Page:Sketches of Tokyo Life (1895).djvu/112

84 thousand houses fell victims to the flames and thirty-four lives were lost. In these five cases, the wind was invariably north-west.

The shogun’s government was untiring in its efforts to prevent fires if we may judge from the numerous orders on the subject that were given to subordinate officers; but for a long time no fixed system was in operation. Whenever there was an alarm of fire, officers and common people rushed indiscriminately to extinguish it, and often succeeded only in adding to its violence. In 1658, after the long-sleeve fire of the preceding year, four companies of firemen were formed, who were employés of the government and exclusively engaged in the prevention and extinction of fires. In 1683, another company was added; in 1711, regulations were issued for controlling the conduct of firemen and others at fires; and a law was at the same time proclaimed against incendiarism. In 1718, however, under Ooka, the ablest and most celebrated of the magistrates of Yedo, a new system of fire-brigades was established. Every street was ordered to provide its own night-watch and in case of fire to supply thirty firemen, besides thirty others to assist the sufferers and to clear away the débris of burnt houses. But these men who were at first selected from among shopmen and apprentices were found to be unequal to the rough work required; and next year, they were replaced by workmen employed in house-building, who were eminently fit for the task. The system worked well and firemen soon formed a large army. They were in Yedo proper divided into ten brigades, which were again subdivided into forty-eight companies, while on the south-east side of the River Sumida there were sixteen companies. A century ago, these sixty-four companies mustered 10,360 firemen. Each company had and still has its standard, the matoi, surmounted with its distinctive crest, which indicates to the company the sphere of its work at the fire. The matoi-bearer’s post is, like the military