる鉄製品を作り、出来た部品をつなぐネジも作る。黒船はまだ木造船体だから木工場もある、それら工場の向こうで「船も」作っている、要するに総合工場だった。

　帰国五年後に小栗が提案して建設されたのが横須賀造船所。ワシントンで見たのと同じ総合工場で、製綱（ロープ）所、製帆所、旋盤所などたくさんの工場で作られた工業製品が日本の近代工業の先進地横須賀から産み出されていった。「横須賀は日本近代工学の源泉」（『三浦半島記』）と司馬遼太郎がたたえるゆえんである。

"How can we start to turn Japan, a country of wood, into a country of iron?" The answer to this question came from the shipyard they visited in Washington, D.C. The shipyard was based on steel manufacturing, where all kinds of iron products were made, and screws were also made to connect the finished parts. The kurofune (black ship)* had wooden hulls, so there were woodworking shops as well, and "ships" were also constructed. In short, it was an integrated factory.

Note*: "Kurofune" (black ship) meant all the Western-type ships from Europe and the U.S. till the end of Edo period. The name was derived from the fact that the hulls were painted black.

Five years after returning to Japan, Oguri proposed the construction of the Yokosuka Shipyard, which was constructed. It was the same comprehensive factory that they had seen in Washington. Many industrial products were produced from many factories at the Yokosuka Shipyard such as rope mills, sail mills, and lathe mills and the Shipyard became the leading center of modern Japanese industry. This is the reason why Ryotaro Shiba praised Yokosuka as "the source of Japan's modern heavy industry" in his work, “Miura Peninsula Chronicles.”

　小栗の帰国後八年間はさらに忙しい。日本最初の株式会社「兵庫商社」を設立して外国商人の大資本に対抗できる商社活動を展開させ、小布施の豪商高井鴻山を説いて新潟港に船会社設立をうながし、清水喜助（清水建設二代目）に民間資本の株式会社の手法で洋式ホテル「築地ホテル」を慶応四年夏に完成させる。洋式陸軍制度を取り入れ横浜に仏人教師の指導で歩、騎、砲兵の三兵訓練所を設け訓練する。それらのために設けた仏語伝習所（横浜）で学んだ若者を、横須賀や陸軍に派遣し通訳させる。

　さらには兵庫商社の利益でガス燈設置や郵便制度の設立、横浜―江戸間に鉄道の建設、などを提案、「日本近代化のレールは小栗上野介が敷いた」と言われるのもうなずける。

　慶応四年春、幕府崩壊で家族とともに知行地の上州権田村に移住し、学校設立を考えていた小栗を捕らえ、無実の罪を着せて殺害したのは明治新政府軍。明治五年から始めた学校教育で現在も小栗の業績を教えないのは、小栗主従八人を殺したあと家財を奪って西軍の軍資金にしたため。

　いま、小栗上野介がワシントン造船所から持ち帰って配ったネジくぎが菩提寺東善寺に残る。「こういうものをどんどん作れる国にしたい」という意味で配ったお土産であった。

For eight years after returning to Japan, Oguri was very busy. He established Japan's first joint-stock company, Hyogo Shosha, to develop trading company activities to compete with the large capital of foreign merchants, persuaded Kozan Takai, a wealthy merchant from Obuse, Shinshu (today's Nagano Prefecture), to establish a shipping company in Niigata Port, and had Kisuke Shimizu (the second generation of Shimizu Corporation) complete the Western-style hotel, Tsukiji Hotel, in the summer of Keio 4, using private capital joint stock company methods. He introduced the Western-style army system, and established a training center for infantry, cavalry, and artillery under the guidance of French teachers. Young men who had studied at the French Language Training School in Yokohama were sent to Yokosuka and the army to serve as interpreters. 　

Furthermore, with the profits from the Hyogo Shosha, he proposed the installation of gas lamps, the establishment of a postal system, and the construction of a railroad between Yokohama and Edo. It is no wonder that it is said that "Kozukenosuke Oguri laid the rails for the modernization of Japan."

After the collapse of the shogunate in the spring of 1871 (Keio 4), Oguri moved with his family to the village of Gonda in Jyoshu Province (today's Gunma Prefecture), one of his chigyochi territories (Chigyochi is the land given by feudal lords to their vassals), and thought about establishing a school. However, the new Meiji government forces (the Western Army) captured Oguri, falsely accused him of innocence, and killed him. The reason why Oguri's achievements are not taught in school education that began in 1872 is that the Western Army killed Oguri, his son and 6 servants and took Oguri's family property to use as funds for the army.

Today, one of the screw nails that Oguri brought back from the Washington Shipyard remain in Tozenji Temple, his family temple. It was a souvenir of his desire to make the country a place where people could make more and more of this kind of thing.