Why is a mythical catfish to blame for earthquakes in Japan?
According to Japanese mythology, the thrashing of a giant subterranean catfish causes the earthquakes that wreak havoc on the country. Far from being a feared or hated monster, however, this catfish can also be a force for good
Japan is no stranger to earthquakes. Located on the Ring of Fire, a seismically active area around the edge of the Pacific Basin, the country experiences around 2,000 quakes every year and around 20 per cent of all the world’s seismic events over a magnitude of six on the Richter Scale.
Long before scientific explanations, Japanese folk myth came up with its own reasons to explain why the ground could suddenly and violently shake. At first, the blame was placed on dragons or serpents; then in the 17th century, it shifted to a creature called Namazu.
Who is Namazu, the Earthshaker?
Namazu is a giant catfish believed to live in underground rivers and seas beneath Japan and caused earthquakes by rubbing its body against the rocks or thrashing its mighty tail.
In Japanese myth, the thunder god Takemikazuchi did manage to subdue and restrain the creature by pinning the head down with a stone (though in some versions, he thrust a sword through the catfish’s head.) The stone, kaname-ishi, is so large that its uppermost tip can supposedly be seen on the earth’s surface, sticking out of the ground at the Kashima Jingu shrine in Japan’s Kanto region.
When Takemikazuchi becomes distracted, however, or is called away to an annual gathering of the gods, Namazu is able to wriggle around. That’s enough to bring about an earthquake.
Images of symbolic catfish in Japan date back to the 15th century, and the animal may have been chosen as the mythical harbinger of destruction as the result of a widely held belief among Japanese fishermen. Apparently, they would observe catfish acting strangely right before a seismic event.
Today, the catfish is used as the logo for early earthquake warnings sent out by the Japan Meteorological Agency, and also appears on the road signs to let drivers know which highways will be shut in the event of a quake.
Which earthquakes have been blamed on Namazu?
It was after a series of major earthquakes between 1854 and 1860, the so-called Great Ansei Earthquakes, that the Namazu myth truly became embedded in Japanese popular imagination.
In particular, the 1855 quake that hit Edo (Tokyo), which resulted in as many as 10,000 deaths, was blamed firmly on the catfish.
In the aftermath, hundreds of woodblock prints, namazu-e, were produced showing the catfish wreaking havoc or being weighed down by the stone-wielding god.
Namazu was also a force for good
Namazu was not depicted solely as a destructive force, but a purifying one. At a time of cosmic imbalance – caused by a corrupt government or social ills, say – Namazu can be a force for good by bringing about yonaoshi (world renewal).
Therefore, Namazu equally represented good fortune and the redistribution of wealth. After all, the 1855 quake hit the affluent parts of the city the hardest, as well as the government district, which meant that there was suddenly a lot of work, and money, for poor labourers and builders.
In some of the namazu-e prints, the catfish was shown showering gold on the people (in others, rich people are seen firing out coins from their behinds) or, in a half-human form, celebrating with the workers in the entertainment districts of Edo.
Authors
Jonny Wilkes is a former staff writer for BBC History Revealed, and he continues to write for both the magazine and HistoryExtra. He has BA in History from the University of York.