Save This Ancient Stone Inscriptions Japanese Residents from the Tsunami



With a height of 4 feet or 1.2 meters, this stone looks normal, nothing special. However, who would have thought he who saved the lives of Aneyoshi, Iwate Prefecture, when the devastating tsunami struck Japan, March 11, 2011 last.



At the gray stone carved a warning: "Do not build a house under this point." Anyone in violation will face the risk of floods and tsunamis.

And, the people adhere to that old advice. A small village consisting of 11 houses and 32 people survived, although actually they are in precarious positions. 2011 tsunami waves struck, only 300 feet or 91.44 meters below the inscription.

In the history of Japanese tsunamis often occur. Our ancestors tried to warn future generations through the stones inscriptions are commonly encountered along the coast. Some of the stones even 600 years old.

"The inscription is a memorial between generations, to remind the future generations to avoid suffering the same with their fathers," said Itoko Kitahara, natural disaster experts from Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, told the New York Times.

Is the tsunami in 1896 that killed 22,000 people, who assured residents Aneyoshi to move to higher ground and stay there.

After a stable condition, not a long time the tsunami hit, people started to bring myself down the hill toward the beach. Fatal result, the 1933 tsunami struck again, only four survivors. After the accident, the stone inscription erected. Stone believed that was what the villagers, had saved them from the tsunami of 1960.

"They understand the tsunami horror, then they established stone inscriptions to warn us," said Tamishige Kimura (64), leader Aneyoshi.

According to him, learn from experience, the villagers consider the inscription is the rule of the ancestors. "No one has dared to break them."

And the suggestion was proven, 9.0 Richter scale earthquake and tsunami that killed 29,000 people, the most severe since the quake Jongan 869 years, do not touch Aneyoshi. Although there are citizens who have lost four families who lost while traveling in a neighboring town.

The residents Aneyoshi do anything to imitate what their ancestors. Blue paint is made at the point where the 2011 tsunami wave to reach the hill.

Not only the inscription, warning of the ancestors is also realized when naming a location. For example Nokoriya which translates as 'the Valley Victim' or Namiwake which means the edge waves.

However, although the memorial stone is spread in almost all Japanese, many also ignored. They ignored the advice of the ancestors and build a house near the beach. And, consequently fatal.

"With the passage of time, people must have forgotten, until another tsunami that killed 10,000 people come over," says author and tsunami expert, Fumio Yamashita.