I introduced the origin of Japanese fireworks festivals in my previous post. Japanese fireworks had improved a lot during Tokugawa family's Shogunate time (1603-1867). Because Japan was closed for international trade for most of the Shogunate time and was isolated from international community, the circumstance allowed Japanese fireworks to be developed into a unique style.
The biggest feature would be the shape of the casing. Traditional Japanese fireworks casings look like cannon balls in various sizes. Contrary to Western fireworks casings which originally had a cylinder shape. Please look at the box on upper left hand side photo, the cut section of a fireworks casing shows layered spheres of small balls. The small balls are called "Hoshi (star)" and they are made of gunpowder. They spread to all directions equally in the air, and the fireworks look like a huge layered sphere as shown in the photo. If you are at a fireworks festival ground, you can really see a 3-D sphere.
To descrive the size of fireworks casings people still use a traditional length unit , as in "It was Shaku-dama (1 shaku ball)" though we don't use the unit anymore. 1 shaku is 33 cm (1.08 foot), and so far the biggest fireworks casing would be 4 shaku size. 1 Shaku size fireworks casing would reach 330 m (1082 feet) high in the sky and blow up into 320 m (1050 feet) in diameter. It is really an exciting view but only big festivals can have such a big size fireworks. So, if you hear that a fireworks festival has a lot of Shaku-dama or even one 3 Shaku-dama, the festival must be a major one.
Of course recent fireworks have more various shapes beside sphere types. As you can see in the photos, there are a dandelion shape, a ribbon shape, a palm tree shape and a heart shape. They were all taken at a fireworks festival, so you can find more different kinds in other festivals.
In addition, a style named "Star Mine" is also a popular fireworks although it's not a different type of shape, "Star Mine" means a type of sequence. All other fireworks I introduced in this post, casings were set off individually, but for "Star Mine", several casings are set of in a quick succession as if drawing a design in the sky. It is shown on the lower right hand side photo.
Every year something new types come out such as new colors and new shapes. It's also a fun part of watching fireworks festivals. I even saw an octopus shape and a squid shape fireworks this year!
In Japan fireworks festivals are generally considered as seasonal events in summer. In fact most of those festivals are held during summer vacation season and it just started. We can find many fireworks festivals all over Japan between the end of July and August. It is said that the origin was “Sumida-River Fireworks Festival” in 1733, which became the biggest fireworks festival in Japan.
From 1603 Japan was ruled by Tokugawa family's Shogunate government 1867. Thus Japan didn't have a big war for more than 260 years. People started using gunpowder for entertainments, such as fireworks, and the techniques was improved to aerial shell types.
In 1733, the 8th Shogun planned the first big fireworks event in mid-summer. It was to pray for the repose of the victims who died in a terrible famine and an epidemic in 1732. The Japanese word for fireworks is "Hanabi" and it actually means 'fire-flowers', so maybe the Shogun planned to offer flowers in the Sky for the deceased. The event was held on the opening day of swimming season at Sumida-River in Tokyo and since then the festival has been held every summer and now it is called “Sumida-River Fireworks Festival”.
Probably this annual fireworks event gave people an impression of "fireworks are summer seasonal stuff". Nowadays there are many annual fireworks festivals all over Japan, and many of them are held during summer. Also the spirit of fire-flowers, which is for prayers/wishes, have been carried down, too. So if you have a chance to visit some local fireworks festivals, you can find 'Offering Fireworks' in their written programs or announcements at the festivals. Of course nowadays we don't have any serious famine and epidemics, so people's prayers/wishes are usually more personal, such as 'for the sake of family member's health' and 'for some anniversaries'. People donate money and ask for setting off an offering fireworks. Although local fireworks festivals are much smaller in scale than famous major fireworks festivals, it's also nice to go. You can see flowers for people's prayers/wishes in the sky!
(The photos were taken at Hachioji Fireworks Festival in Hachioji city, Tokyo.)
