The Izu Peninsula serves as the turning point between a coastal passage and a dangerous open-water crossing. On the galley journey carrying Toranaga toward Anjiro, the route down the peninsula’s eastern coast led to Cape Ito; from there, the vessel turned west-southwest toward Cape Shinto, roughly two hundred miles away. The peninsula is therefore more than a landmark: its southern cape marks the moment when the protection of the shoreline gives way to the demands of open sea.

The Coastal Route

During the first night, the galley sped south along the eastern coast of the Izu Peninsula, aided by the large sail on its midships mast. After reaching the southernmost cape, Cape Ito, Rodrigues changed course west-southwest for a landfall at Cape Shinto. The route made the peninsula a navigational boundary: the coast offered a safer passage, but leaving it saved time on a journey whose urgency mattered to Toranaga.

Navigation and Risk

Rodrigues explained that galleys would normally hug the coast for safety, but that doing so would cost too much time. The alternative required taking the vessel out of sight of land. In the novel’s maritime world, that choice carried particular risk: existing charts were often too vague to be useful, and navigators had no way to determine longitude. A pilot’s rutter could supply detailed observations of courses, depths, currents, winds, hazards, and places to shelter or take on water, but such information depended on the pilot’s experience and could contain errors. The passage from Cape Ito toward Cape Shinto thus puts navigational knowledge under pressure: a route recorded or remembered on paper still had to be judged at sea.

Strategic Significance

The journey also connects the peninsula’s coastline to the limits imposed on Japanese ocean travel. Rodrigues said that Japanese sailors were skilled coastal navigators, while the open sea frightened them; under a law made by The Taikō, the few ocean-going ships Japan possessed had to carry Portuguese pilots. In this account, the passage from the Izu Peninsula toward Anjiro is not simply a change of direction. It exposes how command of ships and specialized piloting could shape movement between Japanese shores, and why a fast crossing depended on both a pilot’s decisions and the vessel’s ability to leave the coast.