The Kobe earthquake of January 17, 1995, which had a magnitude of 7.2, was accompanied by earthquake lightning (EQL). The fault gouge near ground level at the Nojima fault, near where the EQL was witnessed, was highly lithified and anomalously mag-netized. The characterization of the fault gouge and the mudstone near the fault suggests that the anomalies might have been induced by an intense EQL current which passed through the fault plane. ¿ 1998 American Geophysical Union