Currently not on view
Shadow Painting: Night Fire in Edo,
ca. 1845
Information
ca. 1845
Asia, Japan
During the Edo period, Edo (present-day Tokyo) was known for its frequent fires (and fights), as a popular saying puts it satirically:
Fire and fistfights are the flowers of Edo 火事と喧嘩は江戸の花
With its frequent earthquakes and its architecture of wood and paper, fires were major events in the life of many early modern Japanese cities. None, however, as much as Edo, whose history is punctuated with major fires that razed large parts of the city.[1]
In this painting, we stand witness to a major fire at an early stage. What appears at first to be a painting of dawn is in fact a night scene with a fire in the distance. Upon seeing the running figures and horses in the foreground, the viewer starts to understand the situation. The groups of firefighters and other citizens scurry about with lanterns in the darkness, some clearly worried while others seem unconcerned with the approaching fire.
The painter of this scene was very careful with rendering the locations: we are in the center of the city with the Edo Bridge at the middle of the painting. Further to the right, off the edge of the painting, is Nihon Bridge, and the warehouse area of the merchants of Edo. Three of these large warehouses can be seen to the left of the bridge, facing the river. The fire and great clouds of smoke can be seen in the center, in the direction of Aoyama and the southwestern part of Edo.[2]
Among the large groups of people seen in silhouette are members of different professions and social groups. The largest of these are the firefighters. They hold the tools of their profession—the banners, the pikes and ladders—and are directed by city ward officials (machi bugyō) on horses with lanterns. Through this crowd scene, we can see how they gathered: coming out of various buildings, and meeting in different groups, each with distinct banners. The firefighters were divided by name and area and were fiercely loyal to their group, working independently, sometimes in conflict with other groups.[3]
The drama of the fire and the firefighters heightens nearer the fire. We see how the groups of firefighters with lanterns crowd across the Edo Bridge onto the other shore. Further on, we see how they have climbed up on the roofs of the houses right next to the fire, busily dismantling houses and their tiled roofs. The fires of Edo were not fought with water; rather, houses around the blaze were razed, creating natural fire breaks.
The prodigious amount of information conveyed by silhouette reflects a strong interest in the tradition of shadow pictures, or kage-e 影絵. Shadow pictures became popular during the 18th and 19th centuries and appeared in a number of permutations, including early woodblock prints by Torii Kiyonaga (1799), Dutch shadow prints by Jippensha Ikku (1810), the parlor game prints of Hiroshige from 1842, and death portraits by Shibata Zeshin (1867).[4]
The painter, Kishi Chōzen, is presently unidentified.
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[1] As for the number of fires for the major cities during the 268 years of the Edo period (1600-1868), Osaka had 6 major fires, Kyoto had 9, Kanazawa had 3, and Edo had 49 major fires. Kuroki Takashi 黒木喬, Edo no kaji 江戸の火事. Tokyo: Dōseisha, 1999, p. 3.
[2] The painting may very well be the depiction of the great Aoyama Fire 青山火事 of the 24th day of the first month of 1845, which eventually spread across the western part of the city, leading to the destruction of vast tracts of land, including 187 Buddhist temples, and the death of 800-900 people. Hata Ichijirō 畑市次郎, Tokyo saigai-shi 東京災害史. Tokyo: Tosei tsūshin sha 都政通信社, 1952, p. 54.
[3] A number of fire fighting groups were active in this area. For an overview, see Kuroki Takashi 黒木喬. Edo no kaji 江戸の火事. Dôseisha 同成社, 1999.
[4] See for example, Itō Shiori 伊藤紫織, “Shini-e to gachûga: shôzô to shite no shini-e” 死絵と画中画・肖像としての死絵. Journal of Development and Systematization of Death and Life Studies, Tokyo University 東京大学グローバルプログラム「死生学の展開と組織化」(2009): p. 173-196; Osaka Municipal Museum of Art 大阪市立美術館 ed., Tokubetsuten: Shôzô gasan, hito no sugata hito no kotoba 特別展・肖像画賛=人のすがた、人のことば. Osaka: Osaka Municipal Museum of Art 大阪市立美術館, 2000, pl. 123; and Timon Screech, The Western Scientific Gaze and Popular Imagery in Later Edo Japan: The Lens within the Heart. Cambridge, New York and Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 1996, p. 113-116.
