Study of Showa 20th heavy snow based on newspaper articles in Fukui district

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the matter of the 20^th heavy snow in Showa era in the Fukui district by means of newspaper articles. We aim at maintaining records of this matter and analyzing the interaction between snowfall and the social state. At that time, the maximum snow depth was 161cm, and the snowfall ranked as the 5th heaviest one on record.
Historically, we were under a very unusual period—the last stage of the Pacific War. A total of 145 articles, even those remotely related to the snowfall, were collected. In order to analyze the snowfall, the articles were classified by five main attributes, namely, district, reason (relation to the snowfall), content, hero (key person in the articles), and motivation (to cite as news). Further, cross classification among these main attributes was carried out. The classification by reason is as follows: snow disaster (6.2), snow removal (35.2), prevention of snow (4.8), social matters caused by snowfall (17.2), and social matters arising under the circumstances of snowfall (35.2); figures within parentheses indicate the percentage of occurrences. With regard to content, the percentages of occurrences were in the following order: railways, habitants and roads, agriculture, forestry, and so on, while those for hero was residents, administration, schoolchildren, and so on. Further, labor service, communication, and diligence in work comprise the majority for motivation. For example, most of the articles regarding snow removal from railways rarely dealt with the suspension of trains but praised residents or schoolchildren for their grueling labor services toward snow removal. Thus, it is evident that the social state at that time was greatly reflected in the newspaper articles pertaining to snowfall.