{"id":6309,"date":"2018-08-13T07:32:06","date_gmt":"2018-08-13T07:32:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/?p=6309"},"modified":"2018-08-13T07:32:06","modified_gmt":"2018-08-13T07:32:06","slug":"what-is-japanese-obon-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/what-is-japanese-obon-2\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Japanese Obon?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Knowledge of Language is the Doorway to the Wisdom. ~Roger Bacon~\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"

Picture from Pixabay<\/p><\/div>\n

Hi everyone! Hope you are enjoying the month of August (Hachi gatsu, \u306f\u3061\u304c\u3064\uff0c\u516b\u6708) . Hard to believe it’s already August where I feel like summer (Natsu, \u306a\u3064, \u590f ) is approaching to the end, and we are about to start the fall (Aki, \u3042\u304d, \u79cb )season before we know it.<\/p>\n

Every year around this time of the year, I always miss back home (Japan, \u306b\u307b\u3093, \u65e5\u672c) due to Obon(Obon, \u304a\u307c\u3093\uff0c\u304a\u76c6)\u00a0festival. Obon lasts normally for 3 days. Obon is a major event during the summer in Japan as we welcome and honor the souls of our ancestors\uff08Gosenzo sama no rei,\u3054\u305b\u3093\u305e\u3055\u307e\u306e\u308c\u3044,\u3054\u5148\u7956\u3055\u307e\u306e\u970a) \u00a0from the spiritual world. Some people translate the Obon to “Festivals of the Dead” but I don’t know if I quite like the translation. I would rather want to call it ” Festival of Souls\u201d or even “Soul’s Day”.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

During Obon, we often visit the graves (Ohaka mairi, \u304a\u306f\u304b\u307e\u3044\u308a\uff0c\u304a\u5893\u53c2\u308a ) as a family to clean the graves and also to replace the flowers at the graves with fresh ones. We then pray at the grave, thanking them for watching over us every day.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When Obon festival starts, which is normally around August 13th, we\u00a0hang Japanese lanterns (Cho-chin, \u3061\u3087\u3046\u3061\u3093,\u63d0\u706f ) outside of our house so the returning sprits can find their way to our home without getting lost. \u00a0After 3 days of celebration, we then use floating lanterns (toro-nagashi, \u3068\u3046\u308d\u3046\u306a\u304c\u3057, \u706f\u7c60\u6d41\u3057) in the river to send off ancestor’s spirits back. Floating lanterns are also believed to guide them back to where they came from.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As another way of sending off the sprits back, we celebrate Obon(Obon, \u304a\u307c\u3093\uff0c\u304a\u76c6)\u00a0through Bon Odori(Bon dance,\u307c\u3093\u304a\u3069\u308a, \u76c6\u8e0a\u308a). Bon Odori is a Japanese dance celebration where we dance to our folk songs. Styes and variety of dances are unique to each local area.\u00a0Japanese drums (Taiko, \u305f\u3044\u3053\uff0c\u592a\u9f13 ) are often used at Bon Odori, and some of the famous Bon Odori attract many people from different areas. \u00a0As a child, I remember I looked forward to Bon Odori as I got to wear Yukata (Japanese summer kimono, \u3086\u304b\u305f\uff0c\u6d74\u8863) to dress up.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Below is probably one of the best video’s regarding Obon festival. I might have shared this in the past too, but here it is. Hope you will get an idea of Obon festival in Japan.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=OFKADRlkoL8<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Obon is definitely a family reunion time in Japan. People who live away from their hometown often come visit their parents’ (Jikka, \u3058\u3063\u304b\uff0c\u5b9f\u5bb6 ) to celebrate this precious time together.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Knowledge of Language is the Doorway to the Wisdom. ~Roger Bacon~\u00a0   Hi everyone! Hope you are enjoying the month of August (Hachi gatsu, \u306f\u3061\u304c\u3064\uff0c\u516b\u6708) . Hard to believe it’s already August where I feel like summer (Natsu, \u306a\u3064, \u590f ) is approaching to the end, and we are about to start the fall (Aki…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":6314,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6309","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-grammar"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t