Toyohashi Gion festival

July 21, 2018

This picture taken on July 20, 2018 shows men holding their handmade Tezutsu hanabi (handheld fireworks) to dedicate to the Yoshida Shrine as a part of a Shinto ritual, on the eve of the Toyohashi Gion festival, in Toyohashi, central Japan.

Every year, each male member of the shrine makes his own set of fireworks from bamboo covered by straw ropes with a loaded gun and metal powder, in a tradition that has been practiced for more than 350 years, according to an old document at the shrine. AFP-Jiji Press