The History Behind the Fireworks

Nagaoka's fireworks festival began in 1946, one year after the city was largely destroyed in an air raid on August 1st, 1945. The founding committee made a deliberate decision: the festival would open on August 2nd, the day after the anniversary of the raid, and the fireworks would serve as a formal act of mourning and reconstruction rather than a celebration. That framing has never changed. The date, the opening sequence, and the Phoenix display all carry that original intention forward.

The festival grew through the postwar decades as Nagaoka rebuilt. The Sho-shaku-dama shell, which first flew in 1926, became one of the festival's defining technical achievements. When the 2004 Chuetsu earthquake struck Niigata Prefecture, the festival committee added the Phoenix display specifically to address that second wave of reconstruction. The fireworks were not expanded for spectacle. They were expanded because the city had more to mourn and more to rebuild. That distinction matters to the people who make them and to the people who come to watch.

Today the festival draws visitors from across Japan and from abroad, but it remains a Nagaoka event in character. The launch sites are on the Shinano River bank, the same stretch of water the city has looked out over for centuries. The pyrotechnics teams are largely the same regional specialists who have worked the festival for generations. In 2026, the Sho-shaku-dama marks its centenary, the Niagara display returns to Choseibashi bridge, and both nights run the full programme from 19:20 to 21:10. Tickets for the Phoenix sheet seat and the Venue A mat seat are available now at the official booking page.