A talisman to protect against earthquake damage. Notice first of all, the dragon-like tail of the namazu, probably an iconographic remnant of the older belief that a subterranean dragon caused earthquakes. The thunder god (right) is typically a symbol of unrest, often associated with earthquakes, but here he lends his mallet to the task of helping the Kashima Deity (left) suppress the giant namazu. At the top left is "Kashima" written in a special "spirit writing" script, and, directly above it is an iconographic depiction of the Big Dipper constellation (thought to be an especially fortunate set of stars).

The four small namazu each wear human robes with characters for place names on their backs: Ise, Shinshū, Odawara, and Kyoto. These place names correspond to major earthquakes from the relatively recent past and attest to a widespread knowledge of earthquakes that took place even in other regions of the country owing to inter-city news networks.

Optional details about the earthquakes:

The “Kyōto” namazu refers to a rather modest earthquake that shook Kyōto in 1830, causing some property destruction and around 200 deaths. Because Kyōto rarely experienced significant earthquakes, and because it was the cultural and religious capital of Japan, this relatively moderate seismic event made a big impression on the minds of many Japanese.

The “Ise” namazu represents an earthquake that occurred on the 14th day of the 6th month, 1854. It shook Iga-Ueno in present-day Mie Prefecture and the Ise and Konoe areas in present-day Shiga Prefecture. It caused widespread property damage, destroying over 20,000 homes, and was widely reported in the popular press of the major urban areas.

“Shinshū” is another term for Shinano, present-day Nagano Prefecture, which was the site of the magnitude 7.4 Zenkōji Earthquake of 1847 that resulted in at least 10,000 deaths by most accounts. According to one newspaper account from the time:

In the third month of 1847 on the 24th day around 10pm, a large earthquake struck Shinano. Unfortunately, that month the Zenkō Temple (Zenkōji) was displaying a Buddhist statue, and so people from all around had crowded in to see it. A large crowd was milling around, which exacerbated the panic when the earthquake struck. Many of them were pinned down by or crushed beneath collapsing houses. Moreover, fire flew from the collapsed houses in an instant, and before long, the district in front of the temple gate was a sea of flames. Aftershocks sounding like thunder continued without cease, there being more than 80 throughout the night. A fissure appeared in the earth from which flowed mud and sand. A cliff overhanging the north fork of the Sai River collapsed, which cause massive flooding. Disasters two or three deep caused, it is said, the deaths of 30,000. Prior to the earthquake, the temple put up a notice board of regulations for viewing the Buddhist image in front of its gate. It disappeared in the night, as did a second one. After putting up a third one, a guard was posted round the clock. Reflecting on this matter, people claimed that it must have been a way that the main Buddha of the temple tried to warn the people of an impending earthquake.

Odawara is a city slightly to the south of Edo, which experienced a major earthquake of unknown magnitude on the 3rd day of the second month, 1853. According to one newspaper account, houses “collapsed like chess pieces,” a corner of Odawara castle collapsed, and the shaking and subsequent fires killed 3,780.