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Mount Bandai (磐梯山, Bandai-san) is a stratovolcano located in Inawashiro-town, Bandai-town, and Kitashiobara village, in Yama-Gun, Fukushima prefecture. It is an active stratovolcano located to the north of Lake Inawashiro. Mount Bandai, including the Bandai heights, belongs to the Bandai-Asahi National Park.
The altitude of the triangulation station Bandai, installed in 1904, had been employed as the official altitude of Mount Bandai. However, after the station disappeared due to erosion, it was re-measured in October 2010 and now is 1,816.29m. The name Mount Bandai is used to refer to the main peak Bandai, along with several other peaks including Akahani at 1,430m and Kushigamine at 1,636m, created during the 1888 eruption of Mount Bandai.
Mount Bandai was originally called Iwahashi-yama which means a rock ladder to the sky. It is now sometimes called Aizu Fuji and Aizu Bandai. The south foot is called Omotebandai and the north foot is called Urabandai. When seen from Omotebandai, the mountain looks tidy, but when viewed from Urabandai the mountain shows a wild shape, due to its collapse.
It is one of the list of the 100 famous mountains in Japan.
In 2007, the mountain was selected as one of the top 100 geographic landmarks in Japan.
Additionally, in 2011 the mountain was certified as a geopark of Japan.
Typical features of mount Bandai's activity are debris avalanches and sector collapses. We know this because evidence of this has been left in past activities.
Mount Bandai has not experienced a lava flow after the eruption of about 10,000 years ago. Sediment surveys have shown us that the history of the volcano can be divided into 6 sections. It is thought that the volcanic activity period was from about 290,000 years ago when there were 2 scoria eruptions, after the activity of Mount Nekoma (from approximately 1.1 million years ago to 350 thousand years ago) somewhere to the west.
On July 15, 1888 there was an explosion of water vapour in a Kobandai eruption. It is believed that hot ground water continuously spurting out had weathered the mountain and this caused it to collapse. This caused an avalanche of debris to bury 5 nearby villages on the north foot of the mountain and 477 people were killed.
This eruption was the first major disaster for the modern Japanese government which began from the Meiji period.
The government launched an enquiry to investigate the eruption and this was implemented by Kiyokage Sekiya and Yasu Kikuchi. The government provided relief and attempted to rebuild the affected villages. Extensive research, including surveys was undertaken into the causes of the eruption and the extent of the damage –this was an unusual measure to take at the time. Detailed pictures were taken of the events.
Donations amounting to ¥38,000 were gathered (which equates to around ¥1.5Bn presently) and these supported the relief and restoration effort. The Japanese Red Cross organization was involved in the relief effort after having been formed the previous year (1887) following an eruption and this was its first peacetime involvement in relief. A monument was erected in Goshikinuma to honour those who helped the relief effort.
More information: More Than Tokyo
Every volcano is a powerful illustration of God's character.
He is a Vesuvius of goodness, life, and energy.
Reinhard Bonnke
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