Preventing Fire

Preventing Fire

With their thatched roofs and wooden walls, the gassho-style houses in Ogimachi are highly vulnerable to fire. In the past, if one of the structures caught fire, the risk of flames spreading to nearby houses and throughout the village was high, and multiple conflagrations did, in fact, occur in previous centuries. Residents nowadays work together to prevent such disasters, taking turns patrolling the village in the evenings and reminding their neighbors to be careful with flammable materials. The most recognizable community firefighting action in Ogimachi is the annual testing of the village’s roughly 50 deluge guns, which are placed under triangular shelters here and there between the gassho-style homes and are jointly operated by the residents of the houses on both sides of the fixture. When the valves are opened, these devices can be aimed to create screens of water between the structures, preventing the spread of fire from one house to the other. The sight of the deluge guns being tested all at once, which is usually done in mid-autumn, can be impressive when seen from the Ogimachi Castle Site Scenic Lookout.

 

Akiba Shrine

Throughout history, fire has been one of the greatest threats to Ogimachi. The thatched roofs of the village’s wooden houses catch fire easily, and despite the best efforts of local residents, destructive blazes have torn through the settlement on several occasions. Two of the largest fires occurred in 1718 and 1749, with the western part of Ogimachi bearing the brunt of the damage on both occasions. Hoping to put an end to the misfortune, people in western Ogimachi decided to establish a shrine to protect their community from future calamities. This sanctuary remained a modest place of worship until the Taisho era (1912–1926), when the shrine building was reconstructed and officially dedicated to Kagutsuchi, the Shinto god of fire. That was also when the site was renamed Akiba Shrine to signify its association with Akihasan Hongu in Shizuoka Prefecture, the main Shinto sanctuary enshrining Kagutsuchi. Nowadays believed to protect all of Ogimachi, Akiba Shrine remains a respected institution in the village.

 

この英文解説は、2021年観光庁「地域観光資源の多言語解説整備支援事業」により整備しています。
This English description is provided by the "Multilingual Commentary Project 2020" of Japan Tourism Agency.

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