Summer in Japan is a season filled with festivals celebrated throughout the country. One such important festival is Obon or Bon (“O” is an honorific), which honors one's ancestors. It's a time when families return to their hometown to gather and remember their departed loved ones. Like many festivals, Obon has traditional foods, dances and customs associated with it.
With its focus on ancestor worship and its spiritual significance, Obon stands out from other festivals like Halloween. It’s a celebration deeply rooted in the spiritual beliefs of the Japanese, connecting them to their heritage and ancestors.
What is Obon?
People dance in traditional dress at a Japanese festival
Obon was introduced to Japan around the seventh century and is rooted in Buddhist and ancestral worship traditions. The term is said to be an abbreviation of the Buddhist word “Urabon'e” or “Urabon.” Its etymology traces back to the Sanskrit word “Ullambana,” meaning “suffering from being hung upside down.” The Urabon'e originates from an old story about one of Buddha's disciples, Mokuren Sonja, who sought to save his deceased mother, suffering from being hung upside down in hell.
Obon initially began as a memorial service conducted by the imperial court, and it was during the Kamakura period (1185-1333) when the custom spread among the commoners. The custom of sending off spirits with bonfires appeared during the Muromachi period (1336-1573). By the Edo period (1603-1868), Obon had fully taken root in society, with monks visiting homes to recite sutras.
At its core, Obon is a spiritual festival. It is based on the Buddhist belief that the spirits of the deceased return to the world of the living to visit their families. The living honor the spirits by returning to their hometowns to clean the family graves and offer food and incense at the family altar. While the festival has religious origins, it is also a time for lively celebrations, with dances, festivals and feasts.
Obon is ingrained into Japanese culture and transcends religious boundaries. Non-Buddhists and non-religious people also partake in the rituals, making it a culturally significant event. The widespread celebration of Obon, even by those who do not follow Buddhist traditions, is a testament to its cultural importance. Obon is also celebrated in Brazil, Argentina, Hawaii and the West Coast of the U.S., in areas with substantial Japanese communities.
When is Obon?
Obon falls in mid-August, around August 13-16. Although it is not a national holiday, some companies take a few days off during this period. There are also regional and family differences. For example, Okinawa and Amami celebrate Obon in July of the lunar calendar, which falls on different dates yearly.
What’s the difference between Obon and Halloween?
In the United States, people celebrate Halloween by decorating their homes with lights, skeletons and other deathly fun decorations. This is completely different from the ancestral worship customs of Obon.
Though both Obon and Halloween revolve around spirits and the dead, the events differ in meaning and practice. Obon is a spiritual festival centered on ancestor worship that stems from Buddhism, one of the main religions in Japan. People light lanterns and bonfires to guide their ancestors back to their homes and send them off. While it includes festive elements, such as dancing, fireworks and family gatherings, the tone is generally solemn and subdued.
In contrast, Halloween has its roots in the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, where people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off evil ghosts. It has evolved into a secular celebration involving donning costumes, trick-or-treating, carving jack-o’-lanterns, and playful themes of fear, death and superstition. Halloween occurs on Oct. 31 during the fall season, whereas Obon takes place during the summertime.
Obon has a similar tone to Mexico’s Día de los Muertos (“Day of the Dead”), a blend of Mesoamerican ritual, European religion and Spanish culture. While there’s a similar emphasis on welcoming and honoring ancestors, Día de los Muertos is more festive than Obon.
Families celebrate Día de los Muertos by leaving the deceased’s favorite foods and offerings, and partake in face painting, dancing, feasting, parades and music. People adorn altars and tombs with “calaveras de azúcar” (sugar skulls) — brightly colored skull confections representing the deceased relatives — and marigolds, which in Mexican folklore are said to attract spirits with their strong smell and color. Compared to the lively and colorful atmosphere of Día de los Muertos, the rituals of Obon are subdued.
How do people celebrate Obon in Japan?
