Obon (お盆) is the Japanese summer festival of the dead. In mid-August, Japanese families believe, the spirits of their ancestors come back to visit the living. Obon is neither sad nor scary. It is a warm, quiet homecoming. For a few days, families remember their dead, get together and perform gentle rituals. It is one of the most important events of the Japanese year.
Welcoming the ancestors
Obon has Buddhist roots. Over the centuries it blended with older Japanese ancestor worship into a family rite of its own. Families clean and decorate the home altar and the graves. They set out food, fruit and flowers for the returning spirits of the ancestors (先祖, senzo). On the first evening, they light a small welcome fire, mukaebi, to guide the spirits home. On the last evening, a farewell fire, okuribi, sends them back. Many people travel long distances to their family's hometown for Obon. Together with New Year, it is one of the two great travel seasons in Japan.
Dances and floating lanterns
The best-known part of Obon is the Bon Odori (盆踊り), the Bon dance. In the evening, people gather, often in light cotton yukata. They circle a raised stage where drummers play, and they repeat simple steps that anyone can join. The dance once welcomed and comforted the spirits. Today it is a joyful local party in parks and shrine grounds across the country, and each region has its own tune and steps. Obon often ends with lights on the water. In tōrō nagashi, people float paper lanterns down rivers or out to sea, and the lanterns carry the spirits gently back to the other world. Kyoto marks the same farewell with Daimonji. Giant bonfires in the shape of written characters burn on the mountains around the city.
Words & idioms to take away
Idioms & proverbs to carry away
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盆踊り (bon odori): the circle dance of Obon. It welcomes and honours the returning spirits, and it is a highlight of the Japanese summer.
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ご先祖様 (go-senzo-sama): "the honoured ancestors," the family spirits at the heart of Obon. People speak of them with deep respect.