江戸の行く末

1666年にあったロンドン大火では4日間市内の木造家屋を燃やし続けた結果、その約9割が灰になったと言われます。しかもその前年にはベストの大流行が重なっていて8万人ほどの死者が出ていたらしい。
「泣きっ面に蜂」とはこのことで、とんだ災難が続いたものです。その後の復興計画においては木造建築が禁止され、広い道路と下水道が整備されて、近代都市誕生の礎を築いたと知れば「災い転じて福となす」の句も思い出されます。この後約100年後に産業革命をいち早く完成させる英国では、その大英帝国の首都拠点として機能するための大改造ともなったのでした。

そのロンドン大火から約9年ほど前の1657年には、江戸で明暦の大火がありました。家康以来から続く古い密集した下町においてはその全てが、市街全体では6割が灰となり、天守閣を含めた江戸城のほとんどが焼失されました。江戸においてもこの後、耐火構造を考慮してのまちづくりが進められて行きます。
まず江戸城天守閣再建案は、庶民の暮らしを再建することが先であるとして幕府は再建を見送ります。
道幅をうんと広くしたり、屋根の向きを同一方向に統一することによって出火の際は延焼防止のため倒壊しやすくしました。

こんなことなどを想起したのは、今日東京都知事選挙の結果の報道に接したからです。
コロナ禍で経済活動が境地に陥っている東京において、庶民の暮らしを真っ先に考えるリーダーが選ばれたのでしょうか。10年先、いや数10年先を見通した大構想をビジョンするリーダーを選んでくれたのでしょうか。

その結果を聞いて大いに戸惑ったり、55%と言う投票率の低さ、人々の関心のなさに驚いたり。

そんな複雑な感情をワシントン湖畔に燦燦と注ぐ爽やかな陽光の中で抱いていました。
あまりに東京は遠く、またその世相の厳しさが今日の湖畔の平穏さと相容れないものでした。

「ええ〜イ、どうにでもなれ〜イ　べらんめい」ってな江戸弁を吐いてみたくなったのは、その乖離の甚だしさのせいにしておきます。

The Great Fire of London in 1666, which burned the city's wooden houses for four days, resulted in about 90% of them being destroyed. Moreover, the year before, there had been a vesting epidemic that coincided with the death toll of about 80,000 people.

This is what we call "a bee stings a crying face", describing a terrible disaster followed. In the reconstruction plan that followed, wooden buildings were banned, wide roads and sewerage systems were built, and the city was rebuilt as a modern city. The phrase "turning disaster into good fortune" also comes to mind when we learn that the city laid the foundation for the birth of the British Empire. About 100 years later, Britain would complete the Industrial Revolution ahead of the rest of the world, and as the capital city of the British Empire, the city was on the good function after these major renovation.

In 1657, about nine years before the Great Fire of London, there was the Great Meirei Fire in Edo, Tokyo city. In the old dense downtown area, which had been established since Ieyasu, was all destroyed and 60% of the entire city was destroyed in the fires. Most of Edo Castle, including the castle tower, was destroyed by fire. After this, Edo City began to build a fireproof city.

First, the shogunate decided not to rebuild the Edo Castle in order to keep on the grounds that it was necessary to rebuild the lives of the common people first. You should make the streets wide and the roofs facing the same direction to prevent the spread of fire.

By widening the road and unifying the roofs in the same direction, the fire may be prevented from spreading. This made it easier to collapse.

I was reminded of this today when I came across the results of the Tokyo government election.

In Tokyo, where economic activity has been plunged into a state of crisis due to the corona crisis, did you have elected a leader who cares first and foremost about the lives of ordinary people? Do you have chosen the leader with a big vision that looks 10 years, or even decades, into the future?

I was greatly puzzled by the results, and surprised at the low turnout of 55%, and the lack of interest people had in .

I had mixed emotions as I basked in the glorious, refreshing sunshine on the shores of Lake Washington, a place so far away from Tokyo and so harsh there that it was hard to reconcile it with the peace of today's lakeside atmosphere.

I would like to say this in old form of Tokyo dialect, whatever let it be done.
I'll blame it on the enormity of the divergence between here and Tokyo.

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つれづれなるままに

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