Fading Beauty
firework display posted from PhotoZou
I had the week off so I made myself available at a firework show.
There’s something about fireworks that speaks to the Japanese heart. The abrupt rapture of color and magic that lasts only for a moment which quickly fades into the blackness of night is pure poetry for the Japanese. The same effect is achieved in spring with cherry blossoms. Aestheticism is heightened because beauty is neither guaranteed nor eternal. To many Japanese, beauty is appreciated because it fades and fails.
Most Japanese will also tell you that they want to die when they are in their prime, just like fireworks and cherry blossoms do.