On Sunday, November, 18, 2007 I attended the COV5 field trip "A8 Historic Remains and Archives of the A.D. 1792 Shimabara Catastrophe".

On May 21, 1792, an earthquake triggered a sector collapse of the eastern slope of Mt. Tengu-Yama in the eastern side of Mt. Fugen-Dake (Unzen). A hummocky flow made it all the way through the town to Ariake Bay and generated tsunami killing over 15,000 people on both sides of the bay.

Elaborate bridge in town.

This hangs in front of the Takashima Memorial House. It stands in the location where docks for the Shimabara Feudal Lord stood before the debris flow. This serves as a memorial for those killed.

This, the Otonashi River was constructed to drain the water of the Shirachi Pond. It took 6,000 people from 33 villages to construct. Oto-Nashi means river with no sound because the gradient is so gentle there is no sound.

The at the statue on the top is the Jizou-Boasatu and Memorial Tower in Sakuraiji Temple (which was reconstructed after the sector collapse) and is a memorial to children killed in the Shimabara Catastrophe. We were told it is rare to have these statues for children. The bottom image is of memorials to the right of the statue shown on the top.

This elaborate hanging is from the ceiling in the Honkoji Temple.

In 199, Harry Glicken, Maurice and Katia Kraft, and Japanese media were killed by a pyroclastic flow from Unzen volcano. This is a shrine memorial for those killed. It is on the ground of the Honkoji Temple.

This is a photo of a large map of the peninsula after the sector collapse and tsunami in May, 1792. We viewed it at the Honkoji Temple.

This is the lava flow front from the 1792 eruption of Mt. Unzen. This flow, the Shin-Yake flow, is in the Anasako-Tani Valley and formed February 27, 1792.

This is the shrine at the site of the Shin-Yake lava flow in the Anasako-Tani Valley.

This appears to be some kind of lighthouse on the Shirachi Pond.

This is a closer look at the photo of the map after the sector collapse and tsunami in May, 1792. Honkoji Temple.

Maple at the site of the 1792 Shin-Yake lava flow in the Anasako-Tani Valley.

This statue is at the Arcade in town and was a memorial to those killed in 1792 built by the people of Shimabara.

Artwork inside the shrine dedicated to those killed in 1995 by Unzen and is on the ground of the Honkoji Temple.

Artwork inside the shrine dedicated to those kiiled in 1995 by Unzen and is on the ground of the Honkoji Temple.

This candelabra is inside the shrine dedicated to those kiiled in 1995 by Unzen and is on the ground of the Honkoji Temple.

This small door is to the right of the large entryway into the Honkoji Temple.

This is the shrine at the Honkoji Temple dedicated to those who died in a pyroclastic flow from Unzen in 1995.

This is on the ground of the Honkoji Temple.

This is inside the shrine at the Honkoji Temple dedicated to those killed by Unzen in 1995.

The maps we viewed were housed in this building at the Honkoji Temple.

Inside the shrine to those killed by Unzen in 1995 on the grounds of the Honkoji Temple.

These stand at the left of the Jizou-Boasatu statue and Memorial Tower in Sakuraiji Temple

This is on the shrine at the site of the Shin-Yake lava flow in the Anasako-Tani Valley.