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.
In the month of November
I set a goal for myself
to write at least a
50,000 word story (chosen
subject was a Ranma
fanfic). While I did make
an attempt to reach that
goal; I did not. I would
have liked to have done
so but I didn't. This
doesn't overl...
November 15 was America
Recycles Day. A day that
is dedicated to
encouraging Americans
(though from what I can
tell most of the time
people say Americans they
mean only USA) to recycle
and to buy recycled
products. I regularly
recycle via curbside
re...
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...
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...
how many people got
ripped off by Norton.
well they have a scam i
have a few people who
will come foward,i want
to turn this into a
lawsuit every three
months they say you have
a bug or give you a bug
and you pay more money,
they have 1 operator
nam...
My prayers are with those
in the way of hurricane
Gustav,May the Lord bless
and watch over each
person in its
way,especiallyt new orlea
ns
Lord please watch over
them,
watch out for the rip off
company they7 plant
things on your computer
then charge you for it if
you went through
that problem contact me i
am working on a peoples
lawsuit against them.
they also turned their
phones off ! whaty does
that say abou...
Blog: "The Meaning of Christmas" by Roni Y.
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discussions
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—
What is "The Meaning of
Christmas" for you?
For me, the true meaning
of Christmas is the
celebration of the birth
of Christ and the act of
love for our fellow man.
"For God so loved the
world that he gave his
one and only Son, that
whoever bel... more
Blog: African Bush-Meat Trade Linked to EU Overfishing by Shaktiva I.
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—
James Owen in Londonfor
National Geographic News
November 11, 2004
The European Union's
taste for West African
seafood may be causing
more Africans to kill
wild animals for
food—including
lions, leopards, and
hippopotamuses&m... more
Blog: Rescue of Starving Horses by BH Horse Rescue V.
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discussions
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—
On Sept. 1st of this year
we received a call
telling us about horses
starving at Phoenix
Rising Horse Rescue in
Holt County Nebraska.
We left on Sept. 2 to see
if there was any truth to
the call. We had horses
fostering up there with
the owner, and ... more
Blog: Christmas Themed PowerPoint (PPT) Presentation Templates by Shane C.
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discussions
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— Merry CHRISTmas everyone!
For those in need of cool
Christmas themed power
point templates, designs
and backgrounds I am
happy so announce this
site
http://www.free-power-poi
nt-templates.com/category
/ppt-by-topics/business/
because it's free and... more
Blog: Obama: 'Meaningful breakthrough' reached at talks
(AP)
by mark s.
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0 discussions
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—
AP - President Barack
Obama said the United
States and four other
countries, including
China, reached a
"meaningful and
unprecedented
breakthrough" Friday on a
deal to curb greenhouse
gas emissions after a
frenzied day of diplomacy
at the U.N. climat... more
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