The following will appear in the "Tomorrow in Seismic History" section of
the Earthquake summary, but I thought, given recent discussion of earthquake
lights, that posting it separately might arouse some interesting speculation
from board members and lurkers.

Some interesting observations were also made relating to earthquake
and tsunami lights during the Sanriki, Japan earthquake and tsunami of
March 2, 1933. Following are some extracts
from a paper by Kinkiti Musya - "On the luminous Phenomena that
accompanied the Great Sanriki Tunami in 1933 (Part 1)" Earthquake
Research Institute.

"The oldest recorde in which luminous phenomena accompanying
tsunamis is mentioned is the great water wave which followed a violent
seismic disturbance of Mutu province, North Japan, in 869 A.D. In "Sandai
Zituroku" it is stated that 'On May 26, a great earthquake occurred
in that region. Brilliant streams of light flashed several times,
brightening up all things as in the daytime. People could not stand
up and could do nothing but cry for help. " While no statement that
this was associated with the sea wave is noted, and this could be
a record of earthquake lights, the brilliant streams of light noted,
resemble more effect from tsunamis than from earthquake lights.

" On the night of the 9th of October, 1677, great waves swept over
the coasts of Hitaki and Iwaki, destroying numberless houses and
drowning many people and cattle. On the same night the coasts of
Owari also were devastated by gigantic waves, many fishing boats
being destroyed. Three fire balls burst out of the sea and flew
away to the NW."

" In 1707 there occurred a great earthquake, the most terrible
of all recorded earthquakes in Japan. The greater part of the Central
and South Japan suffered from destructive shocks and accompanying
water waves. It is stated that, at the time of the tsunami 'weird
round-shaped luminous bodies were seen in the gigantic oncoming waves'."

"In 1792 a landslide occurred near the town called Simabara,
Kyushu, when collosal masses of rock and soil fell into the sea,
and gave rise to enormous sea-waves, causing great destruction. At
the time of the disaster ' a light like a blazing flame burst
out from the great waves and shone all around - another account
noted that the sea emitted flashes of light."

"On both Nov. 4 and 5, 1854, dreadful earthquakes shook Central
and South Japan, followed by great waves. During the tsunami,
"the sky was overcast and the north-west looked like it was
ablaze. It was found afterwards that the direction of the illuminated
sky was exactly that of the coasts devastated by huge waves. According
to another account ' when the fatal day died into night, a sacred
fire appeared and hung motionless over the water all night. It
looked as large as a hand-ball, though the real size is unknown.
On the next night, that is Nov. 5, a similar fire-ball again appeared
over the sea.' Another says 'There came sounds like cannon's roar
several times from the south-west-offing, and then I was greatly
alarmed to see a pillar of fire moving along the cloud from north
to south. Expecting the rush of a tsunami, I swpth the horizon, but
the sea was very calm. Thing it wise to go to a safe place, I fled
to a neighboring village. It was about 6 p.m. When we reached an
embankment and looked backward, our town had been engulfed by a huge
wave".
On June 15, 1896, enormous waves, 80 feet high swept away villages and
towns in the Sanriki districts, destroying over 20,000 lives. During the
tsunami various kinds of luminescence were observed by not a few people.
Following are some accounts:

