'The Visual Impact of Japan's Ansei Edo Earthquake'
A Presentation by Dr. Gregory Smits
Pennsylvania State University
Hosted by the Center for Japanese Studies
The M7 class Ansei Edo Earthquake violently shook the Shogun’s capital (Edo; today’s Tokyo) in 1855 on the second day of the tenth lunar month, November 11 according to the Gregorian calendar. It killed around 5,000 civilian residents of Edo and surrounding areas as well as an unknown number of military personnel. The shaking and fires destroyed over 14,000 houses and other structures. Although deadly and destructive, fewer than one percent of the city’s population was killed or seriously injured. Moreover, the destruction was uneven from one part of the city to the next, depending on the nature of the soil base.
The net result of this situation was that both ordinary people and skilled construction workers could reap windfall profits from the relief efforts and early rebuilding. The earthquake generated a vast quantity of popular visual art and journalistic literature. These works reveal the ways that residents of Edo interpreted the earthquake, its significance, and society more generally. Catfish prints (namazue) constituted the most prominent cultural product of the earthquake. This illustrated talk examines some of the themes in these catfish prints and the coded ways in which they functioned as social commentary.
5:30 PM | Thursday, October 15, 2026
Smith Memorial Student Union
Room 327/8/9
Free and Open to the Public
Please use the entrance on SW Broadway
For more information about the Center for Japanese Studies and our upcoming events, please visit: https://www.pdx.edu/japanese-studies