ABSTRACT
In the Edo Period, hanabi (fireworks) evolved from a simple amusement into a technologically advanced art form. This chapter argues that many of hanabi’s cultural nuances, communal uses, spatial associations, and symbolic meanings originating in the Edo Period still influence Japanese daily life and popular culture today. Hanabi taikai (fireworks festivals) are held all over Japan, especially in the summer, forming a “hanabi season,” and provide a reprieve from the formalities of everyday life, a communal celebratory space, and a chance for friendly competition. Hanabi’s other symbolic associations include the transience of life, a sense of nostalgia for lost times and youth, ephemeral beauty, and optimism for the future. One of the outstanding aspects of hanabi is that their culture developed among the general populace and generally remained free for public view, unlike in Europe, where viewing fireworks was more under the control of the aristocracy and associated elites. As I will show, this makes hanabi a quintessential form of, and motif in, popular culture, arising from the common people and symbolizing their hopes and values.
