By KENRO KURODA/ Staff Writer
August 27, 2023 at 17:14 JST
Newly discovered footage taken in Shizuoka Prefecture after the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake constitutes what is probably among the oldest 35-millimeter records of tsunami damage in Japan.
The footage, which runs for 13 minutes and 30 seconds, captures, among other things, wrecked homes and a boat stranded on a bridge in what was then the town of Ito, now a major city in Shizuoka Prefecture.
It was discovered last autumn by Tsuyoshi Yamabata, 25, a researcher at the Itabashi Science and Education Hall in Tokyo’s Itabashi Ward, who was preparing for an exhibition timed to coincide with the centenary of the disaster.
“The Great Kanto Earthquake is believed to be the first to be recorded after movie technology was introduced to Japan,” said Kanako Fukushima, a part-time lecturer of media archaeology at Musashino Art University. “We can say this is one of the first films to capture tsunami damage in Japan.”
The magnitude-7.9 earthquake, which struck the Kanto region at 11:58 a.m. on Sept. 1, 1923, claimed 105,385 lives.
According to a curator at the Ito board of education, a tsunami of around 5 meters struck Ito. About 80 people perished or were unaccounted for, and more than 1,000 homes were damaged, including 360 or so that were swept away.
The title says the footage was taken by photographers from The Asahi Shimbun’s Osaka Head Office.
According to a history of The Asahi Shimbun, as well as newspaper articles of the time, the photographers dispatched from the Osaka office in the afternoon of Sept. 1 arrived close to Numazu in Shizuoka Prefecture after train services were suspended.
Akira Tochigi, a visiting researcher at the National Film Archive of Japan, said it is safe to say the footage was taken by Asahi Shimbun photographers from Osaka as the locations matched the articles.
Part of the footage is included in a 16-mm film attributed to The Asahi Shimbun and stored at the National Film Archive of Japan.
But a six-minute portion that was not in the previous film included footage of tsunami damage in Ito, Fukushima said.
“It is well known that Tokyo and Yokohama suffered immense damage from fires in the Great Kanto Earthquake, but coastal areas of Shizuoka Prefecture also incurred substantial damage from tsunami,” said Kenji Satake, a professor of seismology at the University of Tokyo.
“The newly found footage is invaluable as a material to learn more about the damage and is an important tool for local people to prepare for a disaster,” he added.
The coastal town of Zushi, now a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, was also affected by tsunami generated by the Great Kanto Earthquake.
Fuji Takashima, who was 12 years old, recalled fleeing to the beach carrying her 2-year-old brother after a fisherman said the sandy terrain was safer from the shaking of the solid ground.
Just after she arrived at the beach, about 200 meters from home, she was told a tsunami was coming. She immediately headed for higher ground, desperate to save her brother.
“I cannot forget how scared I was,” said Takashima, whose feet still bear scars from earthquake debris. “When I turned back on the stairs, waves were crashing just behind my feet.”
The newly found footage will be shown to the public during an exhibition at the Itabashi Science and Education Hall from Sept. 2 to 9. The facility is closed on Sept. 4.
(Fumiko Yoshigaki contributed to this article.)
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Collapsed homes in the former town of Ito in Shizuoka Prefecture after a tsunami generated by the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake (Provided by Tsuyoshi Yamabata, Itabashi Ward)
