Kumano Fireworks Festival

Dating back more than 300 years, the Kumano Fireworks are said to have begun when people shot off simple fireworks as an offering to the spirits during the O-Bon festival and used the cinders to light hanging lanterns. The practice of using the fireworks as a memorial offering to the spirits of the departed continues to the present day. Spectators are treated to a wealth of such sights as marine fireworks, launched in quick succession from two boats traveling over the water at top speed to create a brilliant semicircle of self-detonating bursts of color or a large, self-detonating 36 inch shells stretching over an area of 600 meters. The grand finale, the so-called Onigajo Contrivance, makes use of the Onigajo rocks and caves, which have been designated as a Place of Scenic Beauty or Natural Monument, and closes the festival with the impressive sound of the fireworks reflected off the rocks and echoing in the caves.