Tiller archive — December 1996
My Favorite Port of Call
'Safest' Harbor Has an Intriguing History
By Shunichiro Yamamoto, AP
Aburatsubo is one of my favorite ports among the harbors I have visited. This harbor is located in Misaki-shi which is at the southern point of Miura Peninsula. The name means "oil vase." I understand the name was derived from the calmness of the inlet..
Any person who visits this inlet, even if he does not know anything about the sea, will soon understand how it is a safe place as a harbor because the inlet is wholly enclosed by hills of about 30 to 40 meters high except for a very narrow winding entrance. Actually, no other harbor could be safer to the change of weather than this inlet along the west coast of Miura Peninsula.
Because of its safety, this inlet is also known as a port of refuge in case of heavy storms such as a typhoon. Accordingly, in such a case, this inlet is crowded by many strangers such as fishing boats and smaller inland cargo freighters. The depth is 2 to 5 meters if you do not go too close to the shore. This depth would be enough for most pleasure boats.
Although it is a small inlet, Aburatsubo is a well known place in Japan as the cradle of the sailing cruisers in Japan. About 40 years ago, when sailboats were quite few in Japan except for dinghies for college students, Aburatsubo started as an almost only one-yacht harbor for sailing cruisers in the Kanto District (meaning that it was the only yacht harbor in Japan in those days). Because of the historical background of this area having been solely used as a secret naval base of the Imperial Navy of Japan for special purpose submarines (manned torpedoes), this area had been closed to the public until the end of World War II. Otherwise, it would have become one of the ordinary ports for fishing boats since the outside of the inlet is a good coastal fishing spot. Since then, Aburatsubo has become one of the most famous spots as a base for sailing cruisers in Japan. Many foreign sailing cruisers have visited here and used this place for their anchorage. When
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Editor's Note: This is the first of what we hope will be frequent installations of narratives about the favorite ports of TSPS members. Our thanks to Yamamoto-san for his...yours is also invited. |
Aburatsubo Harbor
Click for enlarged view
you are approaching Aburatsubo inlet, you cannot see the entrance from outside of the inlet until you approach there very closely.
If you are going to enter Aburatsubo you will have to enter a narrow waterway between Moroisozaki lighthouse (Iso 8s 21m 14M) and the building of the Marine Research Institute of Tokyo University.
The entrance is 115 degrees (magnetic course) from the sea and to enter Aburatsubo you will have to turn to the left just after the entrance, otherwise you will enter into the neighboring Moroiso-wan inlet (this area is now also famous as a pleasure boat anchorage).
Although it is not so difficult to enter here in the daytime, you should be very careful when entering at night because there are fishing nets and rocks just around the entrance of the inlet. Therefore, you had better avoid entering at night for the first time.
Even if you are well accustomed to entering this inlet, you should be careful to avoid being caught by the fishing nets or rocks. But once you enter the inlet, it is a different world. Even when a heavy storm is blowing outside the inlet, the harbor is very calm and you will feel quite safe. Even in the midst of the winter season you will feel as if it is like spring in the daytime.
Although it is a very safe anchorage, one problem exists when you go to shops. You will have to walk up a long slope until you go up to the main road to the town. After that, you must walk a little further (about 10 to 15 minutes) before finding shops.
Thus, it is not convenient for shopping. These days the area around the inlet is one of the famous leisure spots from Tokyo for the Misaki Marine Park (aquarium), fishing, etc. However, this area is colored with two sad stories.
One is related to a very old era. Until the end of 1200 AD there was a castle of the clan of the Miura family (the origin of the name of the peninsula) on the hilltop surrounding Aburatsubo-wan. The Miura clan fought with Yoritomo Minamoto who thereafter became the first ÒShogunÓ of Kamakura Bakufu. Attacked by Yoritomo, they fought with his troops for about two years, but finally had used up all of their food and weapons. All of the samurai and families of the Miura clan killed themselves by jumping into the inlet, and it is said that the water was turned to red for several days due to their blood.
The other story relates to an accident about 50 years ago. As mentioned, this area had been a secret base of the Imperial Navy of Japan for manned torpedoes and miniature subs. Only a few months before the end of the war, a massive explosion occurred. In this accident, it is said that more than 150 young navy personnel were killed. Still now, you will find the shallow caves which were used for storage of those torpedoes on shore around the inlet.