Photo/Illutration Fireworks illuminate the night sky over Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture, on Aug. 2, 2022. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Artist Kiyoshi Yamashita (1922-1971), nicknamed “Hadaka no Taisho” (naked general), never bothered to carry art supplies during his years of wandering around Japan.

The entire contents of his rucksack consisted of two bowls, a pair of chopsticks, a hand towel and a change of clothing--plus five small rocks for protection from barking dogs.

He slept at train stations. Whenever he heard about a fireworks display being held nearby, he would go and check it out. He wrote in his book “Nihon Burari-burari” (Roaming idly around Japan): “Whatever people say, fireworks are beautiful. When summer comes, I will keep going to them.”

The city of Nagaoka in Niigata Prefecture was one of the places he visited for its fireworks festival, held to console the souls of the 1,500 or so residents killed in Allied air raids on the night of Aug. 1, 1945.

“If everyone made only beautiful fireworks and not bombs, I think the war would never have happened,” Yamashita wrote. His unclouded eyes saw the importance of ordinary life.

His memories of the event inspired the masterpiece “Fireworks, Nagaoka,” which is in the “hari-e” collage style that uses torn pieces of colored paper to create images.

I saw it the other day at the Sompo Museum of Art in Tokyo, where a special exhibition titled “The 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Yamashita Kiyoshi, a Retrospective” is being held until Sept. 10.

“Shakudama” (12-inch shells) are soaring into the pitch-black sky one after another, trailing streaks of light. There would come a flash, followed by a spectacular bloom of color and pattern. The audience cheers. The residual sparks are reborn into myriad tiny stars that fill the sky. Yamashita’s hari-e captured every burst of this ephemeral splendor.

In Tokyo, the famed Sumidagawa river fireworks festival is being held tonight for the first time in four years now that the COVID-19 pandemic has passed. About 20,000 fireworks will explode in the night sky.

I imagine the Asakusa district will be teeming with visitors clad in “yukata” cotton summer kimono and seeking relief from the heat.

I am thinking of enjoying the cool evening breeze and idle chats with my good friends over ice-cold beer. And that, I am sure, is the sort of ordinary life that is irreplaceably precious.

--The Asahi Shimbun, July 29

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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