shōbō-e 消防絵

Pictures of town fire-fighting units. These were first organized in 1719 and comprised construction workers and carpenters. In the 18th century and first half of the 19th century, *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 artists commonly showed firemen carrying standards and climbing ladders while fighting fires. By the mid-19th century, it became popular to depict fire-fighting exhibitions by the brigades, called dezome 出初, and some prints show children as fire-fighters.