Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1874-03-04
Burning OF the Temple of shiba In
YeddO.

YeddO.
Yokohama Letter to the Boston Transcript
The first event of importance to be
placed on the record of 1874 is the burn
ing of the great temple of Shiba.
With friends on the 30th Of December
visited it. We walked through shady
paths around it, and examined its archi-
lecture and the ornaments and structure
of its inner temple. We saw the pom
derous bell which is said to have been
two hundred years old. 1t looked as
if its birthday might have been further
back in the centuries. Forty-eight
hours later, while writing description
of it, news came OF its destruction.
A little past midnight on the night of
the thirty-frst Of December the fire.
bells OF Yeddo rang in the New Year.
The remembrance of the great fire on
9th Of December was still fresh. The
brilliant light in the center of the city
spread CONSERVATION. The bells were
rang in every quarter, and IN little
while all Yeddo was awake. The night
was intensely dark, and the snow falling
heavily. The streets were blockaded
with the crowd. The police, however,
we're soon on the ground, and cleared
the space in front of the temple. No
one but fremen, officers, and foreigners
were allowed to pass beyond the outer
porch. | am indebted to the Japan
Herald for many Of the following facts in
regard to the fire: The temple was
built of the finest wood, and the heat
was so intense that the snow for several
hundred yards was turned into rain.
For an hour after the first outbreak, an
enormous jet of unbroken flame, singu-
larly varied in color owing to the fusion
of different metallic substances, sprang
upward like volcanic discharge, and
threw glare over the city such as no
one of this generation had ever before
seen.
The fremen were there in full brig
ades, but they were powerless to save the
temple. At $780, when the whole build
ing seemed wrapped in flames, the front
wall beneath the caves fell outward, dis
closing what at first view was only q
mass OF lurid fame and eddying smoke.
But presently out of it came the outline
of a row Of human figures, standing i'm.
movable upon the interior platform of
the temple. When the smoke lifted,
these became distinctly visible. They
were the leaders of the FIRE brigade, per
haps some fifty in number, posted in a
double line grasping their strange stand.
ards and surveying the scene with the
stoldity of statues. With their uncoush
head dresses, parti-colored clothes and
livid faces, all set in blazing frame.
work, which swept around them and
scorched the emblems they held, they
made a weird and unearthly picture.
| Over and over again curtain OF hre
passed between the motionless figures
and the spectators. 1t was real
drama, but a reckless exposure OF life,
which at any time might have become a
tragedy. They stood until part OF the
roof had fallen in, and then withdrew by
WAYS known only to themselves. Pres
emily they reappeared in the gallery OF
the lofty gate, where they presented an
aspect as weird as before, though no
longer surrounded by exciting peril, 1t
is said that these leaders assume these
positions Of danger to stimulate the zeal
and hardihood of their followers.
When the massive roof fell the crash
was as thunder, and a mass Of pure
fame reached up hundred feet. At
three o'clock the burning .belfry at
tracted attention. The bell became red
hot, and little later fell from its timbers,
and is said to be irretrievably ruined
1t was one Of the largest bells in Japan,
| being ten feet high, FIVE feet eight inches
in diameter, and one foot thick.
The temple IS supposed 10 have been
set on fire by some Buddhist priest, as
its worship had been changed from the
Buddhist to the Shiuto faith. Since its
destruction the ruins have been enclosed
with high ferce, aud no one allowed to
visit them.