hikeshi

thumb|Utagawa Yoshitora, Hikeshi with a [[matoi]] Hikeshi () were fire brigades in Edo and Meiji-era Tokyo. Members of these brigades were also called by this term.

Japanese cities were extremely prone to fires due to the fact that paper and wood were the main building materials. Firefighters cleared the buildings that stood on the fire's path, preventing it from incinerating nearby buildings. Water extinction was almost never used because of its low efficiency.