The World'sLargest Fireworks

Fireworks celebrated harvests and honored ancestors throughout Japan's history. This tradition lives strongest in Niigata Prefecture, known as the Kingdom of Fireworks. Thanks to its vast flatlands, Niigata’s craftsmen mastered massive single-shot fireworks, such as the shō san-shaku dama , a giant shell nearly 90 cm wide that blooms into a 650‑meter flower, and the world‑record shō yon-shaku dama , whose bloom can stretch close to a full kilometer.

Creating these marvels takes a full year of work. Masters blend elements into “stars” that burn in varying colors and durations. Craftsmen then handcraft each shell, layering paper for strength and arranging hundreds of these stars. Sealed with gunpowder, the shells explode at supersonic speed with a ground-shaking boom.

Unlike the flashy spectacles in the West, these fireworks are considered works of art, each with its own name and message, such as the “Shiragiku” launched at the beginning of the local Nagaoka Firework Festival, honoring the 1,488 lives lost during the Nagaoka Air Raid in 1945.