Fireworks Blog

The fireworks industries of Japan and China represent two distinct approaches to pyrotechnics, shaped by centuries of cultural heritage, technological innovation, and market dynamics. Historical Origins China is widely recognized as the birthplace of fireworks, with a history dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD). In contrast, Japan adopted fireworks later, primarily during the Edo period (1603-1867), developing a unique aesthetic and technological approach. Manufacturing Approaches Chinese Fireworks Industry Dominates global production, accounting for approximately 90% of world fireworks manufacturing Characterized by large-scale, low-cost production Massive industrial clusters in provinces like Hunan and Guangdong Strong export-oriented manufacturing model Focuses on volume and economic efficiency Japanese Fireworks Industry Emphasizes precision, artistic quality, and aesthetic design Smaller-scale production with high-value specialty prod...

As I am very interested in Japanese fireworks, here is another post about them. Have you noticed that most of the original Japanese fireworks ball shells casings (hemispheres) are made of newspaper? The reason is simple: although it may be also a way of recycling newspaper, it has an important effect on the explosion "perfection" due to the fact that newspaper has a moderate tensile strength and it split more uniformly during the explosion than the most used strawboard (chinese shells) and plastic (spanish, portuguese shells) casings. Here is an example of a shell made of newspaper hemispheres: Now imagine the lot of work that is needed to paste every piece of newspaper in so many layers to make these casings! Usually they are pasted on top of a wooden ball and then cut at the half. That's it, there are many characteristics of Japanese fireworks that contribute to its perfection and for sure the newspaper casings are one of them. If you like this content...

Again, I'm talking about the lovely Japanese Fireworks (花火) ! In my personal opinion, the Japanse shells are not only the most beautiful, but are also the big ones in general and there's a variety of sizes. Years ago, I found a chart on  http://japan-fireworks.com/ website with the most common sizes , but for the most of the readers of this blog, that probably don't understand Japanese, may be difficult to understand some data in the chart, so I did a translation for you and here it is (in the left ou can see the translated information): Image credits to  http://japan-fireworks.com/ As you can see in the image, the most common sizes vary from 90mm to 900mm. A very interesting and useful info in this chart is the lift charge weight.

One of the most interesting hand firing operations I ever seen is the tradicional Japanese quick firing method of aerial shells! Essentialy, it consists of a special made shell wich has the lifting charge attached and enveloped with a thin kind of Japanese tissue paper usually named " Kozo ", made from vegetable fibers, a handle attached to the top of the shell (so the pyrotechnician could hold it), a metal mortar and a hot iron piece (may be a chain or a spiral). In the image below, you can see the shell components and the ignition metal :   Image from the book - Fireworks - The Art, Science and Technique by Takeo Shimizu The firing procedure is simple: First, the metal piece is heated in a furnace or a bonfire until it turns incandescent and put inside, at the bottom of the mortar. Next, the operator takes a shell and drops it inside the mortar. When the lifting charge contacts the hot glowing metal it explodes.   Image from ...