December 2, 1611 Tsunami: Sanriku, Japan
A tsunami caused by a magnitude 8.1 earthquake began at Sanriku, Japan on December 2, 1611. The water rose as high as 25 meters. Its effects were recorded at 11 places. It killed 5,000 people.
Where the waves reached
The source (white) and every runup with a place, colored by the water height recorded there. A ring is a runup NCEI marks doubtful.
- Under 1 m
- 1 to 3 m
- 3 to 10 m
- 10 to 30 m
- 30 m and more
- Height not recorded
Travel times
How long the first wave took to reach each part of the ocean, one line for each hour up to 24, estimated from the source and the depth of the sea.
The travel times are computed in your browser, which needs JavaScript.
- 1 to 4 hours
- 5 to 6 hours
- 7 to 14 hours
- 15 hours and more
Computed in your browser the way NOAA’s own travel time maps are: the wave travels at the square root of gravity times the depth, over NOAA’s ETOPO1 depths averaged to a 10 arc-minute grid. Checked against NOAA NCEI’s maps for 21 tsunamis over the first 24 hours, these lines fall within 10 minutes of NCEI’s at half the points compared and within 52 minutes at 9 in 10. They give when the first wave could arrive, not how high it is; bays, harbors and island chains finer than the grid can see it later. Not for use in a warning: see tsunami.gov.
The tsunami
- Date
- December 2, 1611
- Source
- Sanriku, Japan
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- Magnitude 8.1
- Maximum water height
- 25 m (82.0 ft)
- Runups recorded
- 11
- Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura)
- 4
- Tsunami magnitude (Iida)
- 3.5
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Definite tsunami
- Source location
- 39.000° N, 144.500° E
The toll
- Deaths
- 5,000
- Damage
- Severe (about $5 to $25 million)
Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
Dec. 2, 1611, 38.2 N, 143.9 E, magnitude 8.1. The tsunami resulting from the earthquake did great damage. The entire northeast shore of Honshu Island, from Sendai bay and to the north, and the southeastern shore of Hokkaido Island, were affected by the tsunami. The length of the coast which suffered damage was greater than in the Sanriku tsunami of 1896. The height of waves was 25 m at Yamada and Taro in Iwate Prefecture. At Date (Uchi'ura bay, Hokkaido Island), 1783 people died. On the coast of the southern part of the Tsugaru Peninsula in Aomori Prefecture, about 3000 people drowned along with many horses. At Taro in Iwate Prefecture, the water advanced 1.2 km inland. There were victims at Senkamatsu village, which is located 4 km from shore, and near Iwanuma, in Miyagi Prefecture. (reference #414)
Tsunami intensity 4. (reference #3785)
Dec. 2, 1611, 39 N, 144.5 E. Total about 5,000 persons drowned. Waves swept 4km inland. (reference #150)
Dec. 2, 1611. Sea waves on the coast of Sanriku and Hokkaido. (reference #1897)
Dec 2, 1611. Sanriku. 38.2 N, 143.8 E, magnitude 8.1. The violent tsunami killed 2,783 persons along the southern coast of Sanriku and over 3,000 of persons and horses along the northern coast of Sanriku. (reference #1065)
Dec. 2, 1611. Japan. Great sea waves flooded Yamada, a town 220 meters from the coast. Also Sanriku and Hokkaido. Wave at least 100 feet high at Koyatori. Forty-eight hundred lives lost. (reference #132)
Every runup
Nearest the source first. Heights are above sea level at the time; a tide gauge reads half the wave’s full height.
| Where | Country | Km from source | Water height, m | Inland, m | Measured by | First wave, UTC | Deaths |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Koyadori | Japan | 220 | 25 | Eyewitness observation of water height | |||
| Yamada | Japan | 226 | 25 | Eyewitness observation of water height | |||
| Ryori | Japan | 228 | 7 | Eyewitness observation of water height | |||
| Miyako | Japan | 229 | 9 | Eyewitness observation of water height | |||
| Okirai | Japan | 233 | 9 | Eyewitness observation of water height | |||
| Taro | Japan | 234 | 25 | 1,200 | Eyewitness observation of water height | ||
| Sendai | Japan | 313 | Eyewitness observation of water height | ||||
| Iwanuma | Japan | 331 | 7 | 4,000 | Eyewitness observation of water height | ||
| Nakamura | Japan | 334 | 6 | Eyewitness observation of water height | |||
| Tsugoru Peninsula | Japan | 381 | Eyewitness observation of water height | 3,000 | |||
| Date Dominion | Japan | 492 | Eyewitness observation of water height | 1,783 |
More
Every tsunami in 1611The 1600sTsunamis of JapanThe earthquakeThis day in weather historyAlerts in force
Sources
Tsunami events and runups from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-09-24. NCEI tsunami event 226.