![]() Lanterns and strips of white cloth are placed along the bonmichi to guide the souls. The habit of visiting and cleaning the grave is called ohakamairi (御墓参り). The seventh day of July is known as Tanabata, or nanoka bon (七日盆, "seventh-day bon") on this day, the gravesites and, in some areas, the path from the grave to the house (盆未知 bonmichi) are cleaned to ease the ancestors' return trip. The preparations for the Obon festival used to start several days before the event. Sometimes, a priest is invited to read the Obon sutra (棚経 tanagyō). ![]() Celebrationĭuring Obon, a Shōryōdana (精霊棚, "spirit altar") is placed in front of the Butsudan (仏壇, the Buddhist family altar) to welcome the spirits of the ancestors. It is often claimed that the Buddhist concept of ullambana merged with the native Japanese tradition of welcoming ancestral spirits in summer to become the Obon Festival as it is known today. Starting as a court ritual in the Nara and Heian periods, it soon became a popular custom observed by commoners, too. The festival has been observed in China since the early sixth century CE, while in Japan, it was first recorded in 657. On the last day, he made lavish offerings of food and beverages to the assembled monks and priests, and his mother was saved. Buddha instructed Mokuren to devote himself entirely to ascetic practice from the 16th day of the fourth month to the 15th day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar. According to the, Bussetsu urabonkyō sutra, ullambana began with the efforts of Mokuren (目犍連), one of Buddha's closest disciples known as Maudgalyāyana, to rescue his mother who was suffering in purgatory. The Japanese transliteration is 于蘭盆會 or 盂蘭盆會 ( urabon-e). ![]() ![]() The word urabon is said to be a Chinese-Japanese rendering of the Sanskrit ullambana (उल्लम्बन), a memorial ceremony to rescue the souls of the dead from the tortures of hell. Photo credit: Miki Yoshihito - CC BY History and origin ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |