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Otsuchi On a tax map probably made in 1730, Otsuchi's houses line a road between bayside paddies and the district magistrates' office. To the southwest, smoke rises from kilns. Otsuchi magistrates stationed here, in a government office building (0yakuya iftni9:~), sent a report on the 1700 tsunami to Morioka castle. A later Otsuchi magistrate prepared a summary from which a Japanese earthquake historian would learn of the 1700 tsunami by 1943 (p. 62). The kilns may mark the area of salt evaporators reportedly damaged by the 1700 tsunami. Notes below kilns identify recipients of rice-tax revenues. Approximate north t Yokkamachi Paddies Y5kamachi Otsuchi's main street probably escaped flooding by the 1700 tsunami and also by the 1960 tsunami. Lining the street were neighborhoods named for their market days. The 1677 tsunami, of nearby source, entered 20 houses in the eighth-day neighborhood, Y5kamachi. THE PICTURE MAP, conserved at Morioka-shi Chuo Kominkan (p. 44), is probably tied to tax records from about 1730, according to Konishi Hiroaki, the Kominkan documents librarian (interviewed 1999). Text beside kilns describes division of74 koku (about 13,000 liters) of rice among Morioka-han (21 koku) and three samurai (17, 6, and 29 koku). In the fourth-day neighborhood (12] B IIIJ Yokkamachi), market days ended in four (4th day, 14th day, 24th day); likewise in the eighth-day neighborhood (/\ BlIlT Yokamachi), markets were open on the 8th, 18th, and 28th. OTSUCHI STATISTICS for 1803: 1465 persons, 273 houses, 42 boats (Takeuchi, 1985a, p. 172). 58 THE ORPHAN TSUNAMI OF 1700 Main points The sea invaded Otsuchi the same date and hour as it did 30 kIn to the north, in Kuwagasaki (p. 43, 72). The flooding damaged paddies, two houses, and two saltevaporation kilns (p. 60). This damage, though small, was reported to Edo, perhaps to help justify financial relief from the Tokugawa shogunate (p. 61). An earthquake historian included this flooding in an earthquake catalog issued in 1943 (p. 62). The flooding in 1700 probably stopped short of Otsuchi's main Edo-period street. The 1751 Chile tsunami reportedly crossed this street, but the 1960 Chile tsunami did not (p. 64). Because of puzzling regional subsidence, places covered by the 1700 tsunami in Otsuchi may now stand a meter lower, relative to the sea, than they did in 1700 (p. 65). ~J"sanrik~ '. coast o . o-Edo '. o o--Tanabe o o Known site of 1700 Cascadia tsunami Setting o 100 km I , I I Kuwagasaki . Miyako O"--Otsuchi Otsuchi district Nestled between hills and bayside paddies, Edo-period Otsuchi stretched along a road between two river mouths. Houses flanked both sides of the street. In a side valley stood the office of a magistrate, or magistrates, who administered the Otsuchi district of Morioka-han. Documents Morioka-han "Zassho" provides the main account of the 1700 tsunami in Otsuchi. Like the entry about the tsunami in Kuwagasaki (p. 36), it is based on a report from coastal magistrates (p. 44). The report from Otsuchi probably reached Morioka castle the day after the report on Kuwagasaki arrived from Miyako (p. 60). The 1700 tsunami killed no person or horse in Otsuchi, according to "Otsuchi kokon daidenki," a chronological record of the Otsuchi magistrates' office. A secondary source, "Daidenki" contains material from 1596 to 1796 that was compiled and edited in Otsuchi by Ogawa Magobei Yoshiyasu (1735-1820). The oldest surviving version was copied from Ogawa's compilation. The compiler or the copyist wrote the 1700 tsunami's month and hour but neglected its day. Before earthquake historians found the "Zassho" account, this omission in "Daidenki" obscured the link between the 1700 tsunami in Otsuchi and the flooding of similar character in Tanabe (p. 62). Sanriku a-tsunami Sanriku great tsunamis dekishisha seirei drowned-persons' souls kuyata monument for prayer Other tsunamis A tsunami memorial, for victims in 1896 and 1933, stands in the cemetery of K5ganji Temple, 6tsuchi. Tsunamis generated off northeast Honshu devastated Otsuchi in 1611, 1896, and 1933. Deaths from the 1611 waves totaled about 800 in Otsuchi and vicinity. In the town of Otsuchi alone, the 1896 and 1933 tsunamis took 600 and 61 lives, respectively. An inscription on the back of a memorial stone, above, further states that the town lost more than 600 houses to each of these latter tsunamis. Lesser near-source tsunamis reached heights of several meters in Otsuchi in 1677, 1793, 1856, and 1968. The 1677 tsunami covered the floor in 20 of...

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