December 24, 1854 Tsunami: Nankaido, Japan

Ref #150: 1854, Dec 24 [Nov 5, 3-5pm, Ansei 1 (Japanese calendar)].

About 20,000 houses destroyed, 15,000 houses washed away, 6,000 burned houses, 3,000 deaths in total. 28m high tsunami at Kochi, 10m high at Koga in Kochi Pref, Yunomine and Dogo Hotspring stopped about 2 months.

Ref #414: 1854, Dec. 24, 17:00 (local time). A catastrophic earthquake at Nankaido, accompanied by a destructive tsunami.

A stretch of coast about 640 km long (along a straight line) affected by a strong tsunami caused by the earthquake. The tsunami was slight on the Boso Peninsula and on the eastern coast of Kyushu Is. Rather high tidal waves were observed on the coast of Shizuoka Prefecture and in the northern part of Ise Bay, in the vicinity of Atsuta and Yokkaichi. In places on the section from the Izu Peninsula to Kumano-Nada, homes were washed away or seriously damaged by the flood. The western coast of the Kii Peninsula and the coast Tosa Gulf west of Akaoka and Urado suffered especially heavily.

Akaoka and Urado suffered especially heavily. Having devastated the coast of Nankaido, the tsunami crossed the Kii Strait into Osaka Bay, where it also did considerable damage, even causing human victims. The tsunami reached the vicinity of Urado about 30 min to an hour after the earthquake, and Osaka in 2 hours. Some of the waves penetrated to Harima-Nada through the straits at Naruto and Akashi and did damage at Ako. The waves also crossed the Inner Sea of Japan through the Bungo Strait and reached the vicinity of Mitsuhama (Ehime Prefecture).

The tsunami did enormous damage. In Kochi, Wakayama and Osaka Prefectures, about 15,000 homes were washed away. The total number of human victims on Dec 24 was 3,000, of which the majority perished in the tsunami. In addition, many ships, fishing boats, monuments, temples, roads and dikes were washed away or destroyed. Cultivated fields also suffered on an enormous area.

Ref #3777: Ansei Nankai Tsunami, Dec 24, 1854 with m=4, death toll was about 3,000 in Japan.

Ref #11412: This is the true story of "the fire of rice sheaves," told in both old Japanese textbooks and in the story written by Lafcadio Hearn. On a winter morning about 150 years ago, Hiro-mura village was hit by an earthquake. Upon seeing that the sea differed from usual the villagers evacuated to Hirohachiman Shrine, fearing a tsunami, but were relieved to see that no damage had occurred. However early afternoon of the next day, a villager rushed into Goryou's home and said, "It's a crisis! The well water has run dry!" At 4:00 in the evening, a huge earthquake incomparable to the one of the previous day occurred. Houses fell down and roof tiles were blown off. People repeatedly heard sounds like the roar of cannons, and dark cirrus clouds rapidly spread. Finally a huge tsunami rushed toward the village. "Run! Head up the hill! A tsunami is coming!" Swallowed by the waves, Goryou frantically yelled at the villagers and urged them to evacuate to Hirohachiman Shrine. The tsunami traveled up the river washing away houses and agricultural fields, and then returned to the sea at frightening speed. Left around them was a hopeless sight. Adults and children alike were milling around calling for and trying to find their families. Goryou noticed there must be people wandering around in the dark, unsure of where to evacuate to. Suddenly he thought, "I know, I'll set fire to the rice sheaves up on the hill, even if it is a bit wasteful," and he set fire to the rice sheaves. Drawn by the fire the villagers who had failed to escape then started arriving on the hill one after another. "Oh, I was saved because of the fire." Just as the 9th villager reached the safety zone, a tsunami much bigger than before rushed toward the village and also extinguished the fire of rice sheaves.