花火大会 [hanabi taikai//fireworks exhibition show]: SENTOURO//"A Thousand Lights Festival"
Tonight, I went to 江迎千灯籠祭. Translated, I went to Emukae Town's Sentouro festival. Sentouro means "A Thousand Lights." It concluded with a 花火大会, or fireworks exhibition show.
It is called Sentouro because there is a huge pyramid made up of a thousand lanterns. Would you like to see pictures? For the main shot, my camera was a bit fuzzy, but when we went "inside" the pyramid, I got some clear shots. Also, I searched Yahoo Japan to find a couple more pictures, too. Thankfully, I knew the right kanji.<3 So you can see some more professional shots if you click, too!
First, this site is so, so wonderful: http://tim-s.net/album/event/senntourou.htm
It has some REALLY good pictures of the lit pyramid and the individual pieces and the inside and stuff!
Here is a good close-up of the lanterns creating the pyramid:
http://d.hatena.ne.jp/images/diary/t/tany/2005-08-28.jpg
Here is a picture of the pyramid of lanterns all lit up:
http://www.nagasaki-np.co.jp/tot/hanabi/04.html
Here is a picture of performers in front of the pyramid during brighter hours:
http://www.nagasaki-np.co.jp/event/maturi/images/10.jpg
Okay, and here are my pictures:
and Ogata-san took this picture....the blur is supposed to be me, haha!
This is the inside of the pyramid. I stood in the middle and shot upwards. It looks a little like a spider-web, doesn't it?
Finally, here is another interior view. This pic is actually pretty clear. I got the sign and also some of the individual lanterns!
Here is a description of the event from a Japanese site:
花火大会データベース: ... 江迎千灯籠祭り 花火大会データベース. 名称. 江迎千灯籠祭り. 開催日 ... 約3300個の灯籠で飾られた高さ25mの三角すいのタワーの周りでは24発の打ち上げ花火や多くの露店のほ
GOOGLE translator (take it with a grain of salt) states, "Fireworks festival database: … Emukae thousand light basket celebration fireworks festival database. Name. Emukae thousand light basket celebration. Around the tower of the triangular inhaling of the height 25m which is decorated in opening day… approximately 3300 light baskets the launch fireworks of 24 shots and the [ho] of many street stalls"
We went inside the pyramid and there were so many lanterns. I got dizzy just looking up! There was also a clothesline with wooden hearts hanging from it. People wrote wishes for love and happiness on them and hung them beneath the lanterns!
To get to the pyramid, we walked through the streets of Emukae. There were vendors everywhere and it was an open-market. You could buy all kinds of food and they even had the exhibits where you catch fish for pets! Many girls were wearing yukatas (the summer version of kimono. The fabric is very light). A lot of students were still in uniform. I saw some of my students. They always started to giggle and talk about seeing me afterwards! I saw some of my elementary school kids with their parents, too.
There was a 花火大会 (Fireworks Exhibition) at 9 p.m. and it went until 9:25 p.m.! Usually, they're much shorter, aren't they? I haven't seen so many live exhibitions, and of those I have, many were at theme parks, etc. I wonder if the fireworks are so beautiful everywhere, or if it's just because our view was so amazing?
The exhibition was by the river. We sat behind the people at the bar-thing that prevents people from falling in. We sat on, not a blanket, but something similar. The seats were so good, because the fireworks came from the other side of the river and exploded over the water. We were so close, it seemed like the remnants would fall on us! I wonder if it's common for traces of fireworks to hover in the air like fairy dust, or if I saw it because of where we were?
Some of the fireworks were like those I've never seen before. They had fireworks that spiraled through the air, ones that spiraled and "fought" with one another, then exploded in a clatter, etc. They also had the common "starburst" ones and individual ones and the normal ones that whistle and boom. One really interesting thing was that they created fire on the land that outlined the sponsors throughout the show. Each time, a new sponsor's name would appear, then a ball of light would streak across a pole and light up a row of lights and the name would fade away. The last time, after the arch was lit, it began raining sparks that resembled fairy sparks. Toward the end of the show, another ball of light streaked all the way across the river and made something that Ogata-san called the "Niagara Falls Effect." It was so beautiful, and it reflected so nicely on the water as the sparks fell.
My favorite fireworks had this...sort of CHATTER sound to them. They exploded all at once, one after another, like sparks of starbursts full of fairy dust, and they got bigger and bigger and chattered like a bubbling brook. They also had the normal starbursts that would explode over each other with loud booms. At times, it got SO bright w/so much going off at once that I'd have to squint and shield my eyes! There were even fireworks that blinked on and off like Christmas lights. It was so unique and pretty. Then, some of the fireworks weren't really "fireworks," but trails of stardust/fairy dust that would fall down from the sky like a curtain. There were also a couple of fireworks that hung in the air in the pattern of a weeping willow tree after they exploded. One of these looked like lingering pixie dust (I really don't mean to be redundant with saying this, but it's absolutely the best description and there were so many types of this!).
I wish I could have filmed it. I didn't even try to take pictures because my nasty camera would do no justice (and, it didn't focus in the viewfinder, so I didn't take any).
Now, I can see why hanabi festivals are so popular in Japan, though! Also, in Nagasaki, Emukae is pretty famous for its festival. Sentouro even has a huge mural of the lanterns and fireworks painted near the highway that you can see on the way to/from Hirado. I had so much fun!<3
To celebrate, I offer you another song: http://www.sendspace.com/file/obihz6'>http://www.sendspace.com/file/obihz6
It is called "Hanabi" (which means Fireworks) and it is by a group called AAA. I've liked this song since first hearing it either this month or the end of last month. It's so pretty. Only the girls from the group sing in this song; I don't know where the boys are. LOL. Anyway, the song played in my head as I watched the fireworks overhead, so I would like to share it with you.
