Fig. 48.—Displacement of Field Divisions by the Fault near Nishi-Katabira. (Koto.)[ToList]
At its southern end, the fault was seen for the first time crossing a field near the village of Katabira. The field was broken into clods of earth, and swollen up to a height of 5½ yards, while a great landslip had descended into it from an adjoining hill. A little farther to the north-west, the ground was sharply cut by the fault, the north-east side having slightly subsided and at the same time been shifted horizontally through a distance of 3¼ to 4 feet to the north-west Adjoining fields were formerly separated by straight mounds or ridges running north and south and east and west, and these mounds were cut through by the fault and displaced, as shown in Fig. 48. From this point the fault runs in a general north-westerly direction, the north-east side being always slightly lowered with respect to the other and shifted to the north-west. Near Seki it takes a more westerly direction, and continues so to a short distance east of Takatomi, where the north side is lowered by five feet, and moved about 1¼ feet to the west. At the north end of Takatomi, a village in which every house was levelled with the ground, the fault is double, and the continuous lowering towards the north has converted a once level field into sloping ground. At this point, the small river Toba, flowing south, is partially blocked by the fault-scarp, and an area of about three-quarters of a square mile, on which two villages stand, was converted into a deep swamp (Fig. 49), so that, as the earthquake occurred at the time of the rice-harvest, the farmers were obliged to cut the grain from boats. After passing Takatomi, the fault again turns to the west-north-west, but, the throw being small, it resembles here the track of an enormous mole. At Uméhara it crosses a garden between two persimmon trees, appearing on the hard face of the ground as a mere line; but the trees, which were before in an east-and-west line, now stand in one running north and south, without being in the least affected by the movement (Fig. 50). From here to Kimbara, where the fault enters the Neo valley, the north side is always depressed and shifted westwards by about 6½ feet.
Fig. 49.—Map of Swamp formed by stoppage of River Toba by Fault-scarp. (Koto.)[ToList]
Fig. 50.—Shifting of Trees by fault at Uméhara. (Koto.)[ToList]