Obon Festival: How to Celebrate Japan’s Beloved Holiday

By One Coin English Team | July 8, 2024

Glowing orange paper lanterns, show the atmosphere of the Obon festival.

The Japanese holiday Obon is a familiar traditional festival commemorating the ancestors and is celebrated annually. The Obon festival is one of the fundamental cultural events whereby family members come home and honor their ancestors.

The Japanese holiday Obon comes alive with lively celebrations such as the Bon-odori dances, colorful floating lanterns, and volleying food offerings to the spirits during the season.

When is the Obon Festival Celebrated?

Like many other festivals, Obon is usually observed for three days, but the dates will differ depending on the area.

Almost all places celebrate it on the full moon on the 15th day of the 7th month of the lunar-solar calendar, which is approximately mid-August of the Gregorian calendar.

However, certain places like Tokyo and eastern Japan hold the Kyu-Bon or the Obon festival a month earlier in mid-July, and the event is expected to attract many people.

Still, as it has been described, Obon remains one of the liveliest and most vibrant festivals in Japan.

Roots of the Obon Festival

Obon's history is believed to be traced back to the 7th century when the Buddhist rites of Ullambana were brought into Japan. This ceremony was to appease the spirits of the forefathers who were suffering according to Buddhism's retribution in the state of rebirth hell and the ghost realm.

Primitive practices were performed to help devotees lead these tormented souls towards the light. It gradually assimilated various Buddhist and Shinto practices and ceremonies to remember the deceased.

The festival was also called Obon, which was derived from the Sanskrit word Ullambana. Obon developed into a boisterous event that literally signified the Spirits' homecoming for a short stay with their relatives.

You can learn more about the history and roots of the Obon Matsuri from Wikipedia.

Preparations for Welcoming the Spirits

There are many preparations, with citizens tidying their homes and neighborhoods in the days prior to the Obon Festival. Such sweeping and purification prepares the area as a habitation standard for the ancestors' spirits to dwell in.

Families also cultivate specific prayer altars for the spirits known as Butsudan or Shoryodana, which are decorated with flowers, candles, incense, and fruits as offerings. These altars give the spirits a place where they can live when they are present.

Confused about how to prepare and what to do during the Obon Festival? Check out our blog on the TOP 6 Things to Do in Tokyo for Obon.

Dances, Food, and Festivities

During the Obon festivities, the communities present beautiful dances, along with meals and beautiful illuminations, lanterns and lively performances. One cannot ignore the famous Bon Odori Dance where the participants clap, turn and step around a raised flooring known as Yagura.

The dances depict certain narratives from a folkloristic perspective or the spirits are back and lets celebrate. Bashful teens and debonair men, bright-eyed children and elders, everyone wear yukata robes and woody geta sandals to celebrate.

Kimono-clad dancers performing Bon Odori folk dance at Obon festival.

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Moreover, during the Japanese holiday Obon, food is very much valued and considered an icon of the culture of the community. Some popular foods include fried tempura, noodles, barbecued fish and vegetables, and, of course, Ohagi, a sweet sticky rice ball. These usually are set aside for the spirits.

Most of the time, these dishes are left out after being set out for a spirit. Food stalls are also colored and bright in Bon Odori dances such that they seem to be public displays of Japanese snacks and beverages.

Moreover, at night; the streets get illuminated by the light from lanterns. There are also well-choreographed lantern-floating events to light the path of the spirits and help them move to the after realm.

In addition, Toro Nagashi is a custom where paper lamps are set afloat on a river to illuminate the way of the spirits of the ancestors in the other world.

In some of the regions, especially Toyama, this ceremony is followed by firework festivals that continue illuminating the dark in arrays of colors to rejoice the spirits that have arrived.

You can find out more about the Tokyo Fireworks Events 2024 from our blog.

Finally Saying Farewell to Obon Festival

The Obon festival is hugely fun and enjoyable; however, it reaches a climax after 2-3 days of partying, and the spirits are given a decent send-off.

They set up lights and put them in the water bodies, be it rivers, lakes, or the ocean, to guide the spirits back to their abodes. There are tiny fires known as the "Mukaebi" that can be lit to guide the way.

Having traced the roots of Obon festival to the Shinto and Buddhist traditions, families pay their respects to ancestors in shrines and temples through special Obon memorial services.

These are rather gloomy Buddhist ceremonies that include ringing bells, chanting sutras, bowing, and performing offerings followed by saying 'Goodbye' to the spirits until they are expected the next year.

Have more questions about the Obon Matsuri? Head over to these Obon FAQs and get your queries answered!

The Final Say

As rooted in Buddhism and Shinto, which honor ancestors' souls, the Obon Festival has also become a critical festive holiday in Japan.

Every year coincidentally becomes a season where families are reunited, communities are strengthened, and everyone has a reason to celebrate the spirituality and essence of Japanese culture.

The Obon Matsuri or the Obon festival is an essential part of Japan and represents the concept that the souls of the departed are believed to visit the living world once a year for a short reunion.

One can only rejoice from the cultural orientation of Obon in any religious perspective and appreciate the eternal circle of life as well as death.

The feast of the lanterns, or Obon matsuri, is expected to retain its place as one of Japan's most revered and popular festivals for generations to come.

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