The Sumidagawa Fireworks Festival (隅田川花火大会, ''Sumidagawa Hanabi Taikai'') is an annual fireworks festival held on the last Saturday in July, over the

Sumidagawa The is a river that flows through central Tokyo, Japan. It branches from the Arakawa River at Iwabuchi (in Kita-ku) and flows into Tokyo Bay. Its tributaries include the Kanda and Shakujii rivers. It passes through the Kita, Adachi, Ara ...

near

Asakusa is a district in Taitō, Tokyo, Japan. It is known as the location of the Sensō-ji, a Buddhist temple dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon. There are several other temples in Asakusa, as well as various festivals, such as the . History The ...

. The Sumidagawa Hanabi Taikai follows the Japanese tradition of being a competition between rival pyrotechnic groups. It is a revival of celebrations held in the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was character ...

, and annually attracts close to a million celebrants. Similar events are held at the same time of year at many other sites throughout Japan.

History

The tradition of the Sumidagawa Fireworks Festival can be traced back to

Kyōhō famine The Kyōhō famine (享保の大飢饉, Kyōhō no daikikin), was a famine on the Japanese island of Kyushu during the reign of Emperor Nakamikado in the Edo period. It is estimated that 12,172-169,000 people died from starvation. The famine, named ...

in 1732, when fireworks were launched as part of festivals for the dead. The country was in an economic crisis, and the people suffered from famine and disease to a greater degree than normal. Thus, the rituals and celebrations in which the fireworks took part played multiple roles. These were mourning observances for the dead, as well as celebrations of life, and entertainment for the poverty-stricken masses. Originally called Ryōgoku Kawabiraki (両国川開き), the display had become an established tradition by 1810, and rivalries began to emerge over control of each year's festival. The ''Tamaya'' (玉屋) and ''Kagiya'' (鍵屋) guilds of pyrotechnicians quickly became the two major rivals, initiating the tradition of the competition. Each guild would try to impress the onlookers, out-doing the other guild, in order to gain popularity and support. The number of onlookers steadily grew, and they began to shout out the names (see ''

yagō , literally meaning "house name", is a term applied in traditional Japanese culture to names passed down within a guild, studio, or other circumstance other than blood relations. The term is synonymous with and . The term most often refers to th ...

'') of their favorite fireworks artists. It has become a part of Japanese culture to yell "tamaya" while watching fireworks. Though the Tamaya came to enjoy steady popularity over the Kagiya, Tamaya caused a major fire in 1843, and the official support for the guild evaporated. The fireworks festivals, if they were to continue, would be moved further from the city, to a more remote and thus safer location. The tradition survived the upheaval of the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

in 1868, and continued nearly every year until it dropped off in the 1920s, and ceased entirely during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

and for several decades afterwards. Finally, in 1978, the tradition was reinstated, and continues to this day. The 2011 festival was postponed until August 27 in the wake of the

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami The occurred at 14:46 Japan Standard Time, JST (05:46 UTC) on 11 March. The Moment magnitude scale, magnitude 9.0–9.1 (M) Submarine earthquake, undersea megathrust earthquake had an epicenter in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peni ...

. In 2018 the festival was postponed to the following day (Sunday) due to bad weather from Typhoon 12.

External links

JNTO History & Culture site

Sumida River Fireworks Festival Executive Committee

{{authority control Festivals in Tokyo Annual events in Japan Fireworks events in Asia Festivals established in 1732 Festivals established in 1810 Summer events in Japan