Shinano no Kuni Daijishin no zu
On the night of March 24th in the 4th year of Koka, an inland earthquake centered in Zenkojidaira (present day Nagano City, Nagano Prefecture) occurred. This set of two multi-colored illustrations describes how a lake emerged (tansui) due to Saigawa River water held back by the debris caused by the "Zenkoji Earthquake", and how the lake washed out and burst as flood (hyoto) on April 13. The title is "Shinano no Kuni Daijishin no zu", a picture of disaster published under official approval from the Bakufu. The artist is Shogen Hara (1820-86) of Kamishiojiri Village in the territory of the Ueda Clan, (present day Kamishiojiri, Ueda City). The Hara family have a family tradition of serving as nanushi (Chief of Village) and Shogen himself later became the Chief of Kamishiojiri Village. These illustrations describing in detail the two aspects of the disaster. i.e. before and after the earthquake, received publicity not only in Shinshu but also in Edo and Osaka, and went through several impressions.
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