Fires in Edo
In comparison, during the same period, great fires in Kyoto, Osaka and Kanazawa totaled only nine, six, and three, respectively, which made Edo's figure stand out among the metropolises in Japan.
In particular, the 17 years between 1851 (Kaei 3) and 1867 saw 506 fires, to which unstable public order caused by the incapable administration of the Tokugawa shogunate was a major contributing factor.
Fires in Edo often quickly escalated, in large part due to the city's urban environment being characterized by inflammable wooden machiya buildings that were heated by charcoal-burning fireplaces.
Given the limitations of firefighting technology at the time as well as the unreliability of Edo's water supply system, once a blaze in a neighborhood crammed with wooden building stock got out of hand there was little authorities could due to prevent its spread to other parts of the city.
Apart from the great conflagrations, there were also intermittent small fires in this period that (taken together) caused greater damage and loss of life in Edo than any of the more singularly destructive blazes.
Other than looting, frequent motives were those arising from social relationships, such as servants seeking vengeance upon their masters and grudges due to failed romantic relations.
He ordered machi-bugyō (町奉行, town commissioner) Ōoka Tadasuke (大岡 忠相) to establish new firefighting units that would be truly capable of protecting chōnin's residential areas.
All of them except four were designated using single hiragana letters and thus were collectively referred to as the iroha 48 gumi (いろは 48 組, "48 alphabetical groups").
Although initially there were three separate posts for the three crimes, they were known to be held concurrently by military official Nakayama Naomori (中山 直守) in 1683 (Tenna 3).
Instead, the maximum penalty of gokumon (獄門, "jail gate") was imposed; the condemned samurai was decapitated and the head was placed on a pedestal or platform and displayed for three days, while the body was used for sword-testing.
That started with moving the primary residences of the Gosanke (御三家) outside of the Edo Castle and dedicating the vacated space to fire prevention.
The relocation of the red-light district of Yoshihara (吉原) from the neighborhood of Nihonbashi to Asakusa also occurred in this period, although the move had been decided before the Great Fire of Meireki.
The two types of fire barrier zones, hiyokechi (火除地) and hirokōji (広小路) , were created from land vacated by relocation; the former were vacant plazas and the latter widened streets.
After the Great Fire of Tenna, another wave of relocation involving daimyō residences, temples, and shrines, and allowed for new hiyokechi and extended hirokōji.
Prohibitions targeting fire hazards were directed against public bathhouses, fireworks, Sagichō (左義長),[note 5] and waste burning.
While the saying "Money is not to be kept overnight"[note 6] unequivocally displays the unrestrained attitude of Edo's people towards life,[1] it also reflects their pragmatic mentality concerning the city's frequent great fires—money was better off spent soon than lost to a fire.
Hence, when it entered the fire season as winter approached, as a precaution, people would place items including clothes, waraji (わらじ, straw sandals) and chōchin (提灯, paper lanterns) next to their pillows in case of emergency.
As an additional measure, and as a forerunner to fire insurance, rich merchants would prepay wood retailers for the materials needed for building a house.
Fire resistance enabled by their thick walls made them ideal for storing commodities, household belongings, tools, and valuable articles.
However, they could also suffer from vulnerabilities caused by substandard construction and inappropriate maintenance, letting in fires from crevices in windows and entrances as well as mouse holes, and even collapsing as a result.
For this reason, rich merchants would prepare earth in a ready condition so that they could have their regular plasterers quickly seal up their dozō when fires occurred.
[46] Specially fortified dozō for storing documents called bunkogura (文庫蔵) existed but never gained popularity due to their even higher construction cost, even though they were strong enough to survive great fires.
Although anagura in Edo were mainly built with cypress to prevent leaks caused by high groundwater levels, the underground humidity had nevertheless limited their durability.
[50] For the chōnin, the second volume of the Kujikata Osadamegaki imposed the penalty of 10, 20 and 30 days of oshikome (押込), or strict house arrest, on those who accidentally burned down areas wider than 10 ken (about 18 m).
If the damage of a fire spread across an area wider than 3 chō (about 327 m), apart from the culprit, the head of the family, landlord and gachigyōji (月行事)[note 7] would also be subjected to 30 days of oshikome.
[note 9] For fire accidents occurring in temples and shrines, out of leniency the shogunate only penalized the firestarters with seven days of enryo (遠慮), or light house arrest, in which discrete night excursions were tolerated.
Besides artisans, indentured servants also enjoyed an increase in their salaries for fewer of them wishing to work in Edo out of fear of great fires.
Nevertheless, that did not stop merchants like Kawamura Zuiken (河村 瑞賢), who built up a fortune from wood trading and contracted construction after the Great Fire of Meireki.
For the Great Fire of Meireki, although the lost tenshu-keep of Edo Castle was left as destroyed, reconstruction of the inner citadel as well as the palaces recorded a total expenditure of over 930,000 ryō.
After the Great Fire of Meireki, hatamotos and gokenin (御家人, vassals) received endowments proportional to their stipends and were allowed advanced rice payments.
