roads and land were submerged, so people could not escape to the mountains, thus 1000 people drowned . . . after that day the farmland disappeared.”

Historical documents have recorded large tsunamis every century or two and smaller tsunamis every few decades as the Pacific Plate subducts under the North American Plate. The dates on record are: 869, 1611, 1616, 1640, 1677, 1696, 1703, 1766, 1793, 1843, 1847, 1856, 1896, 1905, 1923, 1933, 1952, 1983 and 1993. Archaeological evidence at many coastal sites corroborates the written records.

To the south, as the Philippine Sea Plate subducts under the Amurian Plate, the record of tsunamis is even longer: 684, 744, 887, 1099, 1361, 1498, 1512, 1596, 1597, 1605, 1662, 1700, 1707, 1771, 1781, 1792, 1854, 1854, 1944 and 1946.

Together these long histories recount what occurred on Japan’s Pacific Ocean side. Yet the Sea of Japan side has been in peril too, as the country’s two land masses slip past each other. The North American/Amurian slip fault has triggered tsunamis in 887, 1026, 1341, 1644, 1650, 1741, 1751, 1833 and 1964.

Finally, at the triple juncture of the Amurian/North American/Philippine Sea Plates the record shows tsunamis having been triggered in 1293, 1495, 1498 and 1586. It is here at this triple juncture that the very symbol of Japan rises: the unequaled, eternal, immortal Fuji-san.