VII. The Great Earthquake of S. E. Japan 



on Sept. i, 1923, 



with two Appendices. 



By 



Akitime Imamura, D.Sc, 



Professor of Feismology, Tokyo Imperial University. 



1. Introduction. The great earthquake wliich devastated S. E. 

 Japan on Sept. 1, 1923, was by no means the most severe that has 

 visited this country, but perhaps if wa search recorded history fro 

 seismic disasters of api)al]ing magnitude, not one can be found to 

 equal it in the number of lives lost and the amount of property 

 destroyed through its agency. Its scientitic investigation was without 

 a moment's delay undertaken by different experts and institutes, 

 among which I must mention the name of the Imperial Eartliquake 

 Investigation Committee as the one which was most successful. Tlie 

 committee, consisting of about 30 members, mostly professors in the 

 Imperial Universities, ai)pointed different subcommittees to study tlie 

 earthquake and its subsequent phenomenon the great fire, each from 

 the standpoint of, first, jmre seismology ; second, geogi-aphy, geology, 

 geodesy and hydrography ; third, architecture ; fourth, civil engineering 

 and mechanics ; and fifth, meteorology, physics, chemistry, &c. Full 

 rejjorts were given by each subcommittee and have already been 

 published with the exception of the third and the fourth reiiorts. My 

 own share in the matter was naturally to treat the earthquake from 

 the stand])oint of pure seismology • a short note written in English 

 was subiTjitted at firsi^^, but a more detailed description has been 



J) Seismologica] Note of the Imp. Earthq. Iny. Comm., No. G. 



