Fireworks: The Art, Science, and Technique

From the Preface of the Third Edition: The purpose of this work is to help beginners who are professionally engaged in manufacture or planning fireworks in factories. I have laid emphasis on three points, the creation of beauty, the nature of materials and safety control. Part 1 contains a brief history of fireworks in Japan, mainly according to researches of Y.Sakenobe and Dr.H.Nambo. Part 2 describes firework art, for this art is the soul of fireworks. My hope is that readers might study the subject more deeply so that fireworks might be more attractive. Part 3 concerns the science of fireworks. This is not from an aesthetic standpoint but rather basic knowledge which is indispensable for producing fireworks. Part 4 concerns pyrotechnics; in this part I have assigned many pages for the description of firework materials following the requests of readers of my former work. But I am afraid that there may be some gaps due to lack of experience and knowledge. I have tried to modify firework compositions a little according to recent work by S.Lancaster. Part 5 is concerned with safety control based on our empirical laws. This work is primary a practical one, and the description of theory has been kept as simple as possible. This is to meet the need of my former readers.