198 REPORT—1899. 
a large Buddhist image of the Shurin-ji temple was shattered to pieces, 
and the buildings of the Prefectural Office and other houses all suffered 
more or less injury. The districts of Ishinomaki, Fukushima and neigh- 
bourhood were aiso a good deal affected, while at Sakata, Yamagata 
Prefecture, the waters of all rivers overflowed their banks.—Japan 
Times.’ 
‘On Saturday morning (April 23, 1898), at 8.56 a.m., a somewhat 
strong and prolonged shock of earthquake was felt in Tokio. According 
to the bulletin issued by the Central Meteorological Observatory, the 
seismic movement is described as follows :— 
Vibration commenced at : 5 3 . 8h. 36m. 49s. A.M, 
Duration of movement . ‘ 3 - . 12m. 
Direction of movement . : ; Z . North to South. 
Maximum horizontal vibration 3 ‘ . 8mm. 
Nature of vibration . - : F . Slow. 
‘It is conjectured that the shock was caused by a subsidence of the 
sea bed in some part of the Northern Pacific. The following table shows 
the localities where the shock was felt :— 
. | 
Localities oi | Nature 
He) ioe | 
Ishikawa 8 34 50 | Strong 
Fukushima 8 36 40 | - 
Akita 8 30 0 s 
Awomori 8 36 O | a 
Yamagata. 8 36 0 - 
Utsunomiya . 8 36 30 ; 
Mayebashi 8 36 54 | ; 
Kumagai 3 : : ; ; : -| 8 36 39 = 
Niigata . ; ; ; j ; : cit = Sokol RY Caen) | as 
Yokohama 3 8 36 15 a 
Tokachi 2 ae ae Weak 
Mito -| 8 36 35 | ‘ 
Kofu : : : : 3 5 .| 8 36 53 ap 
Nagoya . : : . : ; : .| 8 37 40 | a 
Yokosuka. : ; ; : : “ab Cancer £7) | ” 
Fukui . : . ; 5 é = nile OSeeope 0 | Faint 
Nemuro t BieSiTs. B | ” 
Numazu 8 37 53 55 
ei apun M. ail,’ 
From a consideration of the above time observations, and from the 
position of the places at which the movement was severe, it is probable 
that the origin was from 4° to 5° distant in a north-north-east direction 
from Tokio. The heavy movement travelled to Tokio at a rate of about 
2-5 kms. per second. The time at the origin would, therefore, be 3m. 42s. 
earlier than that recorded in Tokio, or approximately on May 22 at 
23h. 33m. G.M.T. This conclusion is fairly in accord with all the time 
observations made in Japan, excepting those for Akita and Tokachi. 
Professor Omori, by different reasoning, places the origin 120 to 
200 kms, E.S.E. from Miyako, the time at that place being 23h. 34m. 13s. _ 
The time at the origin and the position of the same are, therefore, prac- 
tically identical with what has been stated, and we have here another 
illustration of a suboceanic yielding at a depth of from 1,500 to 4,000 
