What Did Edo Firefighters Actually Do All Day?

A fire starts at night, a crew races in, and instead of fighting the flames they run past them and start pulling down a house that isn't burning yet. That strange rule made sense in a city built almost entirely of wood. We follow Edo's neighborhood firefighters, the machi-bikeshi, from the great fire that burned much of the city to the reforms that created them, the lookout towers, the lookouts who climbed the rooftops, the standard-bearers who stood on the roofs, the rivalry between crews, their tattoos, the famous brawl of 1805, and what happened after the fire was out. It is a story about a job that paid in pride more than money. In this video: Why firefighters demolished buildings The Meireki fire and the wooden city Ooka Tadasuke and the neighborhood fire crews Lookout towers, rooftop lookouts and the matoi standard Rivalry, tattoos and the 1805 brawl After the fire: injuries, rewards and celebration Early water pumps and what changed after the Meiji era Sources in this video: Edo-period fire records and accounts of the Meireki fire; studies of Ooka Tadasuke's fire reforms; records of the 1805 brawl with sumo wrestlers Chapters: 0:00 Tearing down a house that is not burning 1:25 A wooden city and the Meireki fire 3:43 Ooka Tadasuke and the fire crews 6:20 The lookout tower 7:27 The rooftop climbers 9:23 The standard-bearer 11:43 Rivalry and tattoos 13:47 The 1805 brawl 16:37 After the fire: injuries and pay 18:14 Rewards and celebration 19:35 Danger and the water pumps 21:44 An ordinary day 23:25 After the Meiji era 24:52 The New Year parade and what remains Would you have joined the fire crew for the pride, or stayed out of the smoke? Tell us in the comments. If you enjoyed this look at everyday life in Edo-period Japan, please like the video, subscribe for more, and share it with someone who loves history. #EdoFirefighters #MachiBikeshi #EdoPeriod #JapaneseHistory #SamuraiJapan #FireHistory