Oshika

Oshika belongs to the Pacific coast of northeastern Honshu, where a peninsula, islands, and sheltered bays connect fishing communities with the wider Tohoku region. Marine resources support households alongside cultivation on limited usable ground. Boats carry food and goods between landing places, while currents, storms, and coastal geography require detailed local knowledge. The sea offers routes where steep land can make overland movement difficult.

In the early seventeenth century, Oshika was part of the domain of Date Masamune of Sendai. In 1613 his envoy Hasekura Tsunenaga sailed from Tsukinoura on the peninsula aboard the San Juan Bautista. The embassy crossed the Pacific to New Spain and continued to Spain and Rome, seeking trade and missionary ties. Fishing and coastal shipping remained important to communities around the peninsula alongside such exceptional long-distance journeys.