Page "Edo" Paragraph 2

Edo was repeatedly devastated by fires, with the Great Fire of Meireki in 1657 ( in which an estimated 100, 000 people died ) the most disastrous.

During the Edo period there were about 100 fires ( most begun by accident, often quickly escalating and spreading through neighbourhoods of wooden machiya which were heated with charcoal fires.

Between 1600 and 1945, Edo / Tokyo was leveled every 25 – 50 years or so by fire, earthquakes, tsunami, volcanic eruptions or war.