Obon Festival

Obon is a 3-day festival which is a family reunion of sorts. Spirits of dead ancestors are visited at their grave sites on the first day of the festival. The Japanese burn incense at the graves to raise the spirits to join the family reunion. People return to their home towns and families throughout Japan. On the final day of the festival, the spirits are back on their journeys with much drumming, dancing, and parades accompanied by firecrackers and fireworks. The pictures below were all taken on the last day of the festival.

Drumming into the sunset Japanese and Americans alike took turns on the drums over a several hour period as the spirits were readied for their journey back to the heavens.

Parade celebrating the ancestors Families assemble "spirit boats" called shorebune bearing pictures or even statues of their departed loved ones. The parade starts as the sun sets, with some family members bearing the shorebune and other shining lights and setting off firecrackers. The larger the shorebune, the wealthier/more powerful the family. The one to the right is a mid--size shorebune. The one below is one of the largest.

Sasebo's "Ginza" Arcade Usually very quiet at night, the Arcade was jammed. Sasebo claims this arcade is the largest outdoor covered shopping strip in the country. Stores and restaurants line a pedestrian street for 1.5 kilometers, covering several city blocks. It's in the center of the downtown shopping district, about 1/4 mile from where we live.

Paper Lanterns on Sasebo River's pedestrian bridge This bridge joins the downtown area to Sasebo Park and the U.S. Nimitz Park. On the last night of Obon it was lit with paper laterns. And a line of men further up the river lowered other lanterns into the river. Each lantern bears messages to comfort spirits as they resume their journey. Hundreds of paper lanterns floating down the river was an awe-inspiring sight.

Return to home page.