Sometime in late August 2007
Shortly after returning to Japan we went with some friends to an O-bon festival.
It was a treat for all the senses with the sight of refined and charming dancers, haunting melodies and strident drumming entertaining our ears. Our noses and mouths were full of with the heavy scent of burning incense and delicious local food. All combined to make for an extremely memorable evening.
O-bon is a family orientated festival held in the months of July or August depending on the region. This centuries old Buddhist ceremony is a memorial festival to honour ones ancestors. O-bon is one of Japan's three major holiday seasons and families try their hardest to get together.
The belief is that each year during O-bon, the spirits of our ancestors returned to this world in order to visit relatives. Lanterns are hung in front of houses to guide the spirits home, families gather at the graveyard to reminisce about lost loved ones and food offerings are made at temples and small altars within the home. These home altars are very common and can be purchased from the most department stores or specialist shops. The altar is decorated with flowers and tiny paper lanterns which are lit on the first day of the festival and on the last day these little lanterns are lit at the graveside to guide the spirits back.
During O-bon special folk dances called bon-odori are held all over Japan. The one we went to was held in a park square with a large fountain as the centrepiece. The fountain was lit by multicoloured changing lights and at one end of the square a tall platform was erected on which taiko drummers performed. Above our heads were streamers of red lanterns and around the circumference of the Park were stalls selling all kinds of food, drink and most importantly, kakigori (shaved ice). It was extremely hot even though it was evening.
Many people gathered around the fountain, most of whom were wearing light cotton summer kimono called yukata. Some groups of ladies were wearing what appeared to be a uniform with matching yukata and obis. They carried fans which were tucked into the back of the obi when not being used.
Music started with the pounding rhythm of a number of large taiko drums.
Each region has a specific local dance and the way in which the dance is performed differs throughout the country. Typically the people line up in a circle and move around either the stage or in this case the fountain. The dances apparently tell stories of the area's history, geography or specialisation, so some dances may show the movements of miners, rice picking or rivers and mountains.
What was depicted by the dancers we watched is a mystery, but the hand gestures and gentle movements were incredibly elegant and beautiful. Often fans were used in the dance which served to emphasise the gracefulness of the moves. Everybody joined in including my daughter and her friends who were accepted with a smile and a helping hand. What amazed me most was how all members of society joined in, from elderly gentlemen to leather-clad youths, each knowing the precise and intricate choreography of each dance.
This spectacle was repeated over and over again, the music and steps changing occasionally, until finally a compère arrived on stage to sing special O-bon songs and announce the end of the ceremony.
It was a moving, beautiful and spectacular event.
