1651 Tsunami: Peru-Northern Chile

Reference #414:

1651, tsunami event validity: possible. A tsunami was observed in Miyagi Prefecture on the coast of Watari district, south of Iwanuma, about which oral legends have survived. A report on a Chilean tsunami (Anon., 1961), considers that the tsunami came from a remote origin, presumably from a South American earthquake. Imamura considers this case to be waves of storm origin (Imamura, 1949; Musya, 1951; Anon., 1961; Iida et a1., 1967). [There are no references to a tsunami in South America in 1651 in the earthquake catalogues of Chile, Peru or other countries.]

Reference #79:

1651. Source Peru (?), Chile (?), tsunami observation Miyagi, Watari. By oral tradition a tsunami occurred. Japan Meteorological Agency considers this a distant tsunami and attributes it to South American origin, although Imamura considers it a possible storm surge. Milne lists a large Peru-Chile quake in this year but does not mention waves. [Note: a subsequent catalog (reference #150) published by the same author does not include this event.]

Reference #13536:

An oral inscription in "Dai-Nihon Jishin-Shiryou” (1941) states that "Kaisho,” an old Japanese word meaning sea level disturbances including storm surges and tsunamis, was in Keian 4 (1651) in Higashiura, Miyagi Prefecture. Iida (1984) introduced two theories, one interpreting this occurrence as a wind tsunami and the other refuting it as a tsunami from South America; however, all cited documents do not positively regard it as an earthquake tsunami. In addition, the notes in "Miyagi Kaiho-shi" [Miyagi Prefecture (1903)], which is the first written version of the oral inscription of the tsunami, indicate that the original information was based solely on one narrator, has a wide range of approximately 10 years, and does not specify the type of phenomenon. This oral inscription is far from any documentation indicating a tsunami occurrence caused by an earthquake in that particular year. As mentioned above, no evidence of a tsunami caused by the 1651 earthquake in Peru, including that in Japan, was found.

Reference #13561:

Notes in “Miyagi-ken Kaisho-shi” [Miyagi Pref. (1903)], which is the first written version of the oral inscription of the tsunami, indicate that the original information was based solely on one narrator, has a wide range oof approximately 10 years, and does not specify the type of phenomenon. No evidence of a tsunami caused by the 1651 earthquake in Peru, including that in Japan, was found. (reference #13561)