San Andreas Park in Ofunato

Overlooking the pristine Ofunato Bay is a large observation deck in Ofunato City, surrounded by a grassy park. It’s the perfect spot for a picnic and taking in the scenic beauty of the area. But the structure does more than provide a panoramicview of the ocean and bay, filled with scallop and oyster beds. It stands as a monument to a remarkable point in Japan’s history, shortly before a series of edicts enacted by the Tokugawa shogunate in the 1630s would close off Japan to the outside world for nearly two hundred years.

In the early 1600s, the Dutch, the Portuguese, and the Spanish were sailing all over the world and had begun settling in the areas of Mexico and Southern California. One explorer in particular, Sebastián Vizcaino of Spain was appointed as leader of an expedition to find a safe port in southern California for Spanish ships returning from trading between Manila to Acapulco in southern Mexico (New Spain). On May 5, 1602, Vizcaino departed Acapulco with three ships, and on November 10, they sailed into what is now known as San Diego Bay, naming the area. In fact, many names in the region still bear the original names given by Vizcaino and his expedition, including Santa Barbara, Point Concepcion, Point Lobos, the Carmel River, and Monterey Bay.

After this successful expedition, Vizcaino was dispatched from Acapulco to Japan in 1611, arriving in June in Uraga, Kanagawa Prefecture for an audience with Tokugawa Hidetada at Edo Castle. They later met with Tokugawa Ieyasu at Sunpu Castle in Shizuoka. They received permission from Ieyasu to survey the Japanese coast, arriving in Sendai in November. Vizcaino had an audience with Date Masamune on November 10 and began surveying the northern coast of the Sendai domain. On December 2, they sailed off the coast of present-day Ofunato City, christening the area with the Spanish name, ‘San Andres’. They arrived just in time to bear witness to a large tsunami caused by the Keicho Sanriku earthquake and the destruction it caused. It was this voyage to this area which the Ofunato monument honors. Ironically, the original San Andres monument was badly damaged in the March 11, 2011 Great East Earthquake and Tsunami, necessitating the reconstruction of the structure and surrounding park in 2020.

After completing his survey all along the eastern coast of Japan, Vizcaino made plans to return to Mexico. However, he encountered a bad storm, severely damaging his ship, which forced his return to Kanagawa. Having lost his ship, he requested the shogunate provide the funds for the construction of a ship to return to Mexico. But this was refused, due to recent changes in Japan’s foreign policy and the impending Sakoku, Japan’s isolationist policy. In 1613, he found a more positive audience with Date Masamune of the Sendai Domain who agreed to finance the building of a ship, the San Juan Bautista, which was to be part of the first Date Embassy mission to Europe.  

Vizcaino sailed back to Acapulco with the mission and the Japanese envoy continued on to Mexico City. From there, they sailed from Veracruz on the Atlantic Ocean to Madrid, Spain, where they had an audience with King Philip III. Continuing onward, they sailed into Rome, Italy to have an audience with Pope Paul V as well. This mission marked the first time that Japanese people had traveled to Europe to conduct diplomatic negotiations. They were also the first Japanese to successfully cross both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Knowledge of the Date diplomatic mission had been largely lost to time in Japan until it was learned about during the Japanese Meiji-era missions to Europe more than two hundred years later.

The monument is located a short ten-minute walk southeast of the Ofunato BRT Bus Station. A replica of the San Juan Bautista ship, along with a museum chronicling the voyage, can be found in Ishinomaki City, just east of Sendai.