Hikeshi.—These are fire brigades in the service of the Shiogoon in Yedo, of which there are twelve, one to a district; each under the charge of a Daimio.
These guard against fires in the castle, the government godowns in the town, and the large temples where the tombs of the Shiogoons are. Each brigade has a leader, who holds on the end of a long pole a mattoyay, or white solid device, easily seen at night. The duty of this leader seems to be to stand as near the fire, and as long as he possibly can; and in fulfilling this duty they appear to rival the fabulous salamander. Each brigade has overcoats with distinguishing marks, and masks the better to stand the heat. However, in wooden buildings their organization seems of little use. The fires generally wear out of themselves, the inhabitants carrying off their money, clothes, mats and windows to places of safety. There are other fire-engines and fire brigades in Yedo under the Matchi boonio. The town is divided into forty-eight districts, corresponding to the letters of the alphabet I, Ro, Ha, and to each district there is a brigade. If a fire breaks out in the Ro district, all the men of the Ro brigade go to it. The rest of the town unburned pays each man of the brigade employed four tempos, or about 6d., after the fire.
Daimios keep men of their own as firemen, generally men in some small disgrace, whose names have been erased from the town books or dismissed from employment.
At one time fires occurred so frequently in Yedo that a notification was issued that the proprietor of the first house in which a fire should thereafter originate should be transported to the islands. The first offender was Mito. It would not do to transport him, so he fell upon the plan of borrowing, through the priesthood, on payment of a large sum, 30,000 days from eternity, beyond which time he had little prospect of living. This has frequently since been found to be an ingenious plan for men of wealth escaping punishments.
Metski are lower officers of the Owo metski department, and seem to act as judges in civil cases. There are fourteen Metski.
Tskybang are messengers, attendants in war or during fires to the Shiogoon.
Taka jo.—Keepers of the Shiogoon’s hawks.
Katchi ngashira.—The officer who superintends the men lining the streets when the Shiogoon goes out—a ceremony, however, which has been done away with.
Jiu ri si ho—meaning “ten miles in four directions.”—Men whose duty it is to take care that no one shoots within ten ri—i.e., twenty-five miles—of the castle. Even within this distance there are places in which native sportsmen are allowed to shoot, for which permission is given upon application. An infraction of this law was the reason given for the seizure of an Englishman in 1859—one of the causes célèbres in the early history of Great Britain’s relations with Japan. This is a sub-branch of the Owo metski office.
Shiu mong aratame is the branch of the same office which examines into the religion of individuals, especially with the object of restraining the spread of Christianity.