Paper short abstract:

This paper examines the importance of floods in the creation of social memory in the Edo era. Special attention is given to the stone markers and literary accounts that recorded the massive Honshu flood of 1742.

Paper long abstract:

Japan's Edo era was fraught with natural calamities. The Meireki Fire of 1657, the Kanto earthquake of 1703, the Mt. Fuji volcanic eruption of 1707, the Honshu Flood of 1742, the Mt. Asama volcanic eruption of 1783 and the Ansei Earthquake of 1854 were just a few of the most devastating. In between was a succession of other disasters, including near-annual floods along major rivers. Flooding, in particular, regularly disrupted lives and forced governments to expand their efforts at disaster relief and prevention. People recorded the events in written records and stone markers that sought to tell the story of a difficult past and leave a warning for future generations. One stone marker noted starkly after the 1742 flood: "Heaven has washed away all." This paper examines the importance of floods in the creation of social memory in the Edo era. It focuses on people's understanding of the massive floods that struck central and eastern Japan in the late summer of 1742, causing unprecedented damage and loss of life, including over 6000 deaths in Edo, Japan's political capital. The paper aims to show some of the ways in which contemporaries used floods and other natural disasters to inform their narratives of their past. Finally, it urges scholars today to embrace environment events as integral to their accounts of Edo era history.