In Japanese mythology, the Namazu is a giant underground catfish that causes earthquakes.
The creature lives under the island of Japan and is guarded by the god Takemikazuchi enshrined at Kashima, who restraints the catfish with a stone. When the Kashima god lets his guard down, the Namazu thrashes about causing destructive earthquakes.
Why are earthquakes so prevalent in Japan?
Japan is one of the countries with the highest number of earthquakes. Japan is located along the Ring of Fire, between the Pacific, the Philippines, the North American, and the Eurasian tectonic plates,
When these tectonic plates move and clash they generate strong earthquakes and can cause tsunamis.
So it’s easy to understand why people throughout history have been looking for ways to explain earthquakes and if there is a way to control or even stop them.
Please check out the books on Amazon above, thank you for your support.
The Namazu Legend
In the Japanese myth, the Namazu swam around in the underground rivers and lakes that ran beneath the earth, but as the Namazu moved through the muddy waters twitching its whiskers or moving its body and thrashing its tail, would cause earthquakes of various strengths to occur and cause death and destruction to the people above.
The thunder god (Kashima-no-kami) was assigned to put a stop to the Numazu’s destructive chaos.
At Kashima, with a heavy capstone, he pushed the giant catfish against the foundations of the earth, so immobilizing the Namazu and stopping the earthquakes, but on occasions the god got tired or distracted and loosened his grip on the capstone, so giving the Namazu room to move, so allowing the catfish to move and cause earthquakes.
The top of the legendary capstone can be found at the Kashima shrine. One of the feudal lords, Tokugawa Mitsukani organized an expedition to dig up the stone in the 1600s to see what was underneath. He dug for seven days but had to give up when he was still nowhere near reaching the bottom.
The Namazu and the 1855 Edo earthquake
On November 11th, 1855 at 22:00 a 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck Edo (modern-day Tokyo), the death toll was considerable 7,000 – 10,000 people and destroyed around 50,000 houses and over 50 temples by the earthquake or subsequent out-of-control fires.
Within days after the earthquake prints began to appear, with over 400 different types in the following weeks. Most of the prints depicted, you guessed it the giant catfish – Namazu. Some of the prints expressed anger at Namazu, with people attacking the catfish, but more often the Namazu was portrayed in a positive light. Why might this be?
The earthquake damaged the wealthy areas of Edo (Tokyo) to a much greater extent than other areas, so the wealthy merchant and samurai class had to repair their homes, places of business, and temples, so the wealthy had to pay the craftsmen, and builders to repair their property.
So the wealth was redistributed from the rich to the poor, you could say the earthquake redistributed the wealth more equally than before.
Even though the Namazu was held responsible for the disaster, but it was also called the yonaoshi daimyojin (god of world rectification).
The Changing times in Japan and the Namazu’s influence
In 1855, Edo (Tokyo) was the headquarters of the Shogun, the military leader of Japan, officially Japan was ruled by the Emperor based in Kyoto, but the Emperor was basically just a religious and cultural figurehead with no real power, the power was with the Shogun.
There were problems and rumblings of discontent among the people, who blamed the Shogun government (the bakufu) for their problems. There was a powerful merchant class, whom the people believed were hoarding money.
They did not experience the trickle-down effect of wealth.
A year before the powerful earthquake in 1854, Commodore Matthew C. Perry arrived in US warships to force open the closed Japanese market and make a trade agreement with Japan.
This also caused a shake-up in Japanese politics/society, soon after woodblock prints depicting the American ships as the Namazu brought money to the people of Japan.
The artists and Japanese people saw the opening up of the country and trade from other countries would disrupt the Shogun and ruling classes and hopefully improve their lives, so the figure of the Namazu in the artwork signified a metaphorical earthquake.
After the 1855 Edo (Tokyo) earthquake, the artists produced woodblock prints of images of the Namazu causing the earthquake, but also causing money to flow from the wealthy to the poor. Prints portrayed Namazu pouring out money/coins and rich merchants excreting coins out of various orifices.
The Namazu folklore reason for the 1855 Edo earthquake
So the legend goes that the stone immobilizing the Namazu at Kashima, its weight wasn’t enough to stop the Namazu from moving, so the deity (god) Kashima who was considered the strongest of the gods was given the duty of pressing down on the stone.
Every tenth lunar month of the year (November in the solar calendar), this was called Kannazuki (month of no deities) all deities have to attend a meeting at Izumo (for more information about Izumo, please press the link to my article – The Incredible Story of How
After the 1855 Edo (Tokyo) earthquake, the artists produced woodblock prints of images of the Namazu causing the earthquake, but also causing money to flow from the wealthy to the poor. Prints portrayed Namazu pouring out money/coins and rich merchants excreting coins out of various orifices.
The Namazu folklore reason for the 1855 Edo earthquake
So the legend goes that the stone immobilizing the Namazu at Kashima, its weight wasn’t enough to stop the Namazu from moving, so the deity (god) Kashima who was considered the strongest of the gods was given the duty of pressing down on the stone.
Every tenth lunar month of the year (November in the solar calendar), this was called Kannazuki (month of no deities) all deities have to attend a meeting at Izumo (for more information about Izumo, please press the link to my article – The Incredible Story of How Japan was Created – Japanese Tales
In 1855 Edo (Tokyo) earthquake happened during Kannazuki in November. It is said that Kashima gave the responsibility to control the Namazu to Ebisu, the deity of fishermen and luck, he is one of the seven gods of fortune.
In 1855 Edo (Tokyo) earthquake happened during Kannazuki in November. It is said that Kashima gave the responsibility to control the Namazu to Ebisu, the deity of fishermen and luck, he is one of the seven gods of fortune.
Either Ebisu wasn’t strong enough or maybe fell asleep on the job, whatever happened the Namazu was able to move, so causing the earthquake that struck Edo (Tokyo).
Is there scientific proof linking Catfish to earthquakes?
There has actually been research by seismologists Dr. Shinkishi Hatai and Dr. Noboru Abe, they first observed catfish in their natural environment, and they noticed the catfish showed signs of restlessness about six hours before an earthquake.
The next phase was placing catfish in an aquarium, usually, they are placid and unresponsive, so they were tested three times a day, by tapping on the supporting table. When no earthquake the catfish moved lazily or not at all, but about six hours before an earthquake the fish jumped when the table was tapped, and sometimes swam in an agitated manner.
Several months of testing showed that in a period when 178 earthquakes of all degrees of severity had been recorded, the catfish correctly predicted 80% of the earthquakes.
The catfish didn’t act differently between a slight or strong earthquake.
Scientists believed that catfish are sensitive to electrical changes in the earth. The results look intriguing, what do you think?
Conclusion
The Namazu lurks under Japan, if it wriggles its whiskers tremors happen if its body or tail thrashes around enormous destruction and even tsunamis can occur to wreak havoc on the land of Japan.
The Namazu was also considered the ‘yonaoshi daimyojin’ (god of world rectification) it was an avenger of social injustice, the Japanese people were unhappy with the ruling classes and the way society was going, so when Perry’s ships in 1854 forced open Japan to trade with other countries, his ships were depicted as Namazu, the great Edo earthquake of 1855 was considered redistribution of wealth.
It’s debatable if the people of Japan ever believed in the Namazu, but they used the image in woodblock prints to focus on change socially, economically, and politically.
So you could say that the Namazu shocked Japan in more ways than one.
