Fires in , the former name of Tokyo, during the Edo period (1600−1868) of Japan were so frequent that the city of Edo was characterized as the saying goes. Even in the modern days, the old Edo was still remembered as the .
Edo was something of a rarity in the world, as vast urban areas of the city were repeatedly leveled by fire. The great fires of Edo were compared to the gods of fire and , and also humorously described as "autumn leaves".
Frequency of fires During the 267 years between 1601 (Keichō 6), the year after the , and 1867 (Keiō 3), the year of , Edo was struck by 49 great fires. 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. According to other accounts, there were more than 85 major fires during the history of Edo.Iwao, Seiichi et al. (2002). Dictionnaire historique du Japon, p. 507. Between 1600 and 1945, Edo/Tokyo was leveled every 25–50 years or so by fire, earthquakes, tsunami, volcanic eruptions, and war.
If smaller fires are also included, of the 1,798 fires that occurred in this 267 year-span, 269 were in 1601–1700, 541 in 1701–1800, and 986 in 1801–1867. As Edo's population in the late Tokugawa period increased in tandem with its growing economic prosperity, so too did the frequency of fires in the city increase proportionally to its growth. 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.
List of great fires
The following representative table lists some great fires in the history of Edo that caused catastrophic losses of life and material damage. The three that occurred in the eras of Meireki, Meiwa and Bunka were called the . The Great Fire of Meireki in 1657 is considered to have been the most disastrous of the three conflagrations. 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 do 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.
+ Representative great fires in Edo Date Name Casualties Damages Gregorian Japanese (year/month/day) English Japanese Killed Missing Towns Samurai houses Temples & shrines Chōnin houses December 26, 1601 6 Keicho/11ic/2 First recorded great fire in Edo. The entire city was burned down. March 10or11, 1641 18 Kan-ei/1/29or30 Oke-machi Fire were established after this fire. 400+ 97 123 March 2–3, 1657 3 Meireki/1/18–19 Great Fire of MeirekiAlso called the Fire of Furisode (振袖火事). It was the worst fire in the history of Edo. Over half of Edo was involved in the conflagration that had begun on March, 2, 1657, the third year of the Meireki era. During its two-day span the awesome conflagration reduced 60-70% of the capital city to ashes and burnt down Edo Castle's Tenshu Keep. The great fire would have significant long-term impact on the urban planning and firefighting system of Edo. (Meireki 3, 18th–19th days of the 1st month); and the city was devastated, claiming over 100,000 lives.Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du japon, p. 413.Blusse, Leonard & Cynthia Vaillé (2005). The Desjima Dagregisters, Volume XII 1650–1660. Leiden Up to 107,000 January 25, 1683 2 Tenna/12/28 Great Fire of TennaAlso called the . See below.Titsingh, p. 415. 830–3500 241 95 October 9, 1698 11 Genroku/9/6 Chokugaku Fire 3000 326 308 232 18,700 December 25, 1704 16 Genroku/11/29 Mito-sama FireCompounding the damaged inflicted on Edo by the earthquake six days earlier, the area of destruction exceeded that of the Great Fire of Meireki. 275 75 20,000 March 14, 1745 2 Enkyo/2/12 Rokudō Fire 1323 28,678 March 22, 1760 10 Horeki/2/6 Hōreki Fire 460 80 April 1, 1772 9 Meiwa/2/29 Great Meiwa fireThe fire broke out on February 29, 1772 (Meiwa 9, 26th day or the 1st month). This is considered one of the three greatest Edo Fires. Unofficial reports describe a swath of ashes and cinders nearly width and length—destroying 178 temples and shrines, 127 daimyo residences, 878 non-official residences, 8705 houses of bannermen, and 628 blocks of merchant dwellings, with estimates of over 6,000 casualties. All this devastation subsequently engendered the staggering costs of reconstruction.Hall, John Whitney. (1955). Tanuma Okitsugu, 1719–1788: Forerunner of Modern Japan, p. 120. 14,700 4060 904 April 22, 1806 3 Bunka/3/4 Great Bunka firea severe fire which broke out in Edo during the third year of the Bunka era. 1200 530 80 80 April 24, 1829 12 Bunsei/3/21 Great Fire of Bunsei 2800 370,000 March 16, 1834 5 Tempo/2/7 Kōgo FireSeries of fire incidents lasted for six days. 4000 March 2, 1845 2 Koka/1/24 Aoyama Fire 800–900 126 400 5000 November 11, 1855 2 Ansei/10/2 Earthquake FireA magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Edo on the same day and caused fires in numerous locations that evolved into this great fire. 4500–26,000
Footnotes
Others 1668 : A major fire broke out in Edo on March 3, 1668 (Kanbun 8, 1st day of the 2nd month). This disaster was attributed to arson; and the fire burned for 45 days.Titsingh, p. 414. 1682 A significant fire burned controllably in the city on February 5, 1682 (Tenna 1, 28th day of the 12th month). 1697 (Genroku 10): This was called the fire of the tenth year of Genroku.
