Study on the Fire-Tornado at the Former Site of the Hifukusho (the Army Clothing Depot)

Abstract

A violent fire-tornado has broken out at the former site of the Army Clothing Depot in combustion caused by the destructions of the Great Kanto Earthquake at 3.30 p.m. September 1, 1923. By this fire-tornado, about 40 thousand people have been burned to death in a moment. An interpretation that the fire-tornado has been caused by passage of a cold front has generally dominated academic circles in this field up to date. According to the detailed reexaminations, this interpretation included many inconsistencies. We could obtain recently the various data with respect to the fire-tornado which occurred in the last several years. From these data, it became clear that the fire-tornadoes often have occurred near a combustion area.
An example which was the most similar with the fire-tornado at the former site of the Army Clothing Depot was found out in the combustion of Wakayama City by an air raid on July 9, 1945. 748 persons have been burned to death by the fire-tornado in this city.
Finally, our study leads to the conclusion that the fire-tornado at the former site of the Army Clothing Depot was caused by the widespread great fire following the Great Kanto Earthquake. There was a cold front in northwestern direction of Tokyo, but it did not play the leading role for formation of the fire-tornado.