Japanese Fireworks from the 1800s are Poetry in Motion

With their corollas and long evanescent tails, these illustrations might be mistaken for abstract reproductions of flowers. In fact, they are Japanese fireworks, or hanabi, the contraction of hana, flower, and bi, fire. As such, one isn’t so different from the other. 

These illustrations, dating from the late 19th century, depict the firework designs of two Japanese pyrotechnicians from Yokohama, Yokoi and Hirayama. The latter was a pioneer in Japan in incorporating more vibrant colours into his fireworks, the earliest Japanese fireworks having been mainly in orange tones only. 

A national passion

The Yokohama City Library has digitised six of these advertising catalogues to make them available to the general public and possible to download online. The images, the majority of which appear against a black background, come with no explanation apart from the broad categories of motifs: ‘vertical wheels’, ‘phantom circles’, or ‘coloured floral bomb shells.’ 

The Japanese are big fans of fireworks, which are an important feature in the country every summer. Photographer Hidenobu Suzuki captured this passion for pyrotechnics in close proximity to the pyrotechnicians themselves. 

These illustrations of late 19th-century Japanese fireworks can be viewed online on the Yokohama City Library’s website.