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ABSTRACT
Kamaishi in Iwate Prefecture has suffered devastating damage on several occasions, including the 1896 Meiji Sanriku tsunami, the 1933 Showa Sanriku tsunami, the 1945 naval bombardment during W.W. II and the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. Each time, the city has recovered. This paper explores the history of reconstruction planning and urban development in Kamaishi and how the city’s landscape and urban space have been shaped by disaster and reconstruction. In the Kamaishi area in modern times, temples, shrines and public facilities have been moved and new infrastructure has been developed repeatedly, after each disaster. The accumulated reconstructions have generated a landscape in which the city is centred on wide streets that form a vertical axis connecting the coast and the highlands. The need to evacuate has been woven into the urban space of Kamaishi through repeated experiences of disaster and reconstruction. In the reconstruction that took place after the Great East Japan Earthquake, new layers and facilities were added for commercial recovery and residential reconstruction, but the underlying intention was to build a network of evacuation routes.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Larkham, DISASTERS Recovery, Re-planning, Reconstruction, and Resilience, 428-440.
2 Hein, Resilient Tokyo: disaster and transformation in the Japanese city,214.
3 Hein, Diefendorf and Ishida eds. Rebuilding urban Japan after 1945.
4 Clancey, Earthquake nation, 160.
5 Okamura, Sanriku Tsunami to Shūraku Saihen and Aiba et al., Tsunami no Aida Ikirareta Mura.
6 Nakajima, Toshikeikaku no Shisō to Basho: Nihon Kingendai Toshikeikakushi Note, 307-33.
7 Editing Committee of the History of Kamaishi City, Kamaishi Shishi Tsūshi, 177-286.
8 The year of the relocation of Sekiōzenji differs between the description in Kamaishi Shishi Tsūshi and the official announcement of Sekiōzenji itself. The former states that the relocation took place in 1887, while the latter states that the relocation began in 1893.
9 Editing Committee of the History of Kamaishi City, Kamaishi Shishi Tsūshi, 464-475.
10 The year of the move is not specified in Kamaishi Shishi Tsūshi. Here I refer to the description on Senjuin's website (http://senjyuin.info/).
11 Editing Committee of the History of Kamaishi City, Kamaishi Shishi Tsūshi, 515.
12 Chūō Bosai Kaigi, Saigai Kyokun no Keisho,94.
13 City Planning Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Sanriku Tsunami niyoru Higai Chōson no Fukkō Keikaku Hōkokusho, 27.
14 Iwate Prefecture, Bōkachitai Kenchikubutsu Hojo [one letter unknown] Shikin Yūzū no Seigan.
15 Kamaishi City, Kamaishishi Higashinihon Daishinsai Kenshō Hōkokusho Tusnami Hinan Kōdō Hen
16 Land readjustment project, Tochi Kukaku Seiri in Japanese, is an areal project method to reshape existing lands and convert those into residential lands. It is widely applied throughout Japan as a major urban land development method. Land readjustment project, Tochi Kukaku Seiri in Japanese, is ‘a method of pooling ownership of all land within a project area, building urban facilities such as roads and parks and dividing the land into urban plots’ (Sorensen (Citation2002)). It is characterized by the two points: landowners must contribute a portion of their land for public uses, and the participation of all landowners in a project area is mandatory, whereas the usual method requires the agreement of two-thirds of the landowners. In the beginning, projects were mainly implemented by individual landowners or associations in urabn fringe, in accordance with the Law for the Agricultural Land Consolidation Law. Since the government took the initiative in implementing land readjustment projects over a wide area as reconstruction projects after the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923, it has become an important method for government-led reconstruction projects.
17 Koho Kamaishi, Feb. 15, 3.
18 Kōwan Gijutsu Kenkyujo Kamaishikō ni okeru Tsunami Higai no Sūchi Keisan niyoru Saigen Kekka.
19 Chūō Bosai Kaigi, Tōhoku Chihō Taiheiyō-oki Jishin wo Kyōkun toshita Jishin Tsunami Taisaku ni kannsuru Sennmon Chōsakai Hōkoku,2011.
20 Ito, Saigai Kiken Kuiki niokeru Kyojū Kukan no Seibi Hōshin to Shuhō,, Zōkei 2021, 65.
21 Endo, Kamaishi Chūshin Shigaichi (Tōbu Chiku) no Fukkō, Zōkei 2021, 56-63.
22 Kamaishi City, Tsunami Saigai Kinkyū Hinan Basho.
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Naoto Nakajima
Naoto Nakajima is Associate Professor in the University of Tokyo. He earned his bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees from the University of Tokyo. He is teaching courses on “Planning History,” “Urban Design Studio,” and “Advanced Urban Design Theory.” He has been involved in practical planning projects with local governments and community organizations in Tokyo and other localities. He is the author of two award-winning books: Toshibi-undo [Civic Art Movement in Japan] (University of Tokyo Press, 2009) and Toshikeikaku no Shiso to Basho: Nihon Kingendai Toshikeikaku-shi Note [Thought and Places on Urbanism: Notes on Japanese Planning History] (University of Tokyo Press, 2018).