In this town there is a fireworks event, at the end of summer, on the riverbed of a great river, where pyrotechnicians from across the country contend in skill. Begun at the close of the Meiji era, it is counted among this country’s foremost fireworks events. Pyrotechnicians gathered from many places launch the fireworks they themselves have made, and contend in their finish. This town, where fireworks are contested on a riverbank, was founded in the Heisei merger when one city, six towns, and one village became one, and has since been quietly losing people. Daisen-shi’s numbers are the record of a town inscribed with a history of the fireworks of the Omono River and the merger of eight municipalities.
A city opening onto the middle reaches of a great river, in the south of Akita Prefecture. Because this city was founded in 2005 when one city, six towns, and one village newly became one, the statistics treat the period from 2005 onward, after the city’s founding. The population fell from 93,352 in 2005 to 77,657 in 2020. What I (Atlas) want to read here is not the sign "the town of fireworks," but the causal thread: how a history of the fireworks of the Omono River and the merger of eight municipalities is translated into today’s population and finances.
01 · See, in its numbers, the present Daisen-shi
In the latest Population Census the population is about 78,000 (77,657 in 2020). Because this city was founded in 2005 when one city, six towns, and one village newly became one, the statistics of population as a city treat the period from 2005 onward, after the founding. From that 93,352 in 2005 it has fallen — 88,301 in 2010, 82,783 in 2015, 77,657 in 2020.
Look at the content, and the figure of a city opening onto the middle reaches of a great river appears. The share aged 65 and over rose from 29.6% in 2005 to 38.5% in 2020, nearing four-tenths. The share of households with children was 20.2% in 2020, and the Childcare Waitlist was zero in both 2024 and 2025. The Fiscal Capacity Index was 0.35 in fiscal 2023, a level on the lower side at which its own tax revenue can cover a little over a third of expenditure. The numbers show a city where fireworks are contested on a riverbank advancing its aging while losing people after the merger. Why it takes this shape cannot be read without going back to the history of the fireworks and the merger.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Local Government Finance Survey, Fiscal Capacity Index (MIC) / Childcare Facility Status Report (Children and Families Agency) / Real Estate Information Library (MLIT)
02 · The middle reaches of a great river, the riverbed fireworks competition, the contest of pyrotechnicians from across the country, the merger of eight municipalities — the history behind the numbers
This town’s frame is set by the landform of the middle reaches of a great river, the fireworks competition held on its riverbed, and the merger of eight municipalities. The layer at the start is the river and the fireworks. This town opens onto the middle reaches of a great river in the south of Akita Prefecture. On the riverbed of that river, at the end of summer, a fireworks event is held where pyrotechnicians from across the country contend in skill. Begun at the close of the Meiji era, this event — in which pyrotechnicians gathered from many places launch the fireworks they themselves have made and contend in their finish — is counted among this country’s foremost fireworks events. The fireworks on the riverbank are this town’s emblem.
This riverbank city was founded in the Heisei merger. In 2005, in this land in the middle reaches of the great river, one city, six towns, and one village newly became one, and today’s city was founded. That the city in the middle reaches of the great river and the surrounding towns and villages were bundled together as one city is this city’s making. The riverbed where pyrotechnicians from across the country contend in skill at the end of summer, and the city area that bundled eight municipalities into one, overlap on the same land in the middle reaches of the great river.
Source: Daisen City / Omagari Fireworks, the National Fireworks Competition (overview: a competition of pyrotechnicians held each year on the riverbed of the Omono River; begun in the late Meiji era and counted among Japan’s three great fireworks events) / Daisen City (overview: on 2005-03-22 Omagari City and Kamioka / Nishisenboku / Nakasen / Kyowa / Nangai / Senboku / Ota — one city, six towns and one village — newly merged; midstream of the Omono River in southern Akita; the Omagari fireworks)
03 · In a riverbank city, after the merger the population falls and aging advances
What sets Daisen apart is that, while carrying a history as a city where fireworks are contested on a riverbank, after the merger it is losing people and advancing its aging. From 93,352 in 2005, when the city was founded, to 77,657 in 2020, about sixteen thousand fell in fifteen years. Even in this city opening onto the middle reaches of a great river, it can be read that part of the younger generation moved to the larger nearby cities, and, combined with the aging of the surrounding towns and villages added through the merger, the age of the whole town rose. That the share aged 65 and over rose from 29.6% in 2005 to 38.5% in 2020, nearing four-tenths, is that expression.
