Tezutsu-hanabi

Tezutsu-hanabi (手筒花火) is a type of traditional Japanese fireworks using a handheld pyrotechnic projector comparable to a rudimentary flamethrower.

It is believed that the artillery corps of the Tokugawa clan brought back knowledge of pyrotechnics when they returned to Mikawa Province in the 16th century.^[1] The chronicle Mikawa no kuni korō den (三河国古老伝) preserved at Toyohashi Yoshida Shrine [ja] records the first use of fireworks in Mikawa in 1558. The Kyūchū hisaku (宮中秘策) of 1741 states that tezutsu-hanabi were presented to Tokugawa Ieyasu at Edo Castle in 1613. Ieyasu entrusted the Mikawa-shū [ja] with the mass production of gunpowder, and because of this, it is said, Mikawa became the home of many advances in pyrotechnics.^[2]

Tezutsu-hanabi are manufactured by local amateurs who have obtained a license to do so. Structurally, the projector is a roughly 100-80 centimeter long cartridge made of mōsō bamboo reinforced with rope and packed with a mixture of slow-burning gunpowder and iron powder.^[2] When the fuse is lit, a jet of fire is released while the projector is held in a daunting pose​. At the end of the performance, the projector is hefted and flipped around as the bottom explodes in a brief secondary ignition called a hane (はね).^[2] However, in some regions including Shizuoka, the hane may be less dramatic or absent altogether.

• Greek fire

• Documentary on Tezutsu-hanabi by the Mikkabi Tezutsu-hanabi Preservation Society