Cletus' First Collegiate Dictionary of Japanese Chin Music
hanabi
Fireworks, written with the characters for “flower” and “fire.” Summer fireworks displays are huge events in Japan. People dress in yukata and gather by the thousands – sometimes the hundreds of thousands – along riverbanks to see rival fireworks firms compete.
The Sumida River display in Tokyo, which dates back to the early eighteenth century, blows up twenty-thousand fireworks each year. It’s breathtaking. Sometimes you can hear Japanese yelling “Tamaya! Kagiya!” as the fireworks explode. The Kagiya clan was responsible for the very first Sumida display in 1733. The Tamayas emerged as rivals in 1810, and both clans tried to outdo each other every summer at the festival. Unfortunately, the Tamaya clan started a fire in the mid-nineteenth century that burned down its factory and neighboring homes. They were promptly kicked out of Tokyo for that, ending the famous rivalry. But other firms around the country keep the tradition alive today, giving many of the fireworks shows in Japan an edge they lack elsewhere. Also, during the summer, families light off sparklers and little bottle rockets in their driveways – just about every convenience store sells them.