High Middle Ages · East Asia · Disaster

1293

Earthquake devastates Kamakura, Japan

1293

A powerful earthquake struck the shogunal capital of Kamakura, collapsing temples, splitting hillsides, and generating a tsunami that flooded the coastal lowlands. The Great Buddha at Kotoku-in survived, but its surrounding hall was destroyed and never rebuilt, leaving the bronze colossus to sit in the open air where it remains today.