Bonfire weekend, the less traditional way.

On Friday, I attended a workshop where I got to make traditional Japanese sparklers for the first time.  I thought it was pretty fitting, with it being Bonfire Night this weekend, and it’s one of the few foreign festivals here ignored in the wave of Christmas that follows Halloween. Bonfire Night is definitely a time I miss back home, but this little event made me feel like I still had that part of home with me.

Tsutsui Tokimasa’s shop and factory are located in Miyama City, Fukuoka, and it’s actually one of only three factories of its kind in Japan. They’ve been in business for 90 years, and one out of the 6 staff, Ryota, is Tokimasa’s grandson. 

It’s truly a family business through and through. This is definitely a craft that has been passed down through generations, which can be seen in the precision and care the staff take when it comes to making each individual sparkler.

During the demonstration, they told us it took months to be able to make a sparkler to that quality, and I’m not surprised. You’ve certainly got to be dextrous, and when it comes to fiddling tissue paper filled with gunpowder, that is definitely not a skill I had. I didn’t do too badly though, and my sparklers began to improve drastically into uniform colour gradients similar to the originals. 

I’m not claiming to be a pro, but they have officially been tried and tested from my balcony this evening, when I introduced Kohei to the whole Bonfire Night affair. 

It was different, in the sense that the sky is dark, little sound surrounds my apartment as always, and it’s seemingly like any other night in Kumamoto, but I’m happy I got to celebrate nonetheless. Even more so that my sparklers created the most beautiful atmosphere against the blackness tainted by the glow of a full moon.