Jinta Hirayama (Japanese, 1840–1900) was a trailblazing pyrotechnician who helped launch Japanese fireworks onto the global stage. His company Hirayama Fireworks fused traditional craft with Western science, producing works of precision and spectacle.
The images of this collection are drawn from three original fireworks catalogues produced in late-19th-century Japan. Published to advertise handcrafted shells for day and night use - ranging from night bomb shells to lawn displays - these catalogues combine technical ambition with graphic elegance. Illustrated by a rotating cast of commercial artists, the designs balance precision and performance, offering fireworks as both engineering feat and visual spectacle. Today, they read like kinetic diagrams of joy: part sales pitch, part proto-pop.
