線香花火 （Senko Hanabi, Sparkler）

It's summer, there are hundreds of firework festivals in Japan. Well, I believe Japanese fireworks really outstand. Please watch good ones by yourself and confirm my belief. (There are many bad/poor ones in Japan, too. Don't bother.) As for biggest festivals, there will be around 30,000 shots and 300-1000 thousands people come to watch. It's been a long tradition to go fireworks for centuries since Edo Period.

Alternatively, at your home, you can enjoy traditional tiny sparkler called 線香花火 (Senko Hanabi). Perhaps, it seems to you that Senko Hanabi is "shabby." No, no. It reflects the very Japanese taste like "wabi" and "sabi". You probably will appreciate it after you have watched Japanese anime a lot... Click the image below to play wmv movie.

Comments

1. Posted by takekan   August 01, 2006 09:04

The leading company of Japanese firework is "鍵屋" (Kagiya) founded in 1659 in Tokyo. The young lady is the current president and the 15th generation of the founding family.
http://www.souke-kagiya.co.jp/

2. Posted by joseph   August 15, 2006 09:53

hi, i just returned from japan. speaking of fireworks, i saw them in おおほり park in 福岡. they were 1.5 hours, and i heard that 500,000 people go there. so good!

are you still teaching next year? see you then!

3. Posted by Takekan   August 15, 2006 11:30

Hi! welcome back! おかえりなさい〜

9月も2年生の日本語を少しだけ教えます。