Earthquakes in Japanese History
With a Focus on the 1855 Ansei Edo Earthquake
This page provides links to some of the items I have written, co-authored or translated pertaining to the interaction of earthquakes and human history in Japan. Most of the items have been published, but a few are only available on this site. Click on the links to access each item.
Academic Articles and Book Chapters:
"Warding off Calamity in Japan: A Comparison of the 1855 Catfish Prints and the 1862 Measles Prints," East Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine, no. 30 (2009): 9-31.
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Namazu-e: Catfish Prints of 1855," Andon (Publication of the Society for Japanese Arts), vol. 86 (2009): 35-46.Ruth Ludwin, co-author, "Folklore and Earthquakes: Native American Oral Traditions from Cascadia Compared with Written Traditions from Japan," in L. Piccardi and W. B. Masse, eds., Myth and Geology (London: Geological Society of London, 2007): 67-94. (Contact)
"Shaking Up Japan: Edo Society and the 1855 Catfish Picture Prints," <1.3MB> Journal of Social History, 39.4 (Summer, 2006): 1045-1077.
Textbook Chapters:
Sections on the namazu as a special case of yōkai (uncanny beings)
"Japan’s Ansei Edo Earthquake"
Select Lectures and Presentations:
Ruth Ludwin, co-author. Poster presentation: "Evolution of the catfish (namazu) as an earthquake symbol in Japan" <10MB PDF> (Seismological Society of America Conference, April 2006, San Francisco). (Printable handout <4MB PDF>)
Catfish as Cultural Symbol in Japan (low res) (medium resolution) (PDF)
Conduits of Power, Sacred Geography, and the Origins of Japan's Earthquake Catfish (Southern Japan Seminar, March, 2010)
Miscellaneous Items:
"Was Emperor Shōmu’s Devotion to Buddhism Prompted by an Earthquake?" (Short newspaper article from Japan to which I added a quick English translation. It is a good example of the kind of cross-disciplinary research involving earthquakes that is rather common in Japan.)