Ichikawamisato

The town of Fireworks and a Mysterious Lake

About Ichikawamisato

Many of you may associate fireworks with celebrations such as new year’s and coronations, while many Japanese associate them with requiems. In fact, Sumida River Fireworks Festival in Tokyo, which has the longest history in Japan, is said to have started in the 18th century as a prayer for the victims of famine and epidemics. Recently each prefecture or even smaller municipality has its own fireworks festivals in summer, especially around the bon period (from the 13th to the 15th of August). Even it is called bon, it has no connection with Bonfire Night of Guy Fawkes. Bon, or obon, is an annual Buddhist event commemorating ancestors whose spirits are believed to return to their home during this period. To entertain the spirits, originally, many festivals are held during bon days. Also, as you know, Japan’s summer is hot and humid. Many people believe fireworks would cool off the summer heat and it is now popular as the key seasonal event across the country.

The culture of fireworks was introduced to Japan in the beginning of the 17th century. Ichikawamisato-cho was one of the top three major fireworks-producing areas. If you plan to visit in Japan for summer vacation, we recommend you to include one night here to see a magnificent fireworks festival called Shinmei Fireworks Festival on August 7th.

The local fireworks production began as signal fire making during the civil war era, before the government was settled in Edo (Tokyo) by the Tokugawa shogunate. At the time it was easy to obtain the paper that was essential to rap gunpowder for fireworks, because Ichikawamisato-cho used to be a leading washi paper producing area as well as Nishijima.

At Shinmei Fireworks Festival you will see about 20,000 aerial fireworks in two hours. The highlight of this festival is the largest firework called “two-feet ball”, or ni-shaku dama in Japanese, whose shell measures about two-feet across before the explosion. It weighs about 70 kilograms. When it explodes at the height of approximately 500 meters from the ground, it is about 480 meters across, which means a firework fills your whole view if you are seated on the riverbank. The size and the number of fireworks will be important aspects to choose a festival to visit. But you may notice that there are more important aspects, which are the rhythm of the explosions and the geographical features of the place. If too many fireworks are shot at once, the sky will be fogged up with the smoke. So, a certain interval and the wind that blows off the smoke are indispensable to make fireworks clearer and more beautiful. Shinmei Fireworks Festival is like a theatrical play that will surely impress you. Some fireworks are launched to music. Mountains and a river are a stage set designed by the nature. You may know that fireworks are a beautiful and peaceful side of the gunpowder. Make sure to inform yourself of the date, before your departure, when the sale of the fireworks tickets starts!

Lake Shibire

Do you like weird issues that Fortean Times might feature? If you do, the Lake Shibire located 880-meter high up in the mountains in the town of Ichikawamisato-cho would satisfy your curiosity.

The name itself shows its weirdness. The name, written in kanji, means linked four tails. But what are the tails of? A myth says that they are of the Dragon God that lived in this lake. By the way, Japanese dragons, even though they are imaginary creatures, are a bit different from European ones. Japanese dragons are more like snakes but they have a large face like dinosaurs. Some of them are called “God” because they were frightening and they were believed to be able to control the rainfall.

There is another mystery that science hasn’t solved. The water level of the Lake Shibire is stable even though there is no river that brings water into the lake or flows out. It still remains unknown when the lake was created. Some people say that it is a crater lake created by an eruption or even by the impact of a meteorite or comet.

Apart from the mysterious side of the lake, it will marvel you with the sheer silence and the beauty. It is a quite small circular lake, about 1.1 kilometers around, surrounded by bush. If you sit back and relax at the café on the lake side sipping coffee or drinking soda of local grown fruits, you will lose track of the time. Just watching the surface of the lake will be soothing. The color of the bush changes depending on the season. One visit will make you wonder the season of your next visit — pinkish bush with cherry blossoms in spring, deep green in summer or gamboge and scarlet bush in autumn. If your visit is in summer, stand-up paddleboard (SUP), which is available at the café Native SUP, is a recommendable gear to enjoy the lake actively.

Ichikawamisato Area Information