英語訳
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Upon arriving at the station, trains were suspended, and upon returning home in vain, a great flood was about to engulf the town. The wet nurse said: "You must flee quickly to the castle yourself. Do not let the children come to harm." Proceeding to Ōgaki Castle, it had already become a refuge, with many townspeople gathered there — not even standing room remained on the upper or lower floors. As this great crowd urinated where they sat, the stench was truly terrible. Furthermore, since a dysentery quarantine hospital was also within the castle grounds, the confusion defied description. On the eleventh, out of anxiety, I sent a young man to fetch the children, but the water had reached as far as Tarui Station. There he obtained a boat coming from Kisegawa, traveled to the village, and from that village obtained another boat to reach Ōgaki. Inquiring at an employment agency called Kikyōya about their safety, he was unable to ascertain anything definite, so together they went to the wet nurse's house, which, despite being on high ground, had only its roof visible above the water. That night he lodged at the employment agency, and the following morning, as he rowed through the city by boat, he encountered the wet nurse's child and learned she was in the castle keep (tenshu), whereupon he went there and was finally able to bring her back — so the young man related.
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◯Overview of Flood Damage Shiga Prefecture, Igari Saburōbei
On September 7th of Meiji 29, at around 8 o'clock in the evening, the embankment along the Hino River in the prefecture, specifically the Nihogawa embankment, collapsed at Ōaza Ikeda in the neighboring Gamō District, causing a violent current to rush directly into our village. In approximately one hour, the entire village became virtually an open sea of turbid water. Particularly because this occurred suddenly at night, there was no time to remove household goods, and even if removed, the flooding everywhere left nowhere to place them. Of the village's total of over seven hundred households, approximately thirty households of Ōaza Jūōchō were spared, while the four locations of (Egashira), (Oda), (Sawae), and (Nomura) were entirely flooded to a depth of over four feet above the floorboards. After that, water continued to rise until the eleventh, and that evening a great wind arose from north and south, with violent waves striking directly at the houses. As a result, in Sawae alone, of the thirty-five total households, twenty households comprising fifty-three buildings were completely swept away by the violent waves. Even the remaining households were reduced to mere frameworks, rendering them utterly uninhabitable. Therefore, local temple buildings were used as temporary relief stations, providing assistance to disaster victims. The number of people sheltered reached nearly eight hundred.
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(Continuing from previous text)…owing to the risk of collapse, large stones were hastily placed on top, with police officers and laborers keeping watch. Imabashi Bridge, Saikokubashi Bridge (...)
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●Flood Damage in Osaka Prefecture
Observations at the Osaka Meteorological Station In the Osaka area, from the morning of August 30th, signs of unsettled weather appeared, and as night fell it turned into a gale with heavy rain added, causing great damage. According to observations at the Osaka Meteorological Station, strong winds began at 2 p.m. that day, with light rain from around 4 p.m., and by around 10 p.m. rainfall was at its heaviest, accompanied by a fierce northwest gale. Thus until around midnight of the same night, the force of wind and rain showed no signs of abating, but gradually by around 3 a.m. on the following day, the 31st, both wind and rain subsided, and the dreaded 210th day after the spring equinox turned out fine. The total rainfall since nightfall reached 174 millimeters (5 sun 7 bu in traditional measure), which itself demonstrates how intense it was.
Damage in the City As the telegraph and telephone were rendered entirely inoperative by this storm, reports from nearby villages had not yet arrived, and the authorities had only dispatched police officers to patrol the affected areas, so the details could not be ascertained. However, signboards, drying platforms, roof boards, tiles, and similar items were blown away throughout the city, presenting an indescribably fearsome sight; trees had almost all their branches broken off, nearly blocking the roads. Many electric light and telephone lines were also severed.
Houses Washed Away, Collapsed, and Casualties According to surveys by police who patrolled and investigated the city's four wards and the jurisdiction of the Ikeda Police Station, as a result of this storm: forty-six houses collapsed, eleven houses were washed away, over two hundred households flooded below the floorboards, two people drowned, five people were crushed to death, and one horse was swept away.
The Reverse Current off Tenpōzan and the Sinking of Japanese Boats At around 10 p.m. that night, when the wind suddenly shifted to the west, enormous waves surged in from off Tenpōzan, flooding 106 households in Tenpōzanchō, causing half of the two-hundred-ken embankment at Yawataya Shinden to collapse, sinking eleven Japanese-style vessels (wasen) of thirty koku or more that were anchored along the Ajikawa River, and washing away eighteen vessels. Furthermore, two vessels on the Kizugawa River — one of two hundred koku capacity and one of one hundred koku — sank, with one boatman drowning; two additional vessels of one hundred koku capacity were driven onto the reclaimed land. At that time, the Ajikawa River Water Police Station recorded a rise of eight shaku eight sun above normal water level.
