Case file · Folklore / legend
The catfish prints of the Ansei Edo earthquake
After the earthquake that wrecked Edo in November 1855, hundreds of cheap prints showed a giant catfish, the namazu, as the cause of the quake.
1855 CE · 35.69, 139.79 · status: explained
The account
Folk belief held that a catfish under the earth was pinned by the god Kashima with a stone; when the god was away, it thrashed. The prints mocked the rich, showed builders profiting, and sold as charms against the next quake.
The sceptical view
Earthquakes come from movement on faults where tectonic plates meet; the catfish is a folk image, though later researchers did test whether fish sense coming quakes.