Causes of fires During the Edo period, fire was an indispensable element of daily life. It was used for cooking and lighting, which in turn gave rise to accidents. Arson, due to various motives, was another source of fires. Other reasons for a greater frequency of great fires in Edo compared to other cities included a dense urban layout housing a large population, existence of an impoverished social class, and Edo's unique meteorological conditions.
Matsunosuke Nishiyama, a scholar who studied Edo's fires, summarized the causes of the fires as:
Growth of population
After established the shogunate in Edo, daimyōs (vassal lords) and hatamoto (senior retainers) residences were built around Edo Castle and housed a large number of samurai. Merchants and artisans who supported the life of the samurai soon migrated to Edo in flocks and resulted in a population boom. The population of Edo grew from roughly 400,000 in 1640 (Kan'ei 17) to around 800,000 in 1693 (Genroku 6), and grew to about 1,100,000 by 1721 (Kyōhō 6). In contrast to the vast residential areas of the samurai, chōnin were confined to much smaller areas. The growing population pushed their population density to an extremely high degree. Their residences were densely arranged in compact areas, and shabby were common. The per capita living space, kitchen and closet included, was usually the size of six tatami mats. On top of that, the wood and paper construction materials easily became fuel for a fire. All these conditions naturally led to a high possibility of fire accidents.
Arson
As a major cause of fires in Edo, burglars were recorded in great numbers. Many of the arrested arsonists were living an impoverished life due to the high cost of living of Edo and ineligibility to work as indentured servants for not having a guarantor. Some of them had had their houses burned down and had little to lose from committing crimes. Among the 102 arsonists arrested in 1723 and 1724 (Kyōhō 8 and 9), 41 were ,Hinin were the lowest, most discriminated rank in the caste system of the Edo society. Members were typically ex-convicts and vagrants. and 22 had no registered permanent residences. Most of them came from the lower social classes.The number of arrested arsonists in those two years skyrocketed. It is possible that some of them were in fact innocent.
Motivations for arson varied, though the most prominent one was looting. Arsonists of this kind would set fire on windy days and take advantage of the ensuing disturbances to commit theft. 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. Also recorded were instances of merchants setting fire to competitors' businesses and children playing with fire, and even a case with a confession of "suddenly felt like setting fire". Since a fire would also mean business for carpenters, plasterworkers and steeplejacks in the subsequent reconstruction, some of them would delight at the occurrence and aggravation of fires. In particular, as many firefighters primarily worked as steeplejacks, some of them would intentionally spread fire for the sake of showing off firefighting skills in public or creating business opportunities for themselves. This prompted the shogunate to issue warning ordinances and execute some offending firefighters. Arrested arsonists were paraded through the streets before they were burned to death. However, in spite of the intolerant policy of the shogunate towards arson, arson-induced fires were never fully eliminated from Edo. During the bakumatsu period, public order deteriorated as administration of the shogunate grew incompetent. As a consequence, fires from arson increased drastically.
Some arsonists became subjects of literature and kabuki works. These included , whom the Great Fire of Tenna of 1683 (Tenna 3), in which up to 3,500 people perished, was also named after. Oshichi was not responsible for the fire, but lost her house to it. She took shelter in a temple and fell in love with a page there. A year later, she attempted arson based on the fantasy that another fire would enable the two to meet again. She was arrested, tried, and executed by fire. Her story was the basis of Ihara Saikaku's and Tsuruya Nanboku IV's .
Meteorological conditions The strong winter monsoon from the north was a meteorological condition unique to Edo. It contributed to many winter and spring fires that occurred in dry weather brought about by prevailing northwest and north winds. In addition, strong south winds in the spring and autumn were another cause of great fires. For this reason, the four teams of established by the shogunate in 1658 (Manji 1) were stationed to the northwest of the Edo Castle to protect the castle from fires spreading from that direction.
When the fires were counted by the month, March saw the most "great fires", followed by February, April and January. These four months accounted for 70% of all great fires. The Great Fire of Meireki, being the most catastrophic fire in the history of Edo for claiming up to 107,000 lives, occurred on March 2, 1657 (the 18th day of the first month of Meireki 3 in the Japanese lunisolar Tenpō calendar). Edo's chōnin were well aware of this fact. In winter, women were asked to leave for their parents' residences in the suburbs of Edo and return only after the fire season had passed, resulting in a seasonal population fluctuation. In 1725 (Kyōhō 10), the population in the sixth month was more than 10,000 larger than in the fourth month. Over 90% of the added population were females.
Tokugawa shogunate's fire prevention measures