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| Date | September 1, 1923 |
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| Origin time | 11:58:32 |
| Duration | 4 minutes[1] |
| Magnitude | 7.9 Mw |
| Countries or regions | Japan |
The Great Kantō earthquake (関東大震災 Kantō daishinsai) struck the Kantō plain on the Japanese main island of Honshū at 11:58:44 am JST (2:58:44 UTC) on September 1, 1923. Varied accounts hold that the duration of the earthquake was between 4 and 10 minutes.[2] This is the deadliest earthquake in Japanese history, and at the time was the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in the region. The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake later surpassed that record.
The earthquake had a magnitude of 7.9 on the Moment magnitude scale(Mw),[3] with its focus deep beneath Izu Ōshima Island in the Sagami Bay. The cause was a massive rupture of the Sagami Trough, due the exertion of enormous energy from the Philippine Sea Plate subducting under the Okhotsk Plate.
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This earthquake devastated Tokyo, the port city of Yokohama, surrounding prefectures of Chiba, Kanagawa, and Shizuoka, and caused widespread damage throughout the Kantō region.[4] The power and intensity was astonishing: it managed to move the 93-ton Great Buddha statue at Kamakura which was over 60 km away from the epicenter, sliding it forward almost two feet.[5][6]
Casualty estimates range from about 142,800 deaths, the including approximately 40,000 who went missing and were presumed dead. The damage from this natural disaster was the greatest sustained by Prewar Japan. In 1960, the government of Japan declared September 1, the anniversary of the quake, as an annual "Disaster Prevention Day."
According to the Japanese construction company Kajima Kobori Research's conclusive report of September 2004, there were 105,385 confirmed deaths in the 1923 quake.[7][8][9]
Because the earthquake struck at lunchtime when many people were using fire to cook food, the damage and the number of fatalities were augmented due to fires which broke out in numerous locations. The fires spread rapidly due to high winds from a nearby typhoon off the coast of Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture, and some developed into firestorms which swept across cities. As a result many people died when their feet got stuck in melting tarmac; however, the single greatest loss of life occurred when approximately 38,000 people packed into an open space at the Rikugun Honjo Hifukusho (Former Army Clothing Depot) in downtown Tokyo were incinerated by a firestorm-induced fire whirl. As the earthquake had caused water mains to break, putting out the fires took nearly two full days until late in the morning of September 3. The fires were the biggest causes of death.
The Emperor and Empress were at Nikko when the earthquake struck the city, and were never in any danger.[10]
Cases of homes being buried or swept away by landslides were particularly frequent in the mountainous areas and hilly coastal areas in western Kanagawa Prefecture. These cases were reported as responsible for the deaths of about 800 people. At the railway station in the village of Nebukawa, west of Odawara, a collapsing mountainside pushed a passing passenger train with over 100 passengers downhill into the sea along with the entire station structure and the village itself. A tsunami reached the coast within minutes in some areas, hitting the coast of Sagami Bay, Boso Peninsula, Izu Islands and the east coast of Izu Peninsula. Tsunami waves up to 10 meters high were recorded. Examples of tsunami casualties include about 100 people killed along Yui-ga-hama beach in Kamakura and an estimated 50 people on the Enoshima causeway. Over 570,000 homes were destroyed, leaving an estimated 1.9 million homeless. Some evacuees were transported by ship to as far from Kanto as the port of Kobe in Kansai.[11] The damage is estimated to have exceeded one billion U.S. dollars at present day values. There were 57 aftershocks counted.
At around the time of the earthquake, a strong typhoon struck the Tokyo Bay area. Some scientists, including C.F. Brooks of the United States Weather Bureau hypothesise that the opposing forces exerted by a sudden decrease of atmospheric pressure coupled with a sudden increase of pressure from the sea caused by storm surge on an already-stressed earthquake fault may have been enough to trigger the initial quake. Altogether the earthquake and typhoon killed an estimated 99,300 people, and another 43,500 went missing.[12]
The Home Ministry declared martial law, and ordered all sectional police chiefs to make maintenance of order and security a top priority. One particularly pernicious rumor was that Koreans were taking advantage of the disaster, committing arson and robbery, and were in possession of bombs. In the aftermath of the quake, mass murder of Koreans by brutal mobs occurred in urban Tokyo and Yokohama, fueled by rumors of rebellion and sabotage.[13] Some newspapers reported the rumors as fact, which led to the most deadly rumor of all: that the Koreans were poisoning wells. The numerous fires and cloudy well water, a little-known effect of a large quake, all seemed to confirm the rumors of the panic-stricken survivors who were living amidst the rubble. Vigilante groups set up roadblocks in cities, towns and villages across the region. Because people with Korean accents pronounced "G" or "J" in the beginning of words differently, 15円 50銭 (jū-go-en, go-jū-sen) and がぎぐげご (gagigugego) were used as a shibboleth. Anyone who failed to pronounce them properly was deemed Korean. Some were told to leave, but many were beaten or killed. Moreover, anyone mistakenly identified as Korean, such as Chinese, Okinawans, and Japanese speakers of some regional dialects, suffered the same fate. About 700 Chinese, mostly from Wenzhou, were killed.[14] A monument commemorating this was built in 1993 in Wenzhou.[15]
In response, the Japanese Army and the police conducted operations to protect Koreans. More than 2,000 Koreans were taken in for protection from the mobs across the region, although recent studies have shown that there were incidents where army and police personnel are known to have condoned or even colluded in the vigilante killings in some areas. The chief of police of Tsurumi (or Kawasaki by some accounts) is reported to have publicly drunk the well-water to disprove the rumour that Koreans had been poisoning wells. In some towns, even police stations into which Korean people had escaped were attacked by mobs, whereas in other neighbourhoods residents took steps to protect them. The Army distributed flyers denying the rumour and warning civilians against attacking Koreans, but in many cases vigilante activity only ceased as a result of Army operations against it.
