The Earthquake Research Institute of Japan

Abstract

THE first Japanese earthquake known to us occurred in A.D. 416. For many years, the chronicle of its successors is naturally incomplete, but, with the nineteenth century, the entries become more frequent; how full they are is evident from Omori's studies of the after-shocks of the great earthquakes of 1830, 1847 and 1854. With the Yokohama earthquake of 1880, the investigation of the earthquakes on modern lines began. Though not of great strength, the shock was the first to arouse the interest of the English professors then living in Tokyo. A few months later, the Seismological Society of Japan was founded by the late Prof. J. Milne, and the admirable work done by him and his colleagues during the next twelve years was continued and expanded by the Imperial Earthquake Investigation Committee and the Earthquake Research Institute.