orphan tsunami of 1700: japanese clues to a parent earthquake in north america

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The Orphan Tsunami of 1700

みなしご元禄津波

Japanese clues to a parent earthquake in North America

親地震は北米西海岸にいた

Second edition

第2版

United States Geological Survey

Reston, Virginia

in association with

University of Washington Press

Seattle and London

Brian F. ATWATER

MUSUMI-ROKKAKU Satoko

SATAKE KenjiTSUJI Yoshinobu

UEDA Kazue

David K. YAMAGUCHI

ブライアン・ F・アトウォーター

六角聰子

佐竹健治都司嘉宣

上田和枝

デイビッド・ K・ヤマグチ


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University of Washington Press

www.washington.edu/uwpress

Published 2015

The first edition of this book was published simultaneously in

2005 by the U. S. Geological Survey and University of

Washington Press. The first edition was reprinted in 2010 by

University of Washington Press, with corrections. Revisions in

the second edition are limited to the cover, the added prefaceand afterword, and a few further corrections. The afterword

lengthens the book by two numbered pages.

Printed in Canada for University of Washington Press

22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 5 4 3 2 1

The paper used in this book is acid-free and meets the

minimum requirements of American National Standard for

Information Sciences — Permanence of Paper for Printed

Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.

An electronic version of the book, and of any updates to it, can

be found at http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/pp1707.

Although this book is in the public domain, it contains images

that are not. These images, indexed on page 109, should be

reproduced only with permission from their owners.

The authors receive no royalties from this publication.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

The orphan tsunami of 1700 : Japanese clues to a parent

earthquake in North America — Second edition / Brian F.

Atwater ... [et al.] = [Minashigo Genroku tsunami : oya-jishin

wa Hokubei nishi kaigan ni ita / Buraian F. Atowota ... et al.].

p. cm. -- (Professional paper ; 1707)

Captions and table of contents also in Japanese.

Parallel title and statement of responsibility also in

Japanese characters.

Includes bibliographical references and index.ISBN 978-0-295-99809-1 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-0-295-99808-4 (paperback)

1. Paleoseismology--Northwest, Pacific.

2. Paleoseismology--Holocene. 3. Subduction zones--

Northwest, Pacific. 4. Tsunamis--Japan--History--18th

century--Sources. I. Title: Minashigo Genroku tsunami : oya-

jishin wa Hokubei nishi kaigan ni ita. II. Atwater, Brian F. III.

U.S. Geological Survey professional paper ; 1707.

QE539.2.P34 O77

551.2'2'09795--dc22

Suggested citation

Atwater, B.F., Musumi-Rokkaku, S., Satake, K., Tsuji, Y.,

Ueda, K., and Yamaguchi, D.K., 2015, The orphan tsunami

of 1700 — Japanese clues to a parent earthquake in North

America, 2nd ed.: Seattle, University of Washington Press,

U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1707, 135 p.

2005

200505040

Prepared in cooperation with the Geological Survey of Japan

(National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology),

the University of Tokyo, and the University of Washington

http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/pp1707http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/pp1707http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/pp1707


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v

LANGUAGE NOTES

THE BOOK’S TITLE in Japanese, “Minashigo Genroku

tsunami,” means “The orphan tsunami of the Genroku era.”

In western calendars, the Genroku era began in 1688 and

ended in 1704. Japanese written records tell of but one

Genroku tsunami of remote origin. It dates to the year 1700

(p. 42).

THE SUBTITLE, “Oya-jishin wa Hokubei nishi kaigan ni

ita,” means, “The parent earthquake was along the west coast

of North America.”

JAPANESE CITIZENS’ NAMES appear in customary order,

family name first. For clarity, the authors’ family names

contain small capital letters on the title page, pages 110-111,

and the back cover.

TO WRITE JAPANESE WORDS in Roman letters we use avariant of the Hepburn system. The vowel sounds resemble

those in Spanish: a resembles the first vowel in “mama," e

the final vowel in “Santa Fé,” i the second vowel in “police,”

o the first vowel in “José,” and u the first vowel in “uno.” The

combination ei prolongs the e sound, as does ii for i.

Prolonged o and u take macrons (ö, ü) except in

internationalized words (Tokyo = Tökyö). The n is

pronounced m before b or p (Nambu, Sumpu) as it is in

English (imbalance, empower). Additional changes in sound

at the junctures between syllables or words are footnoted on

pages 38, 52, 60, 68, and 78. A slight pause precedes a

doubled consonant ( yokka).

‚ Ý‚ È ‚ µ ‚ ² Œ ³˜ ’Ã ”g

•e’n•k ‚ Í – k Ä •ŠCŠÝ ‚ É ‚ ¢ ‚ ½

minashigo Genroku tsunami

oya-jishin wa Hokubei nishi kaigan ni ita

JAMES CURTIS HEPBURN (1815-1911), an American missionary, devised the

system now employed widely, in modified form, to transcribe Japanese sounds

into Roman letters. The standard dictionary by Nelson and Haig (1997) uses the

Hepburn system. We hyphenate most counters (as in niji-kken, p. 39) but follow

Nelson and Haig in closing compounds for the day counter ka ( yöka, yokka).

“ORPHAN TSUNAMI” is probably a modern term of North American origin.


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Preface to the second edition

3 The orphan’s parent

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Introduction

Earthquake potential Tsunami potentialFlood stories Alaskan analogSunken shores Sand sheetsIn harm’s way Currents and cracksMagnitude 9?

