ObonFestival
お盆お盆

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Obon Festival© JNTO

Obon Festival
Obon is one of the most important Japanesefestivals, after New Year’s Day. It takes placein August over three days.
The festival is based on Buddhist beliefs that

Pronunciation
Obon: oh-bon
Mukaebi: moo-kai-eh-bee
Okuribi: oh-koo-ree-bee

spirits briefly return to their family home atBon odori: bon-oh-door-ree

this time of year. It’s not a time to mourn,

Yukata: you-kah-ta

but to think about our ancestors and loved
ones and celebrate their visit.

What do people do for Obon?
Before Obon
Many people will visit their family homes and spend timewith their relatives. To get ready for the spirits’ arrival, it’s
important to clean the house and the family’s grave, apractice called ohaka-mairi in Japanese.
It’s also important to lay out food offerings in front of the home shrine for thespirits, such as fruit and sweets. In some areas of Japan, people display shoryouma which means “spirit horse”. These are cucumbers or aubergines with 4legs made out of cocktail sticks. The cucumber represents a horse to help theancestors return home quickly and the aubergine represents a cow to take theancestors away again slowly.

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During ObonOn the first day of Obon, people welcome the spirits of their ancestors by lighting
small fires. These are called mukaebi which means “welcome fire”. Lanterns
called chochin are also lit to help guide the spirits back.
It is common for families to visit a temple or to invite a Buddhist
priest to their homes to perform a memorial service in front of
the home shrine for the ancestors.
During the celebrations, many people will attend outdoor festivals. Then, on
the last day of Obon, people light fires to see the spirits off safely. These arecalled okuribi. One of the most famous is in Kyoto, where five giant bonfires arelit on the mountains surrounding the city. Each bonfire is a different Japanesecharacter or shape. In the photo below, the bonfire is in the shape of thecharacter which means ‘large’ or ‘big’.

Find out more by watching our video about Obon celebrations on our YouTube
channel! (https://youtu.be/kcNnWgeFJvo)

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Do you remember the order of events during obon? Put the following activities
in the correct order from 1 to 5 in the timeline below.
Lay out offerings

Go to a Festival

Light Okuribi

Clean Family Graves

Light Mukaebi

Obon Timeline
1st3rd

2ndLast4thFestivals
Many Japanese people celebrate Obon by attending summer festivals outdoors
with music, dancing and fireworks. Obon festivals feature a special dance called
Bon Odori which people can watch or join in with. Each region has its own
version of the dance. Bon odori were originally performed for the deceased but
have recently became a symbol of summer festivals themselves.
Outdoor festivals in Japan also have stalls called yatai which have all kinds ofsummer festival foods and games. This is also a time when you can see firework
displays. In the UK, we normally think of fireworks as a winter activity when weare wrapped up in warm layers. However, in Japan, firework displays are held insummer.

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Festival Yatai FoodJapanese summer festivals are known for their street food. You may have heardof some of them already.
Can you match each food with its description? (Answers on next page)

1. A savoury pancake with a variety
of fillings in a wheat-flour-based
batter topped with a special sauce.

A. Yakisoba

2. Small, round snacks the size of golfballs. They are made of soft batterwith an octopus filling.

B. Yakitori

3. Stir-fry noodles typically made withpork slices and chopped cabbage,

C. Okonomiyaki

onion, and carrots.

4. A type of skewered chicken,
typically seasoned with a sweet and

D. Takoyakisavoury sauce or salt.

If you were running a yatai at a festival, what food or game would you choose?

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Yukata
To attend festivals, lots of people enjoy dressing up in summer kimono called yukata.
Just like normal kimono, yukata come in many different designs and can be worn byanyone, but are more casual. Yukata are normally worn with a type of sandal calledgeta. You might also see people carrying fans to keep cool.
These are some traditional Japanese patterns. You might see them on yukata. The
triangles in Pattern A represent the scales of a snake or fish.

A. Uroko

B. Yabane

C. Segaiha

D. Karakusa

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Answers to Festival Yatai Food : 1, C; 2, D; 3, A; 4, B.

What do patterns B, C, and D look like to you? ( Answers on next page.)Kanji
In Japanese characters obon is written like this: お盆.
Why not try writing it below? Follow the stroke order and trace each character, thenpractice writing them on your own.

お盆お盆
②①②

③

①

④⑤ ⑦ ⑧obonWell done! Now you can practice writing the characters 火, for ‘fire’ and 踊, for ‘dance’!

火火踊踊
③②

①④ka

②

①

③

⑧

⑨⑩④ ⑤ ⑫

⑥⑦

⑪⑭⑬

odori

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Answers to patterns: A, Scales; B, Arrow or feathers; C, Waves; D, Vines.

⑨⑥

Activity: Design your own Yukata (girl)
Imagine you are getting dressed up to go to a festival in Japan. What kind ofyukata would you like to wear? Choose your favourite pattern and decorate theyukata below.

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Activity: Design your own Yukata (boy)Imagine you are getting dressed up to go to a festival in Japan. What kind ofyukata would you like to wear? Choose your favourite pattern and decorate theyukata below.

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Origami Activity: Festivals Decorations
You will need:• origami/coloured paper• scissors• glue/glue stickLantern

1. Fold paper in half.

2. Cut with scissors(about 1cm apart).

3. Open and turn over.
5. Done!
4. Glue top andbottom together.

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Paper Fan

1. Fold in half to makecrease and fold back.

2. Fold to meet centre line.

6. Fold down.
4. Fold backwards
and tuck in.

8. Fold in by opening
and flattening thecircled parts.

5. Fold up.

3. Fold down.

7. Fold in to makecrease and fold back.

9. Fold backwards.
10. Done!

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