Handscroll on paper 257 x 15,070 mm. , depicting the Great Meiwa Fire of 1772

by Firefighting In Edo

$19,500 · Offered by Jonathan A. Hill Bookseller

Japan : at end in trans. : “copied 1842.” Japanese cities have always been plagued by terrible fires. Regarding Edo, “the wooden construction of all of the city and the narrow lanes of commoner quarters made fire a devastating experience, and it came sufficiently frequently to be called ‘the flowers of Edo.’ Fires were no respecters of status and rank, and when driven by winter winds in the dry season they roared through the city.…In the

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