About This Print

A depiction of the annual New Year parade of firefighters to the Imperial Palace.  Firefighters in happi coats perform acrobatic stunts on top of bamboo ladders in the inset.

Dezome-Shiki

Old Photos of Japan webste http://oldphoitosjapan.com/?q=fire

Source: Japan National Tourism Organization website http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/indepth/history/traditionalevents/a02_fes_dezome.html The ladder stunts were the main event of Japanese New Year celebrations. The demonstrations, called dezome-shiki (出初め式), were intended to warn people of the dangers of fire, and to demonstrate the agility and courage of the firefighters. The old way to fight fires was to tear down surrounding houses, so ladders were needed to climb on roofs. Because of the climbing involved, especially scaffolding workers served as firemen. They had incredible strength and stamina because of having to build scaffolds on a daily basis. The demonstration was preceded with the firemen praying at a shrine for their safety during the coming year. Dezome-shiki are still held at many towns today.

Note on Artist’s Signature

With the assistance of Noel Chiappa and Guy Pepermans it has been determined that the unidentified artist's signature 湖東 (appearing immediately to the right of the square artist's seal) likely reads Kotō.  It is unlikely that this artist is the same at the artist Ōkura Kōtō who designed Russo-Japanese War prints, as the Ōkura Kōtō's signature uses different kanji.

Hara Shobo catalog No. 70 2010.7, which shows this print on p. 20, item 211, also lists the artist's name as Koto.