111004-0010 - Great Yokohama Fire

The Great Yokohama Fire of November 26, 1866 (Keio 2) as seen from the bluff (Yamate). Two-thirds of the native town and one-sixth of the foreign settlement was destroyed. Over 400 people perished in this fire, most of them prostitutes who were unable to escape their hemmed in area. In Japanese the fire is known as the Keio Fire, but it was also called the Butaya Kaji (Pig House Fire) as it started at a pork restaurant. After the fire, British engineer Richard Henry Brunton (1841-1901) was employed to create a fireproof urban plan for Yokohama. One of his suggestions was to create Yokohama Park. This image was published in the Illustrated London News.