Village Wrecked by Earthquake
Object Name
Category
Photographs
Date
c. 1890s
Medium
albumen print, hand painted
Credit Line
Malcolmson Collection. Gift of Harry and Ann Malcolmson in partnership with a private donor, 2014
Object Number
2014/696
Location
Not currently on display but Available for viewing on Wednesdays from 1-4:30 in the Prints and Drawings Study Centre
Dimensions
Overall: 20.1 × 26.3 cm (7 15/16 × 10 3/8 in.)
Mat: 40.7 × 35.6 cm (16 × 14 in.)
Mat: 40.7 × 35.6 cm (16 × 14 in.)
Signature, Inscriptions, and Markings
Markings
on recto of mount, typewritten description adhered below print: VILLAGE WRECKED BY EARTHQUAKE./ On the 28th of October, 1891, Central Japan was convulsed by one of the greatest earthquakes on record,/ severely felt over an area equal to England. Ten thousand persons were killed and twenty thousand wounded. One/ hundred and twenty-eight thousand houses were destroyed. Great landslides took place, mountains were dislodged,/ geysers appeared, and many houses and persons swallowed up in huge earth-fissures. Earthquakes are very/ frequent in Japan, and familiarity with them by no means breeds contempt. They are feared by every one except/ the newly arrived tourist, who seems to enjoy the novelty of the sensation. In a single year the records of the/ Seismological Society show an annual average of about 500 quakes (including slight tremors).