Moroiso (諸磯) is the name of an inlet in the

Miura Peninsula is a peninsula located in Kanagawa, Japan. It lies south of Yokohama and Tokyo and divides Tokyo Bay, to the east, from Sagami Bay, to the west. Cities and towns on the Miura Peninsula include Yokosuka, Miura, Hayama, Zushi, and Kamakura. ...

south of

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Prehistory

Moroiso was settled by Jōmon people by at least 3,000 BCE. Evidence from that period have been found, including sedentary to semi-sedentary housing,

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and por ...

, stone tools and fishing implements. Moroiso became the archeological name for the Early Jōmon period of Japanese prehistory corresponding to the Moroiso pottery style, dated to around 5.000 years before present. The Moroiso period also coincides with the hypsithermal interval, the warmest period since the last

glaciation A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betw ...

, when sea levels were around 6 meters higher than today.

History

During historic times, the rugged and hilly Moroiso coastline, together with the adjoining

Aburatsubo is an inlet on the west side of the Miura Peninsula in Kanagawa, Japan, facing Sagami Bay on the Pacific Ocean. It exits into neighbouring Moroiso inlet. History During historic times, the Aburatsubo inlet was selected by the feudal Miura fa ...

inlet, was selected by the feudal

Miura clan Miura may refer to: Places *Miura, Kanagawa *Miurakaigan Station *Miura District, Kanagawa *Miura Peninsula * Ganadería Miura, the home of the Miura fighting bull line People * Miura (surname) *Miura clan, Japanese descended clan of the Taira ...

to build a series of fortifications, with the Arai castle at its center. During the warring period of

Sengoku The was a period in Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the feudal system of Japan under the Ashikaga shogunate. Various s ...

, the castle fell after a 3-year siege to the rival Hōjō samurai family, in the year 1516. The Hōjō later managed to unify most of the Kantō area around

World War II

Late of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

in 1945, the

Japanese Navy , abbreviated , also simply known as the Japanese Navy, is the maritime warfare branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, tasked with the naval defense of Japan. The JMSDF was formed following the dissolution of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) ...

selected the Misaki Marine Biological Station of the

University of Tokyo , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project by ...

at Moroiso as training school and harbour for a fleet of

Kamikaze , officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to d ...

midget submarine A midget submarine (also called a mini submarine) is any submarine under 150 tons, typically operated by a crew of one or two but sometimes up to six or nine, with little or no on-board living accommodation. They normally work with mother ships, ...

s, the ''Kairyu'' (海龍 "Sea Dragons"

They were supposed to be employed in

suicide bombing A suicide attack is any violent attack, usually entailing the attacker detonating an explosive, where the attacker has accepted their own death as a direct result of the attacking method used. Suicide attacks have occurred throughout histor ...

missions against the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

ships during its final approach to

, but the war ended before any of them could see action. After the war, the facility was returned to the university and is still visible today.

Today

Moroiso harbours a small fishing community and a few hundred pleasure boats on moorings or stored on the ground. With the neighbouring

inlet, Moroiso has been considered as the birthplace of modern recreational

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (land yacht) over a chosen cour ...

in Japan. Due to the lack of space on the water inside the inlet itself, many boats are stored on the ground, typically using an adapted

forklift A forklift (also called lift truck, jitney, hi-lo, fork truck, fork hoist, and forklift truck) is a powered industrial truck used to lift and move materials over short distances. The forklift was developed in the early 20th century by various c ...

system which allows to put on the water boats up to 40 ft, in a matter of minutes.

References

{{coord missing, Kanagawa Prefecture Bays of Japan Landforms of Kanagawa Prefecture