Mount Hiyori and the Minamihama area of Ishinomaki City

There used to be a town here in which many people lived

During the Edo period, after the excavation of the Kitakami River by Magobe Kawamura under Masamune Date, lord of the Sendai Domain, this used to be a bustling port exporting rice to the city of Edo. Mount Hiyori was where one could observe the tides and favorable wind conditions for ships to set sail.

Commencing in the Meiji period, the area was developed as agricultural land. During the Showa period, an industrial port was built on the west bank of the Kitakami River and many factories, including a pulp mill, were located here. Minamihama and Kadonowaki rapidly developed as urban areas. Land reclamation progressed, and in the period before the Great East Japan Earthquake, these were residential areas home to many people.

The day of the Great East Japan Earthquake

On the day of Great East Japan Earthquake, a huge tsunami swept away the houses, and a fire that broke out at the same time caused great damage in this area. The Minamihama area was the worst affected in Ishinomaki, the city that suffered the greatest number of deaths and missing persons in the entire disaster.

Kadonowaki Elementary School left standing as an earthquake ruin

Continuing to teach life-saving lessons

The tsunami that struck this area on the day of the Great East Japan Earthquake exceeded six meters in height, and the blaze that followed burned for three consecutive days.
At Kadonowaki Elementary School, the 275 children who had remained at school after the main shock were taken to Mount Hiyori behind the school building, as per evacuation drills. All the children and employees who were at the school at the time survived unharmed.
Ishinomaki City has decided to preserve Kadonowaki Elementary School as "The only building that was left standing after the tsunami and tsunami fire."