It is called Sentouro because there is a huge pyramid made up of a thousand lanterns. Would you like to see pictures? For the main shot, my camera was a bit fuzzy, but when we went "inside" the pyramid, I got some clear shots. Also, I searched Yahoo Japan to find a couple more pictures, too. Thankfully, I knew the right kanji.<3 So you can see some more professional shots if you click, too!
First, this site is so, so wonderful: http://tim-s.net/album/event/senntourou.htm
It has some REALLY good pictures of the lit pyramid and the individual pieces and the inside and stuff!
Here is a good close-up of the lanterns creating the pyramid:
http://d.hatena.ne.jp/images/diary/t/tany/2005-08-28.jpg
Here is a picture of the pyramid of lanterns all lit up:
http://www.nagasaki-np.co.jp/tot/hanabi/04.html
Here is a picture of performers in front of the pyramid during brighter hours:
http://www.nagasaki-np.co.jp/event/maturi/images/10.jpg
Okay, and here are my pictures:
and Ogata-san took this picture....the blur is supposed to be me, haha!
This is the inside of the pyramid. I stood in the middle and shot upwards. It looks a little like a spider-web, doesn't it?
Finally, here is another interior view. This pic is actually pretty clear. I got the sign and also some of the individual lanterns!
Here is a description of the event from a Japanese site:
花火大会データベース: ... 江迎千灯籠祭り 花火大会データベース. 名称. 江迎千灯籠祭り. 開催日 ... 約3300個の灯籠で飾られた高さ25mの三角すいのタワーの周りでは24発の打ち上げ花火や多くの露店のほ
GOOGLE translator (take it with a grain of salt) states, "Fireworks festival database: … Emukae thousand light basket celebration fireworks festival database. Name. Emukae thousand light basket celebration. Around the tower of the triangular inhaling of the height 25m which is decorated in opening day… approximately 3300 light baskets the launch fireworks of 24 shots and the [ho] of many street stalls"
We went inside the pyramid and there were so many lanterns. I got dizzy just looking up! There was also a clothesline with wooden hearts hanging from it. People wrote wishes for love and happiness on them and hung them beneath the lanterns!
To get to the pyramid, we walked through the streets of Emukae. There were vendors everywhere and it was an open-market. You could buy all kinds of food and they even had the exhibits where you catch fish for pets! Many girls were wearing yukatas (the summer version of kimono. The fabric is very light). A lot of students were still in uniform. I saw some of my students. They always started to giggle and talk about seeing me afterwards! I saw some of my elementary school kids with their parents, too.
There was a 花火大会 (Fireworks Exhibition) at 9 p.m. and it went until 9:25 p.m.! Usually, they're much shorter, aren't they? I haven't seen so many live exhibitions, and of those I have, many were at theme parks, etc. I wonder if the fireworks are so beautiful everywhere, or if it's just because our view was so amazing?
The exhibition was by the river. We sat behind the people at the bar-thing that prevents people from falling in. We sat on, not a blanket, but something similar. The seats were so good, because the fireworks came from the other side of the river and exploded over the water. We were so close, it seemed like the remnants would fall on us! I wonder if it's common for traces of fireworks to hover in the air like fairy dust, or if I saw it because of where we were?
Some of the fireworks were like those I've never seen before. They had fireworks that spiraled through the air, ones that spiraled and "fought" with one another, then exploded in a clatter, etc. They also had the common "starburst" ones and individual ones and the normal ones that whistle and boom. One really interesting thing was that they created fire on the land that outlined the sponsors throughout the show. Each time, a new sponsor's name would appear, then a ball of light would streak across a pole and light up a row of lights and the name would fade away. The last time, after the arch was lit, it began raining sparks that resembled fairy sparks. Toward the end of the show, another ball of light streaked all the way across the river and made something that Ogata-san called the "Niagara Falls Effect." It was so beautiful, and it reflected so nicely on the water as the sparks fell.
My favorite fireworks had this...sort of CHATTER sound to them. They exploded all at once, one after another, like sparks of starbursts full of fairy dust, and they got bigger and bigger and chattered like a bubbling brook. They also had the normal starbursts that would explode over each other with loud booms. At times, it got SO bright w/so much going off at once that I'd have to squint and shield my eyes! There were even fireworks that blinked on and off like Christmas lights. It was so unique and pretty. Then, some of the fireworks weren't really "fireworks," but trails of stardust/fairy dust that would fall down from the sky like a curtain. There were also a couple of fireworks that hung in the air in the pattern of a weeping willow tree after they exploded. One of these looked like lingering pixie dust (I really don't mean to be redundant with saying this, but it's absolutely the best description and there were so many types of this!).
I wish I could have filmed it. I didn't even try to take pictures because my nasty camera would do no justice (and, it didn't focus in the viewfinder, so I didn't take any).
Now, I can see why hanabi festivals are so popular in Japan, though! Also, in Nagasaki, Emukae is pretty famous for its festival. Sentouro even has a huge mural of the lanterns and fireworks painted near the highway that you can see on the way to/from Hirado. I had so much fun!<3
To celebrate, I offer you another song: http://www.sendspace.com/file/obihz6'>http://www.sendspace.com/file/obihz6
It is called "Hanabi" (which means Fireworks) and it is by a group called AAA. I've liked this song since first hearing it either this month or the end of last month. It's so pretty. Only the girls from the group sing in this song; I don't know where the boys are. LOL. Anyway, the song played in my head as I watched the fireworks overhead, so I would like to share it with you.