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˜ ’à ”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•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
• •
2 The orphan tsunami
PAGE
13
7
27
36
50
58
66
76
84
93
106110112124134
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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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