1) a fisherman fishing saw a light like a flame over the ocean.
2) Mr. Hayasi, another fisherman was fishing at Kominato when
he suddenly found the sea-water receded over 600 meters from shore
and the surface of the sea and the exposed bottom gave out bluish
white luminescence. It was so bright that trees in the vicinity
were clearly seen. Thinking that something serious was happening,
he began to climb. Just at that moment a huge wave of 10 feet high
rushed ashore"
3) A policeman (Mr Satyu Yusa) was making his rounds when he heard
strange sounds from the direction of the sea. Wondering what they
were, he approached Noda (the town) and to his great alarm, saw
many weird luminous bodies as large as paper lanterns, in that part
of the village where houses stood and being the village on the hill.
Soon he heard the dreadful noise of houses crashing and terrible
cries for help and saw a tsunami rushing from the ocean. It was
found afterwards that the lights were seen only in the part of the
village that was struck by the waves.
4) A villager states that he had scarcely heard an unusual sound
when the sea-water retreated 600 meters from the shore and weird
luminescence was seen on the bare bottom. Then the wave came.
5) In Hitokawame-mura, Aomori, night after night before the
tsunami occurred, ghastly luminescence was seen many times in the
sky.
6) Many saw a pink luminescence and lights above the ocean which
they took to be electric lights of ships.
7) A brillian white light was seen flashing over the sea as if
a snowy mountain had crumbled down.
8) At that time of the tsunami pale flames appeared on the open
sea and a policeman observed luminour objects on the slopes
of hills.
9) According to Mr. Kasiwazaki, headman of Yoshihamamura, the on-coming
waves of the tsunami looked like black clouds falling from above and
the crest gave out terrible lights.
10) When a gigantic wave rushed ashore, clouds of spray were lighted
up by the light emitted from the crest. Though dark and foggy that
night, it was so bright that people had no difficulty in walking
safety owing to the sea-light.

1933:
At about 2:30 a.m. on the morning of March 3 (2UT) 1933, the Sanriki
districts were visited by a great earthquake. It was said that even
the oldest had not experienced such a quake.

Earthquake lights:

"It was reported by some that luminescence was observed previous
to the strong shock of March 3.
'About 9:30 p.m. on March 1, a headmaster of the primary school
came to the former site of the execution ground, which is
situated at a height, a bluish yellow light was seen through
a cluster of trees in the direction of the sea. When he came
closer, the light became brighter and two beams of bright light
were thrown out to the west. No ships were in the harbor with
search lights at the time."
'About 8:30 p.m. on March 2, the sky in the direction of the
Pacific was lighted by what seemed to be lightning flashes, but there
was no thunder, and the color of the flashes was reddish-yellow.
No thunderstorms occurred from March 1 to 7 over all Japan, so this
was not related to lightning. Similar arcs of light have been
seen before other earthquakes including one in London in 1931 and
in the Idu, Japan quake of 1931.
" Many people observed the luminescence while the shock was on.
Many say it was like ordinary lightning or electric sparking bluish
or bluish white in color. Similar reports have been made throughout
the ages when electricity was not available. One electrical
engineer observed the light as a pale bluish-green and stated
that it was quiet different from the luminescence dur to electric sparking.
The bluish light was seen throughout the area as well as out
to sea. When it first appeared, electric lights in the coastal
villages went out, but there were no downed lines. Some of the
luminescence was seen on the surface of the sea as well. One
well-trained observed noted that while the shock was on, many
bluish luminous bodies larges and small appeared and disappered
on the open sea in the east and in the Bay to the west. The
duration of each light was about 1-2 seconds. Blue flames were
said to be seen bursting out of the sea. The crew of another
fishing boat felt a seashock off Kinkazan and at the same time
to their consternation, glittering lights appeared in the water."

The tsunami luminescence:

The luminescence accompanying the tsunami varies in reported
charater and intensity, and is classified as follows:
1) the crest of the waves emitted dim continuous light.
2) the surface of the sea glittered all over
3) When waves washed the coasts, the water of the shoreline
gave off a bluish light.
4) When the sea-water receded, the exposed sea-bottom gave out
a blue light.
5) Luminescent bodies like a meteor were seen.
6) Well-defined round-shaped luminous bodies were seen in the
on-coming waves.
7) Weird round-shaped luminous bodies appeared avoe the sea
8) Bright lights radiated from the sea.

There are several other papers in the same publication relating
to luminous activity related to the earthquake and tsunami.
It might be noted that a strong geomagnetic storm had been
occurring from Feb. 24 through 28, 1933, but was over by the
time of the Sanriki earthquake on March 2.