Fireworks while camping.
As I’ve written before, in the summer of 2004 I went to Japan through a Sister Cities student exchange. The bulk of the trip was spent with a host family in Chino, Nagano Prefecture. This period in late August is during the Obon festival where Japanese honor the spirits of their ancestors. Its sort of like if you combine the American aspect of Thanksgiving where everyone goes home, Mexican Dia de los Muertos, and every possible firework related holiday.
There are many components of the Obon festival. One key piece is the Bon Odori dance, that is danced by everyone in the city going round and round kind of like a big massive parade everyone participates. I actually missed this part, but had learned the dance a year before. Another big piece is fireworks, every night. I was surprised that what would be considered “Illegal Fireworks” (aka Wyoming style) was found readily available at 7/11 stores at any street corner. And I was shocked that they sold these fireworks to adults and children alike.
The fireworks are symbolic of the bonfires that they use to light in front of the family home to shine a beacon to their ancestors spirits to find their way home. The word in Japanese for fireworks is “Hanabi”. It combines the word for “Flower” (Hana) with “Fire” (bi).
And one of the main fireworks that I did every night was also simply called “Hanabi” and this was very aptly named. Essentially you are given what looks like a string and you light the bottom of the string. If you hold it still, the bottom starts to form a molten ball and from it little sparks fly off, making it look like delicate flower petals surrounding a molten center of the flower. The first time I did it I was startled and dropped the Hanabi thinking the sparks would burn me. My Japanese friends laughed at me, so I tried again, staying very still and admiring the beauty of this firework. I ended up doing this same firework with every host family I visited. After my first mistake I became a pro, and surprised the other families with my fearlessness and skill.
But not all fireworks are harmless. With another family I watched as fireworks were given to a young 5 year old to play with and marveled that nothing burned down. However, I wasn’t that lucky a few nights later. I had met an older former Ambassador friend of mine for dinner in Suwa, and to also spend time with her brother his friends. We had a lovely dinner and then moved onto the ritual of buying fireworks at 7/11 and then headed down to the Lake Suwa to light off the fireworks.
This time we had gotten small dragonfly fireworks that you lit and then used the string to make big circles over your head. As someone who enjoyed fireworks I was having fun with these unique fireworks that we didn’t have back home, and probably wasn’t paying as much attention as I should have been. It wasn’t long before the smell of burned became apparent. In slow motion I realized I WAS ON FIRE! At that moment I truly considered jumping into the inky black lake to put out the fire but at the same time, one of the guys in the group started saying “No worry! I Fireman!” quickly over and over while others shouted things in Japanese I didn’t understand. But my mind racked and remembered the old childhood rules of “Stop, Drop, and Roll”. Thankfully this did put out the small fire, and beyond hair being singed I was no worse for the wear.
Wearing Yukata’s while enjoying fireworks.
After nearly two weeks of doing fireworks with the families, my exchange group was invited by the mayor to be the guests of honor to the large firework display in Chino. Our host families dressed us up in traditional Yukata (a summer cotton kimono) and helped us get into the elaborate obi belt with bow at the back. The families burned mini logs in front of their house to guide the spirits home, and then we headed to the firework display. It was like a summer traveling carnival with lots of food vendors, toys and glow in the dark knickknacks for sale, and rides. It was so much fun to be dressed up and watching fireworks, and I was thankful to take a break from all the intense Japanese fireworks and just be able to relax and watch them instead.
Travel Missteps is an every-other week series on how sometimes part of the journey is making mistakes and getting lost.
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