of the Tokugawa administration, has
already been noticed. Indeed, Yedo in the middle of the seventeenth
century was one of the most populous and prosperous cities in the
world. But very little intelligence had been exercised in planning
it. The streets were narrow and there were no bridges across the main
river. Thus, in 1657, a fire broke out which, being fanned by a
violent wind, burned for two days, destroying the greater part of the
city together with the residences of nearly all the daimyo. The
calamity occurred in the month of February and was accompanied by a
violent snowstorm, which greatly increased the sufferings of the
citizens. Tradition says that 108,000 persons lost their lives, but
that number is probably an exaggeration. In the following year,
another similar catastrophe occurred on almost the same scale, and it
seemed as though Yedo could never rise from its ashes. Yet the result
of these calamities was salutary. The Bakufu selected suitable
situations for the residences of the daimyo, and issued a law
requiring that the main thoroughfares must have a width of sixty feet
and even the by-streets must not be narrower than from thirty to
thirty-six feet. Moreover, three bridges, namely, the Ryogoku, the
Eitai, and the Shin-o, were thrown across the Sumida. This river,
which formed the eastern boundary of the city, had hitherto been left
unbridged for military reasons, and the result was that on the
occasion of the great conflagration thousands of people, caught
between the flames and the river bank, had to choose death by burning
or by drowning. Nevertheless, some officials opposed the building of
bridges, and were only silenced by the astute remark of Sakai
Tadakatsu that if Yedo was ever to be a great city, the convenience
of its inhabitants must be first consulted, for, after all, the
people themselves constituted the best stronghold. This may be
regarded as an evidence of the deference that was beginning then to
be paid to the non-military classes by the samurai.

It was at this time (1658), also, that the city of Yedo obtained its
first supply of good water. There was already an aquaduct from
Inokashira Lake to the Kanda district of the city, but it carried
only a very small volume of water, and the idea of harnessing the
Tama-gawa to supply the town was due to two citizens, Shoemon and
Seiemon, who subsequently received the family name of Tamagawa. The
Bakufu granted a sum of 7500 ryo towards the e