Meireki major fire
The Meireki Great Fire ( Japanese 明 歴 大火 , Meireki taika , also 振 袖 火 事, Furisode kaji ) broke out according to the Japanese calendar on the 18th day of the 1st month in the year Meireki 3, according to western counting on March 2, 1657 and lasted three Days until it was under control. The fire largely devastated the city of Edo , today's Tokyo , and went down in history as one of the Three Great Fires in Edo (江 戸 の 三 大火, Edo no san-taika).
course
According to tradition, a young girl is said to have fallen in love with a young monk at the Myōshin-ji (本 妙 寺) temple, whom she could not meet again. When she died of grief, she was buried in the named temple. Her long-sleeved kimono , a furisode (振 袖), was not burned as usual, but sold on. The kimono was then acquired twice, and two more times the young woman who wore it fell ill and died.
Then the three families met by chance at a memorial service in early 1657 and learned of their common fate. They now decided to burn the kimono immediately. When they threw the garment into the fire, a gust of wind suddenly seized the burning kimono, which danced in the air and set the nearby main building of the temple on fire. Eventually the whole temple caught fire, the prevailing northwest wind at this time of year drove the fire into the city and devastated a large part.
Over the next two days, more fires broke out, once at the Dentsu-in temple (伝 通 院) and then in the Yotsuya-mitsuke area (四 谷 見附), setting fire to three quarters of the city center. The most densely populated parts of the city were particularly affected. In the Asakusa district, for example, people tried to get to safety across the Sumida River, but the Asakusa gate was tightly closed because of the nearby prison. They eventually climbed over the high walls, but then fell on top of each other and died. At this point alone, 23,000 people are said to have died.
Not only did the majority of ordinary citizens lose their belongings, 160 daimyo residences, 770 samurai residences and 350 temples and shrines also went up on fire. The Tokugawa castle was also reached by the flames and largely burned down. Apart from the Asakusa Bridge (浅 草橋) and the Ikkoku Bridge (一 石橋), more than 60 bridges were lost. Even of the more than 9,000 permanent storage facilities (土 蔵, dozō) built specifically against fires, only a tenth remained. The number of dead is estimated at over 100,000.
Hayashi Razan's fate is particularly well-known: the scholar fled home with a book in hand from his burning school in Ueno, where the most valuable part of his book collection was housed in a storage room covered with copper sheeting. Shocked when he saw that it had burned down anyway, he died a few days later. Arai Hakuseki's mother , heavily pregnant, is said to have escaped from a burning residence and found shelter in another. Hakuseki was nicknamed “fire child” (火 の 児, Hi-no-ko).
In the following days, the corpses were gathered and buried on the eastern side of the Sumida River in a temple Ekō-in (回 向 eten) built for them, with a mound of earth being built over the mountain of corpses.
Follow-up action
Because of the frequent fires there had been a professional fire brigade since 1649, but now the urban structure of Edo has also been improved. The building density was reduced in the civil quarters , the residences of the three Tokugawa branch lines ( Gosanke ) were relocated to properties outside the Outer Trench (外 堀, Sotobori). The larger daimyō built secondary residences next to the main residence (上 屋 敷, kamiyashiki) in the city center further out (中 屋 敷, nakayashiki) and also sub-residences (下 屋 敷, shimoyashiki), into which one could withdraw in the event of a fire. The joy district of the same name ("Y" in the city map) in the Yoshiwara district was moved to the outskirts in the north and was called New Yoshiwara (新 吉 原).
The Tokugawa decided not to rebuild the huge castle tower (天 守, tenshu) that was lost in the fire. The daimyo were urged to rebuild their residences more modestly.
See also
Remarks
- ↑ The other two major fires are the Meiwa major fire (明 和 の 大火, Meiwa no taika), also known as the Meguro -Gyōninzaka major fire (目 黒 行人 坂 の 大火), in 1772 and the Bunsei major fire (文 政 の 大火), too Great Shiba Fire (芝 の 大火) called, in 1806.
- ↑ Literally "earth storage". These were buildings that were thickly coated with clay on the outside and had heavy, lockable doors and windows.
literature
- Nishiyama, Matsunosuke and Haga, Noburu: Meireki no Taika , in: Edo sambyaku nen. Volume 1, Kodansha, 1975, pp. 73-79, ISBN 4-06-115815-5 .
- Kuroki, Takashi: Edo no kaji . Dosei-sha, 1999, ISBN 4-88621-190-9 .