Turning Japanese

I FIRST read a Japanese short story in grade school. It was about a man who had a rice granary on top of a hill. One day, he saw a great tsunami in the faraway sea, moving swiftly toward land.

He quickly set fire to his rice granary and people rushed uphill, to see what happened. The last person was already on top of the hill when the tsunami swept from the sea. Thus, the man's brave move saved the people from certain death.