What is the Japanese Ghost Festival called?
In Japan, the "Ghost Festival" is called the Obon Festival, which is a Buddhist festival, and thus fundamentally differs from the Chinese Ghost Festival.In Indian Buddhist rituals, Buddhist followers hold the "Obon Festival" to commemorate their ancestors. The sutra "The Sutra of the Buddha's Mother" encourages Buddhist disciples to cultivate filial piety, aligning with the traditional Chinese belief in honoring the dead and respecting ancestors, making it increasingly popular. From the Liang Dynasty, China began to follow this practice, and it gradually became the Ghost Festival. However, later on, besides offering food to monks, activities such as repentance and offering food to the hungry ghosts were added.
What are the customs of the Japanese Ghost Festival?
The Obon Festival was introduced to Japan during the Asuka period and has now become the second most significant festival in Japan, after New Year. The Obon Festival is an annual Buddhist event to honor ancestors. People believe that during the Obon Festival each year, the souls of ancestors return to this world to visit their relatives. A traditional custom is to hang lanterns in front of houses to guide the souls of ancestors, and to perform the Bon Odori dance (Obon dance), to worship tombs, and to offer food at home altars and temples. At the end of the Obon Festival, floating lanterns are placed into rivers, lakes, and seas to guide the souls back to their world. Customs vary greatly across different regions. In Japan, the Obon Festival is also known as "Kami Matsuri" (Festival of Spirits), "Toro Matsuri" (Lantern Festival), or "Bukkyo Manryō-e" (Buddhist All-Souls' Festival), originally a day for commemorating ancestors and praying for their well-being, but it has now become a time for family reunions and village celebrations.The Obon period in mid-July is one of Japan's three major festivals, during which domestic and international travel activities are very frequent and accommodation rates increase. During the Obon Festival, Japanese companies usually give employees 7-15 days off, and people return to their hometowns to reunite. During the festival, every household sets up a soul altar, lights the welcoming and sending-off fires for the souls, and pays homage to their ancestors. Now, it is generally celebrated around August 13th in the Gregorian calendar, when the souls of ancestors are welcomed, live with the living for four days, and are sent back to the underworld on the 16th by burning the soul fire. The "Oomizu-yaki" (Great Fire) in Kyoto is the climax of this activity. Another way to send off the spirits is the Obon dance, where men, women, and children wear yukata and dance to the sound of drums in summer nights. This has now become a famous tourist attraction in Japan.
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