[M-IS27] History X Earth and Planetary Science

[MIS27-P03] Investigation of the stone monuments related to the hail and frost damage in the southern part of Gunma Prefecture

*Masafumi Aoyama¹ (1.Gunma University)

Keywords:hail and frost damage, silkworm industry, disaster stone monuments, historical disaster

We are conducting research on historical disasters in the southern part of Gunma prefecture, using disaster-related monuments. In addition to the stone monuments related to the volcanic mudflow due to the eruption of the Mt. Asama in 1783, there are many stone monuments in this area that show descriptions related to floods, debris flow and landslide disasters that occurred in 1910, 1935, and 1947. In addition to floods and landslides, there are stone monuments related to hail and frost damage, and earthquake damage. In particular, there are many stone monuments related to hail and frost damage in this area. Since this area was once a thriving area for sericulture, if mulberry leaves die due to hail and frost damage, it becomes impossible to raise silkworms that feed on mulberry leaves, causing great economic loss to sericulture farmers. When many silkworms die due to hail and frost damage, the dead bodies have buried, and created mounds on the ground, built stone monuments, and worshiped the spirits of the silkworms. The sericulture industry in this area began to flourish from the end of the Edo period and declined in the Showa period, and many stone monuments related to hail and frost damage and sericulture erected during this period are distributed. In particular, there are stone monuments with detailed descriptions of hail damage in 1887 and frost damage in 1893. These monuments are valuable records of local meteorological phenomena and meteorological disasters during the Meiji era, when meteorological observations were still vulnerable, the impact of hail and frost damage on the local community at that time, and the importance of sericulture in the local community.
Some of the stone monuments that are said to have been erected for the memorial service of silkworms caused by hail and frost damage have detailed descriptions of frost damage, but some have only the monument name and the year of construction. In this area, sericulture worship became popular with the development of sericulture, and many are said to have erected monuments in the hope of abundant cocoons. In addition, in the silkworm industry, which is the victim of silkworms, many monuments have been erected for the purpose of memorializing the silkworms that were sacrificed in the silk reeling process. These stone monuments related to sericulture have monument names such as Kokage Okami, Kokageyama Okami, and Kinugasa Myojin, but the purpose for which the monuments were erected is diverse. In this presentation, I would like to show the results of a study on the situation of hail and frost damage inferred from the inscriptions of these monuments and historical materials, which is said to be a memorial monument for silkworms caused by hail and frost damage, and the
circumstance of construction of those monuments.