The orphan tsunami of 1700 : Japanese clues to a parent earthquake in North America / Brian F. Atwater [and 5 others] = Minashigo Genroku tsunami : oya-jishi wa Hokubei nishi kaigan ni ita / Buraian F. Atowōtā [and 5 others].

Parallel title and statement of responsibility also in Japanese characters.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 112-123) and indexes.

Preface to the second edition -- Introduction -- 1. UNEARTHED EARTHQUAKES -- Earthquake potential -- Tsunami potential -- Flood stories -- Alaskan analog -- Sunken shores -- Sand sheets -- In harm's way -- Currents and cracks -- Magnitude 9? -- 2. THE ORPHAN TSUNAMI -- Literate hosts -- Wetted places -- Primary sources -- Kuwagasaki -- Account in Morioka-han "Zassho" -- Words for waves -- Converting time -- Samurai scribes -- High ground -- Tsunami size -- Tsugaruishi -- Account in Moriai-ke "Nikki kakitome cho" -- Human error -- Social status -- Foreign waves -- Tsunami size -- Otsuchi -- Account in Morioka-han "Zassho" -- Report to Edo -- Collected writings -- Tsunami size -- Nakaminato -- Account in Ouchi-ke "Go-yodome" -- Certified loss -- Fair-weather waves -- Simulated waves -- Miho -- Account in "Miho-mura yoji oboe" -- Tidal waves -- Tsunami size -- Tanabe -- Account in "Tanabe-machi daicho" -- Tsunami size near a storehouse -- Tsunami size near Tanabe Bay -- Sawtooth cycles -- 3. THE ORPHAN’S PARENT -- By elimination -- Tree-ring tests -- Magnitude 9 -- Muddy forecast -- High-enough ground -- Seismic waves -- Acknowledgments -- Authors -- References -- Index -- Afterword, 2015.

"THE PACIFIC OCEAN TSUNAMI of 2011 arose from sudden displacement of the ocean floor off the northeast coast of Japan, during an earthquake of magnitude 9. The earthquake shook Japanese shores where the tsunami soon took thousands of lives. The tsunami also fanned out across the Pacific toward shores where the shaking had not been felt. Those far-traveled waves caused concern on the west coast of North America, but the losses there were comparatively light. This book tells of a tsunami in 1700 that crossed the Pacific in the reverse direction. It began when the ground shook and the ocean floor lurched in the Cascadia region of western North America. It soon swelled bays and river mouths along the region's outer coast. It also crossed the Pacific to Japan, where no perceived earthquake forewarned of its approach. Flooding and damage on Japanese shores, though minor
overall, were recorded in writing by samurai, merchants, and peasants. Nearly three centuries later, this written history in Japan would be matched with natural and oral history in Cascadia, and the combination would clarify earthquake and tsunami hazards in western North America. The 1700 tsunami is reconstructed in these pages from clues in North America and Japan. The book exhibits this far-flung evidence, describes how it came to light, and explains how it was pieced together. The presented findings are unchanged from the first edition, which appeared a decade ago. New to the second edition is an afterword about an unusual
North American precaution against a tsunami like the one in 1700". -- Brian F. Atwater and David K. Yamaguchi, Seattle, August 2015

A puzzling tsunami entered Japanese history in January 1700. Samurai, merchants, and villagers wrote of minor flooding and damage. Some noted that no parent earthquake had been felt; they were wondering what had set off the waves. They had no way knowing that the tsunami had been spawned during an earthquake along the coast of northwestern North America. This orphan tsunami would not be linked to its parent earthquake until the middle 1990s, through an extraordinary series of discoveries in both North America and Japan.

The Orphan Tsunami of 1700, now in its second edition, tells this scientific detective story through its North American and Japanese clues. The discoveries underpin many of today’s precautions against earthquakes and tsunamis in the Cascadia region of northwestern North America. The Japanese tsunami of March 2011 called attention to those hazards as a mirror image of the transpacific waves of January 1700.

Captions and table of contents also in Japanese.