his example was eagerly followed and before long all houses in Yedo were roofed with tiles.
Great fires were comparatively frequent in Yedo. Three of them were especially noted for their magnitude. The first which broke out in the first moon of 1657 is known as the Long-sleeve Fire. According to a popular legend, as a young daughter of a noble family was returning from a trip with her parents one spring day when the cherry trees were in full blossom, she caught sight of a temple-page
THE LONG-SLEEVED TEMPLE-PAGE.
with whom she fell in love on the spot. Thinking of him all day, she languished; and her mother placed at her sick-bed a long-sleeved garment of the same pattern as the page wore. The young girl who never ceased to gaze at it grew weaker every day and at length died. The long-sleeved garment was laid on her coffin, which was taken to the family temple of Hommyoji. The priests sold the dress to a second-hand clothes-dealer, and as it hung in his shop, it caught the fancy of a young girl, who bought it. Six months later, the girl died and the garment was laid on her coffin which
