Alert: Planned Site Outage Tonight: Tue. July 28th, 9pm-Midnight PST
my care2
make a difference

community

shares

share your passions, stories, inspirations, and more

Hanabi - Fireworks
Jul 2, 2009


Since Independence day is coming up and I have received several firework catalogs (how I got on their lists is a mystery), I have been thinking about fireworks. In Japan fireworks are called Hanabi. The literal translation is flower (hana) fire (bi). Personally I think fire flowers sounds better than fireworks does.

Summer time in Japan is season for seeing fireworks, there is a firework show somewhere in Japan every single day of the summer, though fireworks are used year round. Almost every town has its own festivals including fireworks. Fireworks are much easier to get in Japan than they are to get here where I live in the United States. Particularly the smaller ones. Sparklers and smoke bombs are not hard to find where I live, though many places do not carry even them because you have to buy a license to sell them. In Japan, it is easy to find stores that carry a large number of small, hand-held fireworks, such as sparklers, torches, firecrackers, and rockets.

The festivals consist of large fireworks shows, the largest of which use between 100,000 and 120,000 rounds (Tondabayashi, Osaka), and can attract more than 800,000 spectators. Street vendors set up stalls to sell various drinks and food (such as Yakisoba, Okonomiyaki, Takoyaki, kakigori(shaved ice)), and traditionally held festival games, such as Kingyo-sukui, or Goldfish-catching.

Both men and women don Yukata, summer Kimono, or Jinbei (men only) and attend these events, collecting in large social circles of family or friends to sit picnic-like, eating and drinking, while watching the show.

Even though the Chinese were using fireworks since at least the 12th century, the Japanese didn't use them until the 15th century when firearms were introduced by the Portuguese (though gunpowder was known to them since at least the 13th century when China attacked Japan and it is believed ninja used gunpowder for noroshi signal flares and land mine type explosives). How old fireworks and gunpowder is under some debate. Some people think it is over 2000 years old, thought that the first firecracker was discovered by accident by a Chinese cook working in a field kitchen who happened to mix charcoal, sulphur and saltpeter, which were commonly found in kitchens at that time.

The first firework displays in Japan where for the shogun and feudal leaders, later they became common entertainment for the populace at large. Firework displays were particularly popular in Edo during the eighteenth century (though there was the occasional ban, it being a fire threat and the building material was very flammable). The most notable fireworks event during that time was an annual festival at the banks of the Sumida River. Professional fireworks manufacturers would have a competition against one another at that festival.

The Japanese became experts at firework displays. There expertise in fireworks production is sought after all over the world and fireworks makers are frequently invited to display their skills at festivals in other countries. Until the mid-1980's the Japanese were major exporters of fireworks at one time the Japanese represented 80% of the worlds fireworks production (decline was mainly due to the Chinese selling fireworks much cheaper). They were the first country to manufacture fireworks that change colors twice or even three times during a single launch. One common type, the 360-degree blossoms, originated in Japan and has become a global standard for the firework displays.

A good site for a bit more information on Japanese fireworks is: JAPANESE FIREWORKS HOMEPAGE

Imported from external blog


Visibility: Everyone
Posted: Thursday July 2, 2009, 6:23 pm
Tags: [add/edit tags]

Group Discussions start a discussion
Comments
Or, log in with your
Facebook account:
Compose your comment and submit:

Author

Jeremiah Z.
Author Tools:
Compose New Share
male , single
Maple Heights, OH, USA
JEREMIAH'S SHARES
Nov
7
(0 comments  |  discussions )
I am nowhere near where I should be for my current writing goal but as I write I started to contemplate style.I was wondering whether I should use macrons and other diacritics. In general I do not use macrons or diacritics on this blog because I am l...
Nov
1
(0 comments  |  discussions )
I'd like to say that I am off to a good start and have written at least 1667 words (50,000 divided by 30 rounded to nearest whole number) but sadly that is not the case. I had a few false starts where I wrote something and then deleted it because I d...
Oct
30
(0 comments  |  discussions )
November is fast approaching and I've yet to decide anything. By this point I ought to have some clue as to what I'm going to write next month, I don't. I should have the beginnings of an outline and researching specifics. Coming up with ideas is ver...
Oct
28
(0 comments  |  discussions )
I have not read any of the Rosario + Vampire manga. Someone e-mailed me the above page from that manga since it does somewhat resemble Ranma and Genma and I have been listing possible Ranma references in other works.


ads keep care2 free
SHARES FROM JEREMIAH'S NETWORK
No shares


ads keep care2 free
MORE MEMBER BLOGS
Nov 9
Blog: Afghanistan’s Sham Army by Chris Hedges by Lo A.
(0 comments  |  discussions ) — ml PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC -html4 more
Blog: Thai Burma Death Railway Bridge on the River Kwai Tour from Bangkok by Gerald S.
(0 comments  |  discussions ) — BOOK THIS TOUR – CLICK HERE! From £36.96 Location: Bangkok, Thailand 3.5star based on 33 reviews Kanchanaburi’s famous Bridge on the River Kwai and the beginning of the Death Railway is a poignant reminder of the... more
Blog: r4 card by Wilserrose W.
(0 comments  |  discussions ) — http://www.r4-ds-kaart.nl /r4_zone - PlayStation 3 games blijven aan populariteit winnen naarmate de dagen voorbij strijken. Niettemin hebben PlayStation 3 games gebruik gemaakt van de technologie op zijn best. more
Blog: r4 ds kaart by Wilserrose W.
(0 comments  |  discussions ) — http://www.r4-ds-kaart.nl /r4-r4i/ - PS3 video games zijn de Play Station versie 3 spellen, wat een verbetering is van de PSP. Het plezier van het spelen van PS3 videospellen is echt geweldig. more
Blog: r4 software by Wilserrose W.
(0 comments  |  0 discussions ) — http://www.r4-ds-kaart.nl /r4 - R4 DSi-kaarten, R4 DS-kaarten, Acekards en M3 Real-kaarten. Veel ondersteuning om uw keuze gemakkelijker te maken en alle nieuwste softwaredownloads. more
 
Content and comments expressed here are the opinions of Care2 users and not necessarily that of Care2.com or its affiliates.
Copyright © 2009 Care2.com, inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved