[S-SS08] Active faults and paleoseismology

[SSS08-01] Questions about the historical document "To-ura Narikitaru Kyukisho no Utsushi" describing the 1512 great-wave disaster at Shishikui in southeast Shikoku, Japan

*Katsuhiko Ishibashi¹ (1.Emeritus Professor, Kobe University)

Keywords:Shishikui, 1512 tsunami, Eisho, old record, historical source criticism

The historical document "To-ura Narikitaru Kyukisho no Utsushi" (A) in "Endo-ji Kaizan-juji Yukei no Kyuki" (B), which is preserved in the Dainichi-ji Temple in Shishikui in southeast Shikoku, Japan, and reprinted in Inoi et al. (1982) by types, is considered to be an ancestor of "Shishikui-ura Kyuki" often referred to in relation to the 1512 great-wave disaster in Shishikui. A is a 1739's transcription of an older transcription made in 1605. A says that about 2200 people among the 3700 inhabitants in Shishikui town were killed due to the 1512 great wave and that the reconstruction of the town was completed by the feudal lords within one year and four months after the disaster, including 13 temples and shrines and 1700 town houses. However, there are considerable doubts about the reliability of A because there exist many questions about its descriptions as follows: (1) In view of the catastrophic disaster the reconstruction of the town seems too fast. (2) The number of reconstructed houses seems too large for the 1500 survivors. (3) One of the rebuilt shrine, Gion Shrine, was actually reconstructed in 1526 according to a reliable record. (4) There are serious mistakes about the contemporary lords' names. (5) Shishikui did a lot of trade with the central part of Japan and foreign countries, but there is no description of damages to port facilities and ships. (6) B, which contains eight various documents including A, says in the opening sentences that it is a transcription of old materials found in rats' nests in the Endo-ji Temple in 1739, then, it is highly questionable that old records having been buried in rats' nests for long years could be read minutely. Thus, the reliability of A is considered to be low. Even it seems a fake. Intensive examination of A is necessary by means of historiography and archeological and earth-scientific field investigations in Shishikui.