Akamatsu Earthquake Devastates Hōei Japan

November 25, 1708

A magnitude-8.6 earthquake tore along the Nankai Trough, triggering tsunamis that drowned coastal villages from Shikoku to the Kii Peninsula. Weeks later, Mount Fuji erupted for the last time in recorded history, burying Edo in ash. Japan's shogunate spent a decade rebuilding what the earth had broken in an afternoon.