At the same time, the Childcare Waitlist was zero in both 2024 and 2025. The share of households with children was 20.2% in 2020. A Fiscal Capacity Index of 0.35 is a level at which its own tax revenue can cover a little over a third of expenditure, on the lower side. The position of a southern city, and a broad city area that bundled the surrounding towns and villages, can be read as setting the tax base on the lower side. A city where fireworks are contested on a riverbank is now advancing its aging while losing people after the merger. The population fell after the merger, the aging nears four-tenths, the fiscal stamina is on the lower side. A broad city area that bundled eight municipalities holds within it the aging of the surrounding towns and villages too, and that weight casts a shadow in the same direction over all three — population, age, and tax base.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Local Government Finance Survey, Fiscal Capacity Index (MIC) / Childcare Facility Status Report (Children and Families Agency)
04 · The middle reaches of a great river became a place where pyrotechnicians from across the country contend
The faces Daisen holds in the middle reaches of the river are not one. One is its history of opening onto the middle reaches of a great river in the south of Akita Prefecture, holding a fireworks event on its riverbed where pyrotechnicians from across the country contend in skill. Another is its character, founded in the Heisei merger when one city, six towns, and one village newly became one. And it is only because of this landform of the middle reaches of a great river that a summer day in which pyrotechnicians from across the country contend in skill on the riverbed holds, and along that river the surrounding towns and villages were bundled as one city area.
Daisen is a town where the middle reaches of a great river became a place where pyrotechnicians from across the country contend. From the middle reaches of a great river, to the riverbed fireworks competition, to the contest of pyrotechnicians from across the country, to the merger of eight municipalities — the geography of "the middle reaches of a great river in southern Akita Prefecture" drew the riverbed fireworks event, and, through the merger, bundled the surrounding towns and villages into one city area. A summer day in which the skill of the whole country is contested on the riverbed, and a broad city area holding eight municipalities, dwell together in the same middle reaches of the river.
Source: Daisen City / Omagari Fireworks, the National Fireworks Competition (overview: a competition of pyrotechnicians held each year on the riverbed of the Omono River; begun in the late Meiji era and counted among Japan’s three great fireworks events) / Daisen City (overview: on 2005-03-22 Omagari City and Kamioka / Nishisenboku / Nakasen / Kyowa / Nangai / Senboku / Ota — one city, six towns and one village — newly merged; midstream of the Omono River in southern Akita; the Omagari fireworks)
05 · Atlas note — on a single night by the riverbank, the skill of pyrotechnicians from across the country is contested
Lay out Daisen’s numbers and indicators of a city opening onto the middle reaches of a great river line up: a population falling after the merger, an aging rate of 38.5%, a share of households with children of 20.2%, fiscal capacity of 0.35. But when I (Atlas) try to read out even the one-time events behind the numbers, what draws my eye here is the wonder of this town’s history that its fireworks are an event where "pyrotechnicians from across the country contend in skill." At the end of summer, on the riverbed of a great river, pyrotechnicians gathered from many places launch the fireworks they themselves have made and contend in their finish. Begun at the close of the Meiji era, this event is counted among this country’s foremost fireworks events. The composition in which a single riverbank has continued, for over a hundred years, as a place where the skill of pyrotechnicians from across the country is contested makes one read this town’s map set within its ties to the fireworks craft of the whole country.
The other thing I want to consider is this town’s making, founded when "one city, six towns, and one village" — eight municipalities — became one. In 2005, in this land in the middle reaches of the great river, eight municipalities newly became one, and today’s city was founded. A broad city area that bundled eight municipalities into one held within it the aging of the surrounding towns and villages too, lost people, and raised its age. That a city holding a place where pyrotechnicians from across the country contend on a riverbank is now slowly raising its age across a city area that bundled eight municipalities is an overlap proper to this town. Whether to read it past as the sign "the town of fireworks," or to see it as "a town where the middle reaches of a great river became a place where pyrotechnicians from across the country contend," changes with the reader’s way of living. On a night at the end of summer, one shell launched from the riverbed is mirrored upside down on the black surface of the river, and pyrotechnicians gathered from across the country contend in its finish. For over a hundred years since the close of the Meiji era, this single night by the riverbank has gone on being the town’s emblem. Where that light falls upon a life differs with each person who looks up.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Daisen City / Omagari Fireworks, the National Fireworks Competition (overview: a competition of pyrotechnicians held each year on the riverbed of the Omono River; begun in the late Meiji era and counted among Japan’s three great fireworks events) / Daisen City (overview: on 2005-03-22 Omagari City and Kamioka / Nishisenboku / Nakasen / Kyowa / Nangai / Senboku / Ota — one city, six towns and one village — newly merged; midstream of the Omono River in southern Akita; the Omagari fireworks)
Editor’s note: all figures and sources are drawn from official statistics. The prose follows Atlas’s voice, and AI (atlas-handcrafted-reverse-v1 (Daiki 2026-06-02)) handled the shaping of the text. Evaluative or predictive language (such as “a good buy” or “attractive”) is intentionally left out. Revision id: wave22_c