ON THE RECENT ERUPTION OF SAKURAJIMA VOLCANO IN JAPAN. 
by Prof. Dr. T. WAKkIMIZu. 
— Fig. 17. — 
The Japanese islands, including Chishima (Kuril is1.) southern half of Kara- 
futo (Saghalim), Hokkaido, Honsim, Sikoku, Kyusiu, Ryukyu and Taiwan (For- 
mosa) form a part of the so-called cPacific volcanic zones surrounding the great 
basin of the Pacific. Therefore Japan 18 known as the land of volcanoes on the whole 
world; indeed, it has above 200 volcanoes, of which about 30 are active; that is to 
say, 30 volcanoes have the records of eruption in the history, though they are not 
always active. 
The Sakurajima (that means Cherry island; in English) which has made 
recently great eruption and caused a terrible catastrophe, 15 one of these 80 active 
volcanoes. The volcano itself (about 1143 m high above the see) forms a small 
round island (40 km in circumference) bearing the same name and lies on the 
middle of Satsuma Bay near the southern end of Kyusiu. It has the record of 
nearly ten times eruptions. Among these historic eruptions that in 1779 is the 
greatest, which is known as one of the two great eruptions in the historic age of 
Japan, with the eruption of Mt. Asama in 1783. 
At the time of this great eruption in 1779, fine ashes ejected upward Írom 
the crater were conveyed by western wind to so wide a distance, as even Tokyo, 
which 18 remote abuot 1000 kilometers from the volcano, was also covered with a, 
few inches of very fine ashes of the volcano. The sun looked guite brown during 
some weeks after the eruption on account of fine ashes flowing on the sky, as it 
was the case of Krakatoa eruption in 1883. The mudflow from the crater rushed 
down the eastern side of the mountain, swept away many villages on that side 
and the narrow strait (1 km wide), between the island and Osumi Province on the 
opposite side, was entirely filled in with mud-flow and débris, so that the strait, 
during some years after the catastrophe, had been passed by the peoples of the 
environs, untill this temporal passage was again gradually washed away by the 
wave. Though the catastrophe on that period was so great and tremendous, the 
city of Kogoshima, which is said to have been totally demolished by the recent 
eruption, has not suffered an actual damage, because the city was situated on the 
windward direction. 
1 Prof. L. v. Lóczy: Über die Eruption des Krakatoa im Jahre 1883. (Földtani Köz- 
löny Bd. XIV. (1884) pp. 122—146.) 
