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Akita's Omagari fireworks to light up the sky over Osaka Expo venue
Akita's Omagari fireworks to light up the sky over Osaka Expo venue

Asahi Shimbun

time23-04-2025

  • Entertainment
  • Asahi Shimbun

Akita's Omagari fireworks to light up the sky over Osaka Expo venue

'Bibideba,' a display of fireworks jointly created by Komatsu Fireworks Co. and Wabiya Inc. for the autumn chapter of the Omagari fireworks festival, lights up the sky over Daisen, Akita Prefecture, on Oct. 5, 2024. (Hideki Muroya) DAISEN, Akita Prefecture--Pyrotechnic artworks from the Omagari fireworks festival here will illuminate the sky over the 2025 Osaka Kansai Expo venue on June 28 for the enjoyment of attendees from around the world. It will be the first time for Daisen-based pyrotechnicians to team up to present their works in the Kansai region. The Omagari event, whose official name is the All-Japan National Fireworks Competition, is one of the country's top fireworks festivals. It is also famed as being the 'fireworks display you want to see at least once in your life.' Only pyrotechnicians who have achieved good results at fireworks contests held in Tsuchiura in Ibaraki Prefecture, Fukuroi in Shizuoka Prefecture, Yatsushiro in Kumamoto Prefecture and elsewhere can move on to participate in the Omagari event, which is believed to determine the country's top fireworks artist. The Omagari festival is held on the final Saturday in August every year, attracting about 700,000 visitors to the city with a population of one-10th of that figure. The 100th installment will be held in 2028. The Osaka Kansai Expo will host an event called the Japan Fireworks Expo for a total of eight times between April 26 and Oct. 8 during its run to display fireworks featured at famous contests. The highlight of the event is fireworks produced by the Omagari Hanabi Artistic Team, which is a cooperative association comprising four pyrotechnicians in Daisen. They include Tadanobu Komatsu, 61, who last summer received the prime minister's prize, the most prestigious award of the Omagari festival; Yoshikazu Konno, 61, who was recognized as a 'gendai no meiko' (contemporary master craftsman) by the labor ministry; Kentaro Saito, 45, who exports fireworks overseas; and Kazuyuki Kumekawa, 50, aka the 'wizard of colors.' Fireworks created in collaboration among the four craftsmen, which are the main feature of the Omagari festival, will be set off rapid fire over a period of about five minutes from the south side seawall of the venue on the evening of June 28. The artists intend to present fireworks displays to which they pour every ounce of their skills into, including the most difficult 'goeshin' firework consisting of five layers and the outermost circle; 'happosaki,' which shoots light rays in scarlet, blue, gold and other colors in a radial pattern from the center; the color-changing gradation; and 'senringiku,' which explodes with a countless number of small bursts. 'We are looking forward to the opportunity to promote the fireworks created in the snowy countryside of Omagari to the world,' Komatsu said.

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