Offerings of food are made to the deceased during Obon. This includes “shoryo uma,” or “spirit horses” made of cucumbers and eggplant with toothpicks resembling legs, representing the spirit‘s journey between the living world and the afterlife.
Obon is marked by various customs and traditions that connect the living with their ancestors. While there are regional differences, here are some common ways it is celebrated in Japan.
Family gatherings and grave cleaning
The most common Obon tradition is returning to one's hometown to visit family and relatives. They get together to clean and tend the family plot and family altar. The ancestors are offered five offerings, or “goku”: incense to purify the air, flowers to symbolize the impermanence of life, candles to light the way for the spirits, water to quench their thirst, and food for nourishment. This is typically done during the early days of the Obon period. Often, people share updates on family matters, such as births, school, marriages and promotions.
Obon is not the only time when the Japanese tend the family graves; it is also done throughout the year, especially during the spring and autumn equinox and the Japanese New Year.
Travel is highly congested during the Obon period as families return home via car, train or airplane. It’s one of the busiest periods for travel, followed by the Japanese New Year and Golden Week (early May). If you have plans of visiting Japan in August, it’s best to avoid this time of year as hotel prices skyrocket and some restaurants and leisure spaces are closed with respect to the holiday.
Bon odori (Bon dance)
Bon festival parade float adorned with dozens of paper lanterns
Bon odori, or the Bon dance, is one of the liveliest parts of Obon. Communities gather in communal spaces, such as parks and temple grounds, to dance in a circle around a “yagura” (wooden raised platform) where musicians and drummers perform. The dance welcomes and honors the ancestors and fosters a strong sense of community of the living, where people reconnect with old friends and neighbors who returned home for the Obon season.
Its origins come from the Buddhist “nembutsu odori,” which involved dancing while chanting prayers (nembutsu). This later developed into odori nembutsu, where the dancers and chanting became separate groups.
Dancers usually wear “yukata,” a light cotton kimono worn during the summer. The movement is slow, repetitive and graceful. Everyone can join regardless of age or dance skills. Newcomers and non-Japanese people can also partake, so feel free to participate if interested!
Each region has its unique style of Bon odori, with different music, movements and attire. One famous Bon odori is the Gujo odori in Gifu prefecture, designated a UNESCO Intangible World Heritage. The festival runs for 32 nights, making it one of Japan's longest Bon odori festivals. The highlight is the Tetsuya odori, an all-night dance event that spans four days from sunset to sunrise.
For a taste of Gifu prefecture, home of the Gujo odori dance, try Nagaragawa “Tenkawa.” This junmai ginjo sake is brewed with Hidahomare sake rice, and water from the pristine Nagara River. With its elegant aroma and rich, rounded umami, it's the perfect companion to keep you on your toes as you dance the night away.
Another festival is the Awa odori in Tokushima prefecture, which features extravagant costumes and energetic dance performances. The enormous city-wide dance performance draws thousands of spectators and dancers, who dance in teams in a procession.
Take a sip of Narutotai “Ginjo” Nama Genshu, a super fresh sake from Tokushima, the home of the famous Awa odori dance. Encased in a sleek aluminum can, this sake offers vibrant notes of sage, fennel and sweet rice. Brewed by a female “toji” (brewmaster), the bottle appeared in the film “Blade Runner 2049.”
Obon festivals and fireworks
Many regions of Japan host vibrant Obon festivals during the holiday, combining traditional customs with lively events like food stalls, games and fireworks displays.
Welcoming fire and send-off fire
Fireworks are one of the ways to welcome and bid farewell to ancestral spirits during Obon.
“Okuribi” (welcoming fire) and “mukaebi” (send-off fire) are essential rituals for welcoming and sending off the ancestors during this period. To ensure the ancestors’ souls return home without getting lost, families light lanterns or lights at the gravesite and home entrance, backyard or balcony, supposedly leading them to their home altar. Traditionally, families would light paper lanterns or create a small bonfire; however, for safety reasons, many families have opted for electric lanterns in recent years.
