Not because it's Spring Fire Prevention Week (through the 7th), but fire-related posts continue—sorry. This continues the "Meireki Great Fire" that on old-calendar Jan 18–20, 1657 (Mar 2–4 today) burned ~60% of Edo's urban area, including around Edo Castle near Takebashi.
The castle lost much including the keep. Near the Imperial Palace's Ote-mon stands a shachihoko =photo upper= —inscribed "Meireki 3 Hinoto-tori" on its head, suggesting it was made when the gate was rebuilt after the Meireki fire. (The rebuilt Ote-mon yagura also burned in Apr 1945 air raids; only the shachihoko survived; the present yagura was rebuilt in 1968.)
Besides vast burned area, deaths were many—bodies shipped to Ushijima, buried in a great pit, later called "Banmin-zuka." Present Ryogoku area. Eko-in (Ryogoku 2-chome, Sumida) was founded to memorialize victims.
No precise death statistics existed then, but the Central Disaster Management Council report "1657 Meireki Edo Great Fire" (Mar 2004) summarizes:
"On deaths, Musashi Abumi, Honjo Eko-in Record, Yamaga Soko chronology, and others give six figures; Uesugi chronology, Tenkyo Azuma-kagami, Meireki 3 Hinoto-tori Diary, and others give ~37,000. Between them, Gen'en Jitsuroku gives ~68,000—besides 63,430+ buried at Ushijima Shinden (present Ryogoku, Sumida), it records 4,654 washed-up bodies. From the start death tolls varied, but this figure likely reflects reality."
Red figures: 63,430+ plus 4,654 = ~68,000.
Two days after the fire, a blizzard reportedly killed some displaced victims from exposure.
For comparison: Great Kanto Earthquake Tokyo deaths ~60,000; Great Tokyo Air Raid (Mar 10, 1945) 100,000+. The report estimates Edo's population then at ~280,000 townspeople, samurai roughly equal—500,000–600,000 total—showing Meireki's toll by population ratio.
On death tolls, the Sumida Tourism Association's Eko-in page once said "over 1 million" =photo upper left= —I pointed out it seemed too high; they promptly changed it to "said to exceed 100,000" and emailed courteously about reviewing all spot descriptions. Quick response—nice.