Description

Japanese antique water pump used by a brigade of firemen to put out fires.
From the writing, the pump was used in December, Meiji 7 (1874). Other writing states “Edo”, most likely referring that the fire company was operating during the Edo Period and/or in the city of Edo, Japan. A 3 character mark says 雲龍水 unryūsui (“cloud-dragon-water”, the name for this type of pump). Below this is another group of characters: the top 3 read right to left 細工所 saikōsho or saikōdokoro (a type of crafting or tooling workshop). Below the top line, the top right corner character and top left corner character, read right to left, say 江戸 Edo. The lower 5 characters in right column are 神田扵玉池 Kanda Otamagaike (more commonly written as 神田於玉ヶ池), a place name: a pond in the Kanda district of what is now Tokyo. The middle column says 龍土水師 ryūdosui-shi Ryūdosui (“dragon-spewed-water”) is another name for the type of pump, and/or the crafter of that kind of pump. The lower 4 characters in the left column say 井上和助 Inoue Kazusuke, a name.

There is much to be said about the famous fire brigades of Edo, Japan. In a densely populated city where buildings constructed of wood and paper were built close together, there were many fast moving fires. Hikeshi (firemen) and the many fire companies were considered heroes for their brave and often acrobatic efforts to extinguish fires. (photograph of fire brigade not included)

Dimensions: 96″ long x 68″ high x 21″ deep.