The total death toll from these disturbances is uncertain. According to the investigation by the Home Ministry, confirmed victims of vigilante violence were: 231 Koreans killed, 43 injured; 3 Chinese killed; 59 Japanese killed, 43 injured. Actual estimates of Korean murder victims range from 2,500 to 6,600.[16] 362 Japanese civilians were eventually charged for murder, attempted murder, manslaughter and assault. However, most got off with nominal sentences, and even those who were sent to jail were later released with a general pardon commemorating the marriage of Prince Hirohito.
All of those charged with murder were civilians, despite the fact that some military and police units are now known to have taken part in the crimes, prompting accusations of a cover-up. On top of this violence, socialists like Hirasawa Keishichi, anarchists like Sakae Osugi and Noe Ito, and the Chinese communal leader, Ou Kiten, were abducted and killed by members of the police, who took advantage of the turmoil to liquidate perceived enemies of the state amidst claims that radicals intended to use the crisis as an opportunity to overthrow the Japanese government.[17]
The importance of obtaining and providing accurate information following natural disasters has been emphasized in Japan ever since. Earthquake preparation literature in modern Japan almost always directs citizens to carry a portable radio and use it to listen to reliable information, and not to be misled by rumors in the event of a large earthquake.
Following the devastation of the earthquake, some in the government considered the possibility of moving the capital elsewhere. [18] Proposed sites for the new capital were even discussed.
After the earthquake, Gotō Shimpei organized a reconstruction plan of Tokyo with modern networks of roads, trains, and public services. Parks were placed all over Tokyo as refuge spots and public buildings were constructed with stricter standards than private buildings to accommodate refugees. However, the outbreak of World War II and subsequent destruction severely limited resources.
Frank Lloyd Wright received credit for designing the Imperial Hotel, Tokyo to withstand the quake, although in fact the building was damaged by the shock. The destruction of the US embassy caused Ambassador Cyrus Woods to relocate the embassy to the hotel.[19] Wright's structure withstood the anticipated earthquake stresses; and the hotel remained in use until 1968.
The unfinished battlecruiser Amagi was in drydock being converted into an aircraft carrier in Yokosuka in compliance with the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922. However, the earthquake damaged Amagi beyond repair, leading it to be scrapped, and the unfinished fast battleship Kaga was converted into an aircraft carrier in its place.
Beginning in 1960, every September 1 is designated as Disaster Prevention Day to commemorate the earthquake and remind people of the importance of preparation, as September and October are the middle of the typhoon season. Schools, public and private organizations host disaster drills. Tokyo is located near a fault zone beneath the Izu peninsula which, on average, causes a major earthquake about once every 70 years, and is also located near the Sagami Trough, a large subduction zone that threatens to create a massive earthquake that, in the darkest case, would kill millions in the Kanto Region. Every year on this date, schools across Japan take a moment of silence at the precise time the earthquake hit in memory of the lives lost.
There are some discreet memorials in Yokoamicho Park in Sumida Ward, at the site of the open space in which an estimated 38,000 people were killed by a single firestorm. The park houses a Buddhist-style memorial hall/museum, a memorial bell donated by Taiwanese Buddhists, a memorial to the victims of World War II Tokyo air raids, and a memorial to the Korean victims of the vigilante killings.
Several Japanese films, books, and shows were based on this disaster, including the examples below.
In Nihon Chinbotsu (1973 film), due to the fast-moving subduction of the Pacific and Eurasian plates, the Sagami Trough ruptures in a massive earthquake called "The Second Great Kanto Earthquake". The quake in the film flattens many buildings, causes Tokyo's three rivers to flood and wash out the lower east side of Tokyo in a series of tidal waves, and crushing overpasses and bridges, killing millions of people. Like the 1923 Kanto Earthquake, the quake also causes a series of major firestorms that burn the Kanto Region to the ground. The quake in the film also flattened Yokohama, Chiba, and other large cities, killing millions more. In the film, all told the quake killed between three million and four million or more. In the manga (cartoon) version of Sinking of Japan, the Second Kanto Earthquake killed over five million.
In Japan Sinks, in one scene in the book, due to the fast-moving subduction of the Pacific and Eurasian plates, the Sagami Trough ruptures in a magnitude 8.5 earthquake, killing several million people in Tokyo and other areas, caused major tsunamis, and created major firestorms.
In the historical fantasy novel Teito Monogatari (Hiroshi Aramata) a supernatural explanation is given for the cause of the Great Kanto Earthquake, connecting it with the principles of Feng Shui.
In Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, the Sagami Trough ruptures in a magnitude 8.0 earthquake, killing over 200,000 in Tokyo, causing floods and fires and putting the main character at risk.
Waki Yamato's manga Haikara-san ga Tōru actually reaches its climax after the Great Kanto Earthquake -- which happens right before the wedding of the female lead, Benio Hanamura, and her second love Tousei. During it the male lead, Shinobu Iijyuin, not only recovers his memories (which he had lost some time ago), but sees his other love interest (Larissa) die; before passing away, she begs him to leave her and search for Benio. Traumatised and injured, Shinobu does so and manages to find Benio among the wreckage, renewing their bond. Tousei arrives and, since they're both in great risk, each of the lovers beg Tousei to save the other's life; he manages to save them both and then concedes, allowing them to get married.
Similarly, the josei manga and anime Kasei Yakyoku (by author Makiko Hirata) also finishes few after the Earthquake, as a corollary to the main love triangle between the noblewoman Akiko, her lover Taka and Akiko's maid Sara. [20]
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