Everyday Life in Edo - Everyday Life in Traditional Japan - page 175

ted deliberately by a robber, and destroying more than half of Edo), and 1806 (which burnt
out the eastern end, including nearly all the warriors' lodgings). There were also innumer-
able small fires that were kept under control. The Japanese house, constructed of resinous
timber, with paper-covered screens, needed very little to set it alight; if a strong wind were
blowing, fire could quickly spread out of control. This is why people with valuables kept
them in fireproof storehouses, or in chests fitted with castors to allow them to be pushed
easily into the streets through the walls. They were always prepared to snatch up portable
objects and leave their homes.
(97) Theatre in 1804. This preliminary sketch for a color print shows theatre in Sakai ward
in Edo, on the occasion of the first performance of the season, in the eleventh month.
All the features of the contemporary theatre are clearly shown. In the audience are some
samurai holding their large swords with the hilt uppermost.
As Kaempfer observed, fire fighters were well organized ( 98 ) . In 1629 the central gov-
ernment set up the first body of this sort, and soon the problem was being attacked from
several directions. Thatched roofs were prohibited, but wooden shingles allowed. Large
tubs of water and piles of buckets were provided in the streets. Open spaces were cleared
andstreetsbroadenedtoactasfirebreaks.Bytheendoftheseventeenthcenturytherewere
squads organized by the daimyō and the central government, mainly to protect the Castle