Remember the calamity of the great tsunamis. It reads: “High dwellings are the peace and harmony of our descendants. The stone was placed shortly after the 1933 tsunami, a four-foot-high marker located just above the tsunami’s highest reach. Aneyoshi had endured two devastating tsunamis, one in 1896 and another in 1933. One particularly well-documented tsunami stone stands in the village of Aneyoshi on Japan’s northeastern coast. Choose life over your possessions and valuables.” A tsunami stone in Kesennuma, a city in the Miyagi Prefecture, reads: “Always be prepared for unexpected tsunamis. Some act as monuments, giving death tolls from past tsunamis or marking mass graves of the victims. Dotted along the coast and ranging in height from 2 feet to 10 feet tall, these flat stones are especially common on Japan’s northeastern shores, often marking the highest point of a tsunami’s reach.Įach stone bears an inscription, although some are now too worn to read. More recently, the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami of 2011 left 15,894 dead, 6,156 injured, and 2,546 missing.ĭespite this tragic history, it’s proved all too easy for later generations to forget the warnings of the past.
In 1896, the Sanriku earthquake sent two tsunamis crashing into coastal settlements, destroying some 9,000 homes and killing at least 22,000.
The Great Yaeyama Tsunami of 1771 killed 8,439 people on Ishigaki Island and 2,548 more on Miyako. In 1707, a tsunami caused by the Hōei earthquake killed more than 5,000 people. Japan has borne the brunt of some of the worst tsunamis in history. The oldest were erected more than 600 years ago some have been washed away by ever more powerful waves. Hundreds of tsunami stones stand along the coast of Japan, stark warnings and reminders of the devastating impact of the country’s all too frequent tidal waves.
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