The pyrotechnician's fleeting art

The National Fireworks Competition at Ōmagari began in 1910 as the Ōu Six Prefectures Fireworks Fair, held as an entertainment for the festival of Suwa Shrine. Since 2000, a Prime Minister's Award has been presented.

Ōmagari includes a daytime category in which colour and the changing form of smoke, rather than light, carry the work — a discipline said to demand delicate, advanced technique. At night, entries compete in the 10-go core-type shell, the 10-go free-style shell, and 'creative fireworks'.

The Tsuchiura competition was founded in 1925 by Akimoto Baihō, head priest of Shinryū-ji temple, to honour airmen of the Kasumigaura naval air group who lost their lives and to revive a local economy struggling after the Great Kantō Earthquake. It is contested in three categories: starmine, 10-go shells and creative fireworks.

At both, fireworks makers from across Japan submit their work. A burst lasts an instant, yet behind it lies the patient work of designing each shell and placing each star. The competition sky is where that work appears in its clearest form.