Literate hostsWetted places Primary sources

KuwagasakiAccount in Morioka-han “Zassho”Words for waves Converting time

Samurai scribes High groundTsunami size

TsugaruishiAccount in Moriai-ke “Nikki kakitome chö”Human error Social statusForeign waves Tsunami size

ÖtsuchiAccount in Morioka-han “Zassho”Report to Edo Collected writingsTsunami size

NakaminatoAccount in Öuchi-ke “Go-yödome”Certified loss Fair-weather wavesSimulated waves

MihoAccount in “Miho-mura yöji oboe”Tidal waves Tsunami size

TanabeAccount in “Tanabe-machi daichö”Tsunami size near a storehouseTsunami size near Tanabe BaySawtooth cycles

By elimination Tree-ring tests

Magnitude 9 Muddy forecastHigh-enough ground Seismic waves

AcknowledgmentsAuthorsReferencesIndexAfterword, 2015

1 Unearthed earthquakes•

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2 The orphan tsunami

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Preface to the second edition æ 2” Å Ì

• ¶

THE PACIFIC OCEAN TSUNAMI of 2011 arose from sudden

displacement of the ocean floor off the northeast coast of Japan, during

an earthquake of magnitude 9. The earthquake shook Japanese shores

where the tsunami soon took thousands of lives. The tsunami also

fanned out across the Pacific toward shores where the shaking had notbeen felt. Those far-traveled waves caused concern on the west coast of

North America, but the losses there were comparatively light.

This book tells of a tsunami in 1700 that crossed the Pacific in the

reverse direction. It began when the ground shook and the ocean floor

lurched in the Cascadia region of western North America. It soon

swelled bays and river mouths along the region's outer coast. It also

crossed the Pacific to Japan, where no perceived earthquake forewarned

of its approach. Flooding and damage on Japanese shores, though minor

overall, were recorded in writing by samurai, merchants, and peasants.

Nearly three centuries later, this written history in Japan would bematched with natural and oral history in Cascadia, and the combination

would clarify earthquake and tsunami hazards in western North America.

The 1700 tsunami is reconstructed in these pages from clues in North

America and Japan. The book exhibits this far-flung evidence, describes

how it came to light, and explains how it was pieced together. The

presented findings are unchanged from the first edition, which appeared a

decade ago. New to the second edition is an afterword about an unusual

North American precaution against a tsunami like the one in 1700.

Brian F. Atwater and David K. YamaguchiSeattle

August 2015

1Preface


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”_

Žm

Žm

•

Žm

Kuwagasaki

Miyako

Tsugaruishi

Ötsuchi

Road with paired dots atintervals of 1 ri (4 km)

Shippingroute

Nakaminato

Miho

Tanabe

Castle

PLACEport

villagecastle town

OTHER SITES whereaccount was written or

where tsunami entered

LOSSESbuildings

fields or cropssalt kilns

WRITERS samurai

peasant merchant

Žm

”_•

Kuwagasaki p. 36-49 Adjoined Miyako,where Morioka-hanhad a district office.Nearly 300 houses

Ötsuchi p. 58-65 Like Miyako,headquarters of anadministrative districtof Morioka-han

Nakaminato p. 66-75Transferred cargobetween seagoing

ships and river boatsthat plied inlandwaterways to Edo

Miho p. 76-83 Picturesque placenear the Tökaidö.Population 300

Tanabe p. 84-92 Capitol of a sector ofWakayama-han.Population no less

than 2600

-han, daimyo domain

Tsugaruishi p. 50-57 Along a farmed plainand a river known forcrook-nose salmon.

Nearly 200 houses

The tsunami accountoriginated in Miyako. It wasdelivered inland to Morioka,where it entered administra-tive records of Morioka-han.

13 housesdestroyed byflooding, 20 moreby a concurrentfire

Magistrates inMiyako andscribes inMorioka castle

The tsunami accountoriginated in Ötsuchi. Asummary survived there, asdo details in administrativerecords in Morioka. Losseswere said to have beenreported to Edo.

The account focuses on ashipwreck in rocks offshoreof Isohama village, nearby.

The cargo originated inNakamura-han. Officials ofMito-han investigated.

The account remained inMiho, where it was laterincluded in an anthology ofheadmen’s writings.

Farming or fishingsettlements near Tanabe:Atonoura, Mera,Mikonohama, and Shinjö

The writer describes lossesalong the nearby bayshoreand mentions, as hearsay,the flooding and fire in

Kuwagasaki.

Damaged:

22paddies andfields

Two sailors killedand nearly 30tons of rice sunk

in an accidentcaused mainly bya storm

No damagereported

Rice paddies andwheat crops lostin Atonoura,Mera,

Mikonohama, andShinjö.Governmentstorehouseflooded in Shinjö

Magistrates inÖtsuchi andscribes inMorioka castle

The boat’s crewand officials ofIsohama village

Officials ofMito-han

Villageheadman

Mayor ofTanabe, alsoserving asdistrict mayor

of surroundingvillages

Housesdestroyed byflooding alongbayshore near

Tsugaruishi

Family thatlaterpurchasedsamurai

status

Mito

Isohama

rocks

PLACES FLOODED by the 1700 tsunami in Japan includeKuwagasaki, Tsugaruishi, Ötsuchi, Miho, and Tanabe. Someof the accounts mention damage in additional villages. In oneaccount, the tsunami takes the form of rough seas that initiatea nautical accident near Nakaminato. The writers represent

three of their society’s four main classes: the bushi, or samu-rai; farmers and other peasants; and merchants (p. 53).

The main accounts grace the next two pages. We parsethem, from north to south, in the six chapters that follow.

33The orphan tsunami


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orphan tsunami of 1700: japanese clues to a parent earthquake in north america

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