"O-BON" A RITUAL HONORING THE SPIRITS OF OUR ANCESTORS

O-BON is an ancient ritual celebrated for over 500 years throughout Japan, honoring the spirits of our ancestors. The starting date varies within different regions, however in Kyoto, most of the main temple and family O-bon rituals take place between the 14th and the 16th of August.

According to tradition, members of families return to their ancestral places to pay respect by cleaning and visiting their ancestor’s graves, and in turn the spirits of ancestors are supposed to revisit their family household altars. At neighborhood temples, traditional music including dance, known as Bon-Odori, or Bon dance is widely practiced, especially in Hawaii, where there are thousands of descendants of Japanese immigrants as well as other nationality locals, protecting Japanese tradition.

Originally being folk dances from the farming community welcoming the spirits, the styles and music often vary from region to region, though the typical Bon dance involves all ages dressed in summer yukata kimono lining up in a circle around a high wooden scaffold made especially for the festival called a yagura. The yagura usually serves as the bandstand for the musicians and singers of the O-Bon music. Some dances proceed clockwise, and some dances proceed counter-clockwise around the yagura. At times, people face the yagura and move towards and away from it.

On August 16th, to mark the end of the O-Bon season there is yet another annual ritual which is only in Kyoto, believed to date back to the 13th century, “Gozan no Okuribi”. The event focuses on setting giant bonfires on each of the five mountains that surround Kyoto.

On each mountain, the fire is either in the shape of kanji (Chinese characters used in Japanese writing), or a boat, or torii (Shinto shrine gate). These blazing symbols are intended to guide the spirits of our ancestors who returned to visit during the O-Bon season on their spiritual journey safely back to heaven.