One of the most famous okuribi is the Kyoto Gozan no Okuribi, commonly known as Daimonji-yaki, which takes place on the mountainsides of Kyoto prefecture. On the final night of Obon, massive bonfires in the shape of kanji characters are lit on the mountains surrounding the city, symbolically sending off the spirits.
Gaze at the flickering lights of the Daimonji Festival with a glass of Tamanohikari “Junmai Daiginjo” from Kyoto. As you watch the giant character of “dai” (meaning “great”) blaze on Mount Daimonji, Tamanohikari’s junmai daiginjo, with its refined complexity, provides a perfect accompaniment to the awe-inspiring view.
Another famous okuribi ritual is “toro nagashi,” which is the floating of paper lanterns. The ritual symbolizes guiding the ancestors back to the other world after their visit. The lanterns are set afloat on rivers, lakes and seas, illuminating the water with a soft glow as they drift away, bringing a sense of closure. While it falls a week earlier than the Obon period, in Hiroshima, the floating of lanterns to honor the victims of the atomic bomb is particularly well-known.
This imagery complements the experience of drinking Maboroshi “Mystery,” a delicate junmai ginjo sake from Hiroshima prefecture that embodies refinement and subtlety. “Maboroshi” means “illusion” or “dream,” which evokes images of something ethereal and fleeting, much like the serene, almost otherworldly sight of paper lanterns softly glowing on the Motoyasu River.
Food offerings and feasts
Ohagi, glutinous rice balls covered in red bean paste, are typically eaten during Obon.
Food is essential in Obon as offerings to the spirits and as part of family feasts. Traditional desserts like ohagi (glutinous rice balls covered in red bean paste) are offered and eaten. The red color is believed to have protective effects against evil and misfortune, and the red adzuki beans in ohagi contribute to this symbolism. It is said that ohagi is offered to ward off evil spirits and wish for the family‘s happiness. Learn to make Japanese desserts with red bean filling, such as taiyaki and dango!
Seasonal fruits, alcohol such as beer and sake, and the ancestors’ favorite foods are often offered at family altars and gravesites. Afterward, families gather for meals.
An essential non-edible offering is “shoryo uma,” or “spirit horses.” Made of cucumbers and eggplant with toothpicks resembling legs, they represent the means for the spirits to travel to the living world and back to the afterlife. The cucumber symbolizes a horse and the eggplant a cow, the idea being that the horse represents a swift journey to the living world and the cow represents a slow journey back.
Learn more about Japanese festival food.
Obon: a blend of spirituality, family, and cultural celebration
Through dances, lanterns and family gatherings, the Japanese pay their respects to their loved ones, passing down their memory to the next generation. While customs vary across the country, the central theme remains: honoring ancestors and remembering the connections between the living and the dead.
Though Obon shares some similarities with festivities like Halloween, its significance as a time of reflection and remembrance sets it apart as a meaningful celebration of life, death and family.
Learn more about Japanese traditions involving sake.
References:
“Awa Dance The Whole City and Visitors Enjoy Festive Dance”
https://web-japan.org/atlas/festivals/fes19.html
“Bon (annual Buddhist event) in Japan”
https://top.his-usa.com/destination-japan/blog/bon_(annual_buddhist_event)_in_japan.html
“Obon”
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2286.html
“Surprisingly Unknown Even to the Japanese? The Origins, Basics, and Enjoyment of Bon Odori”
https://haa.athuman.com/media/japanese/culture/2284/?doing_wp_cron=1727272198.8528089523315429687500
“The Origin of Bon Odori”
https://www.bonodori.net/culture
“What should you do during Obon? The unknown origin of Obon, and what to do”
https://www.asahi.com/relife/article/15382685
“What Are "Shorei Uma" for Obon? Explanation of Their Meaning, How to Make Them, Display Methods, and Disposal”
https://hugkum.sho.jp/151338