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Levee Collapses At 8 p.m. on the 31st, when the water level at Hirakata rose to one jō four shaku one sun, the embankments of the Ibarakigawa and Yasui Rivers each collapsed for lengths of thirty to fifty ken, flooding sixty households in Yasu Village. The Takasegawa River broke through and washed away both piers of the railway bridge, and flooding also struck Tamakushi Village along the Ibarakigawa, where damage was most severe, resulting in the current provision of emergency rice rations for relief purposes.
September Flood Damage In Osaka, since September there has been almost no clear sky, and from the night of the 7th through the following morning, rain fell heavily. The danger to bridges was beyond description and they seemed liable to be swept away at any moment. Imabashi Bridge and Saikokubashi Bridge, among the most dangerous, were closed to traffic. People living along the various rivers were busy moving belongings to prevent flooding of their lower floors. As feared, the rivers in the city flooded to an extraordinary degree, inundating homes, causing the greatest confusion since Meiji 18. The current situation is set out below.
Night Scenes As the night deepened and flooding intensified, many kept watch with bonfires burning along the roads. Those going to check on relatives and friends followed one after another, and with paper lanterns and large hanging lanterns, the city looked just like the scene of a fire. The flooded roads developed depressions in various places, making passage dangerous for travelers. Tatami mats and fittings were moved to upper floors or carried to neighbors, causing tremendous commotion.
Flooded Areas The worst flooding in the city occurred along Hondadōri 2nd and 3rd blocks, the entire area around Matsushima, Nakanoshima along the Dōjima River, Hashigura Yashiki, along the Tosabori River, the west side of Higo Bridge, and areas around Shōgi Island and Bizen Island. On Kamifukushima Street, sandbags were lined up in a straight line down the center of the road to protect houses on the north side.
Levee Collapse At around 7 p.m., a stretch of approximately fifty ken of levee collapsed at Kusuba Village, Katano District, along the Yodogawa River. The Hirakata Police Station reported that fortunately there were no casualties among people or livestock. Almost simultaneously, a stretch of several dozen ken of levee at Hirose, Shimamoto Village, Mishima District, on the opposite bank also collapsed.
Rain Continued Unabated At around 10 p.m. on the night of the 8th, the water level reached its highest point and flooding in the city intensified, after which it began to subside slightly, but rain continued to fall relentlessly. On the morning of the 9th, a brief
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moment of sunlight appeared, but then rain began again and continued, and public anxiety remains high.
Collapse of Kanzakigawa Levee At around 1 a.m. on the 9th, approximately twenty ken of the Kanzakigawa River levee collapsed at Kamitsumura Ōaza, and the surrounding area became a vast lake. Homes in the villages of Hiejima, Nonaka, Kōzu, Utajima, and Kita-Denpō flooded above floor level, presenting, it is said, a pitiful sight beyond description.
Length of the Collapses at Kusuba and Hirose As noted above, the length of levee collapse at Kusuba and Hirose was initially about fifty ken each, but as the force of water grew increasingly fierce thereafter, the breaches gradually widened, eventually reaching nearly one hundred ken.
◯Supplementary Flood Report The Yodogawa River is an inexhaustible treasury upon which the people of the jurisdiction depend for their livelihood and sustenance, but when flood waters rise violently as in the present case, the resulting misery truly beggars description. Specifically, when a floodgate of approximately fifty ken along Ōaza Hinoue, Kusuba Village, North Kawachi District collapsed at 7 p.m. on September 8th, houses and fields were immediately inundated. Of the village's 367 households, all but 30 were flooded to floor level or higher across an area of 250 chō, with 5 houses swept away and 6 collapsed. Despite this disaster, fortunately there were no casualties among people or livestock, and all were sent to shelters; currently those requiring relief total 860 of the village's total population of 2,013, for whom appropriate assistance is being provided. Furthermore, at 4:50 p.m. on the same day, a levee of over fifty ken collapsed within Ōaza Hirose, Honmura, Mishima District. The villagers fought desperately to hold back the waters, but unable to withstand the tremendous force, the breach gradually widened and flooded an area of over 120 ken. Listing the flooded farmland in this village: Ōaza Takahama, approximately 57 chō; Ōaza Sakurai, approximately 50 chō; Ōaza Hirose, approximately 80 chō; Ōaza Yamasaki, approximately 30 chō. The flooding of households was even more severe: in Ōaza Takahama, 47 of 49 total households; in Ōaza Hirose, 46 of 155 total households; in Ōaza Sakurai, 25 of 71 total households; in Ōaza Yamasaki, 2 of 68 total households were flooded, with 592 people currently receiving relief. Furthermore, in Goryo Village, Ōaza Maejima, the same district, all 50 households were flooded, and in Ōaza Udono, 37 (households) (continues on next page)