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Tezutsu Hanabi

— Hand-held fireworks at Toyohashi's Yoshida Shrine

cultureOff the trail — and worth it

Bamboo-tube fireworks, held and fired by the people who made them. Yoshida Shrine in Toyohashi is known as their birthplace, and its Gion Festival opens each summer with a night of them in the shrine grounds.

FromToyohashi Station
Tram + 5-min walkCity tram, flat fare
Get off atShiyakusho-mae (Toyotetsu City Line)
On foot
Tezutsu Hanabi

Directions ↗

The sweet spot

This is no hidden event: the Toyohashi Gion Festival draws large crowds. What sets it apart is who holds the fire. The fireworks are not set off by professionals at a distance, but held by people from the shrine's neighbourhoods who built the tubes themselves, inside a shrine compound in the city.

Where it is

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What to look for

Tezutsu birthplace monumentYanajin33 / CC BY-SA 4.0

Tezutsu birthplace monumenta rock set with a relief of a figure shouldering a tube, inscribed as the birthplace of tezutsu hanabi
The worship hallthe front of the hall, where tubes are fired as an offering before the deity
Ozutsularge tubes of the same shape, fixed on stands and paraded in by the neighbourhoods
Toyo River bankthe riverside where the festival's big fireworks show is held on the Saturday

How to actually get there

Toyohashi Station → Ekimae tram stop, in front of the station.
Ekimae → Shiyakusho-mae (Toyotetsu City Line, flat fare).
Shiyakusho-mae → Yoshida Shrine (walk north-west about 5 minutes).

City tram from Toyohashi Station: Toyohashi Station is served by the Tokaido Shinkansen, JR lines and Meitetsu. From the Ekimae tram stop in front of the station, ride the Toyotetsu City Line (the city tram) to Shiyakusho-mae, then walk about 5 minutes to the shrine. The tram charges one flat fare.
Back to Toyohashi Station by tram: Walk back to Shiyakusho-mae and take a tram bound for Ekimae, in front of Toyohashi Station. If you stay late on the festival night, check the time of the last tram at the stop.

Directions from my location (Google Maps) ↗

About the place

A tezutsu is a length of Moso bamboo with its nodes knocked out, bound tightly in rope and packed with gunpowder. It is not launched. The holder stands upright with the tube against the side of the body, and a pillar of orange sparks rises from its mouth. The display ends with the hane, when the base of the tube bursts and flame blows out at the holder's feet with a loud bang. Each holder makes their own tube, from cutting the bamboo to loading the powder, and fires it as an offering at a shrine festival.

How to enjoy it

The hand-held fireworks are offered in the shrine grounds on the third Friday of July, the first night of a three-day festival; check the year's official schedule. Arrive while it is still light to see the monument and the hall, then stay for the firing in the evening.

Background & history

Yoshida Shrine was long known as Tenno-sha, a shrine to the deity Gozu Tenno; today it enshrines Susanoo. By shrine tradition, fireworks were first offered here by the deputy of Yoshida Castle serving the warlord Imagawa Yoshimoto, which is why it is called the birthplace of tezutsu hanabi. By the 18th century, fireworks were already part of the shrine's festival. Hand-held fireworks later spread to festivals across the city, where they are now fired from summer into autumn.

Before you go

Cash: The shrine charges no admission, and the fireworks in its grounds are free to watch. The paid sajiki seats sold by the festival association are for the Saturday fireworks on the riverbank. The tram costs a flat 200 yen, and IC cards such as manaca and Suica are accepted.
Good to know: The hand-held fireworks are fired only on the festival Friday. On other days the grounds are open to visit at any hour. Dates follow the festival calendar, so check the Toyohashi Gion Festival Association's notice for the year.
Another way: You can also get off one stop earlier at Fudagi and walk north to the shrine.
After you get off: From Shiyakusho-mae, walk north-west about 5 minutes to Yoshida Shrine in Sekiya-cho.

Nearby notes

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