11:15 AM - 11:30 AM
[HDS09-09] Time and Spatial Records of Natural Disasters Left at the Shrines in the Downstream Area of the Muko River
Keywords:shrine, votive offering, the Muko River, the 1995 Hyogo-ken Nanbu Earthquake
The shrine is a sacred area as a Japanese culture that has continued for more than 1000 years. This study aim is to confirm that the spatiotemporal information of natural disasters that can be analyzed by GIS is recorded in the votive offerings of the shrines. The 766 votive offerings of the 39 shrines were studied in the four cities, Nishinomiya, Takarazuka, Itami, and Amagasaki in the downstream area of the Muko River. The class, year of offering, material, contents and condition of the offerings were checked. The classes are torii gate, guardian dog, lantern, purification fountain, banner support, and others. The Japanese calendar year indicating the year of offering was converted to the Christian era. The materials were granite, sandstone and metamorphic rock for rock, stainless steel and iron for metal, and wood and concrete for others.
Since the landforms of the shrines are natural levee, terrace, and sandbar or beach ridge in descending order, shrines tend to be located on higher landform than their surroundings. The number of the offerings is small in the Edo era and immediately after the end of World War II, extremely large from the Meiji era to the war, and a little large after the war. After the war, the number of them suddenly increases immediately after 1995. The changing trends are caused by disposal and renewal due to weathering and destruction, prayer for enhancement national prestige, and reconstruction and relocation due to urbanization. By observing the landscape of the shrines, feature changes such as an increase in concrete shrines, an increase in metal votive offerings, a decrease in shrine forests, and a decrease in precincts are expected. In addition, many landscapes where the offerings damaged by the 1995 Hyogo-ken Nanbu Earthquake had been preserved or abandoned were observed in the precincts. Most of these offerings are lanterns and torii gates that were easily overturned and destroyed. The reasons of the recovery from the earthquake damage are mentioned in a lot of renewed offerings. Therefore, the simultaneity of the period between the increase in the number of the offerings and the natural disaster is interpreted as a character meaning causal relationship. Based on this relationship, the heavily damaged belt zone was roughly estimated using the number or the percentage of the offerings in the GIS analysis.
This study is summarized as follows. In the devastating disaster area, the spatiotemporal information of the natural disaster that can be analyzed by GIS is left in the votive offerings of shrines. It can be confirmed that the number of the offerings increase for about 10 years after such disaster within the period when the characters on the offering can be read. The area of a natural disaster can be estimated from the distribution of the offerings included in the recovery period. Based on this method, I would like to clarify the potential records of natural disasters in the votive offerings of shrines in other areas.
Since the landforms of the shrines are natural levee, terrace, and sandbar or beach ridge in descending order, shrines tend to be located on higher landform than their surroundings. The number of the offerings is small in the Edo era and immediately after the end of World War II, extremely large from the Meiji era to the war, and a little large after the war. After the war, the number of them suddenly increases immediately after 1995. The changing trends are caused by disposal and renewal due to weathering and destruction, prayer for enhancement national prestige, and reconstruction and relocation due to urbanization. By observing the landscape of the shrines, feature changes such as an increase in concrete shrines, an increase in metal votive offerings, a decrease in shrine forests, and a decrease in precincts are expected. In addition, many landscapes where the offerings damaged by the 1995 Hyogo-ken Nanbu Earthquake had been preserved or abandoned were observed in the precincts. Most of these offerings are lanterns and torii gates that were easily overturned and destroyed. The reasons of the recovery from the earthquake damage are mentioned in a lot of renewed offerings. Therefore, the simultaneity of the period between the increase in the number of the offerings and the natural disaster is interpreted as a character meaning causal relationship. Based on this relationship, the heavily damaged belt zone was roughly estimated using the number or the percentage of the offerings in the GIS analysis.
This study is summarized as follows. In the devastating disaster area, the spatiotemporal information of the natural disaster that can be analyzed by GIS is left in the votive offerings of shrines. It can be confirmed that the number of the offerings increase for about 10 years after such disaster within the period when the characters on the offering can be read. The area of a natural disaster can be estimated from the distribution of the offerings included in the recovery period. Based on this method, I would like to clarify the potential records of natural disasters in the votive offerings of shrines in other areas.