<Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (March 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> The Great fire of Meireki (明 暦 の 大火, Meireki no taika), also known as the Furisode Fire, destroyed 60--70% of the Japanese capital city of Edo (now Tokyo) on March 2, 1657, the third year of the Meireki Imperial era . The fire lasted for three days, and is estimated to have claimed over 100,000 lives . </P> <P> The fire was said to have been started accidentally by a priest who was cremating an allegedly cursed kimono . The kimono had been owned in succession by three teenage girls who all died before ever being able to wear it . When the garment was being burned, a large gust of wind fanned the flames causing the wooden temple to ignite . </P> <P> The fire began on the eighteenth day of the year, in Edo's Hongō district, and spread quickly through the city, due to hurricane - force winds which were blowing from the northwest . Edo, like most Japanese cities and towns at the time, and like most of those in mainland East Asia, was built primarily from wood and paper . The buildings were especially dry due to a drought the previous year, and the roads and other open spaces between buildings were small and narrow, allowing the fire to spread and grow particularly quickly . (Many cities in Europe had similar problems, being built of flammable material and tightly packed; indeed, London was to burn only nine years later .) Though Edo had a designated fire brigade, the Hikeshi (火消し, "fire extinguisher"), it had been established only 21 years earlier, and was simply not large enough, experienced enough, or well - equipped enough to face such a conflagration . </P>

What was the most important result of the meireki fire of 1657 in edo