Kidai Shoran (detail) © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Asiatische Kunst (Asian Art Museum, National Museums in Berlin), former collection of Hans-Joachim and Inge Küster, gift of Manfred Bohms 2002, photography: Tadao Kodaira

18Two stories and a tiled roof

In Edo, tiled roofs and walls of plastered earth were recommended as fireproofing measures. From 1830 to the end of the Tokugawa shogunate in 1603, there was a boom in walls of black plaster. Following the Great Fire of Meireki in 1657, three-storied townhouses were prohibited, and major streets like Nihonbashi Street were lined with two-story buildings. Today, buildings on Chuo-dori Street rise to heights of over 30 meters.