Senko hanabi (線香花火 ''senkō hanabi'', literally: incense-stick fireworks) is a traditional

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese

firework Fireworks are Explosive, low explosive Pyrotechnics, pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a large numbe ...

. It is a type of

sparkler A sparkler is a type of hand-held firework that burns slowly while emitting bright, colored sparks. It burns in high temperature (over 1000°C), so it can be very dangerous. Sparklers are particularly popular with children. In the United ...

. Essays about it date back to at least 1927. It is a thin shaft of twisted

tissue paper Tissue paper, or simply tissue, is a lightweight paper or light crêpe paper. Tissue can be made from recycled pulp (paper), paper pulp on a paper machine. Tissue paper is very versatile, and different kinds are made to best serve these purposes ...

about 20 centimeters long with one end containing a few grains of

black powder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, charcoal (which is mostly carbon), and potassium nitrate, potassium ni ...

(gunpowder). Black powder consists of three chemicals:

potassium nitrate Potassium nitrate is a chemical compound with a sharp, salty, bitter taste and the chemical formula . It is a potassium salt of nitric acid. This salt consists of potassium cations and nitrate anions , and is therefore an alkali metal nit ...

sulfur Sulfur ( American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphur ( Commonwealth spelling) is a chemical element; it has symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms ...

, and

charcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, ca ...

Usage

To properly ignite a senko hanabi, the pointed end (with black powder) is held straight down and lit, so that the flame is at the bottom. After a few seconds, a glowing, molten

slag The general term slag may be a by-product or co-product of smelting (pyrometallurgical) ores and recycled metals depending on the type of material being produced. Slag is mainly a mixture of metal oxides and silicon dioxide. Broadly, it can be c ...

ball will form. The slag is reportedly

potassium sulfide Potassium sulfide is an inorganic compound with the formula K2 S. The colourless solid is rarely encountered, because it reacts readily with water, a reaction that affords potassium hydrosulfide (KSH) and potassium hydroxide (KOH). Most commonl ...

, which also contains

carbon Carbon () is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalence, tetravalent—meaning that its atoms are able to form up to four covalent bonds due to its valence shell exhibiting 4 ...

from the charcoal. After a while, the molten ball will initiate the second phase of the firework, silently spraying an array of delicate branching sparks with a range of up to . It is best ignited away from the wind and held with a steady hand, so that the delicate molten ball does not drop and that the two phases can be fully completed.

Principle

One theory for its distinctive sparks suggest that when lit, firstly the gunpowder burns and later form a blob of molten slag containing

potassium carbonate Potassium carbonate is the inorganic compound with the formula . It is a white salt, which is soluble in water and forms a strongly alkaline solution. It is deliquescent, often appearing as a damp or wet solid. Potassium carbonate is mainly used ...

. These chemicals further react and decompose into gases like CO,

CO2 Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in a gas state at room temperature and at normally-encountere ...

, SO2. These gases erupt out of the molten blob and carry small amounts of slag in the process. These fragments further divide into minuscule bits due to wind, thus creating this magnificent effect.

Culture

Senko hanabi are included in packets of fireworks and are ignited last amongst other fireworks. The fireworks are said to somehow hypnotize the watcher into silence and to evoke ''

mono no aware , , and also translated as , or , is a Japanese idiom for the awareness of , or transience of things, and both a transient gentle sadness (or wistfulness) at their passing as well as a longer, deeper gentle sadness about this state being the re ...

'' (translated as "an empathy toward things," or "a sensitivity to ephemera"), a Japanese term describing a flash of sadness felt when reminded of the beauty and briefness of life. "The poignantly ephemeral has long been appreciated in Japan and is still felt in the quiet celebration of senko hanabi."

References

External links

Senko hanabi - beautiful Japanese sparkler

image of lit senko hanabi
* Research Pap

* Where to buy in Japa

* {{YouTube, p=PL1a2HkcVbmAVW5LBBThCdHPD3BKDd03Tj, NightHawkInLight - Senko hanabi Types of fireworks