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    διάβολος дьявол
    Obon is a Japanese Buddhist tradition celebrated for over 500 years to honor deceased ancestors. It occurs for three days in mid-July, mid-August, or regionally in northern Japan, with festivities including Bon Odori dances, lantern floating, and summer festival foods. Bon Odori dances vary regionally but commonly involve dancing in a circle to folk songs or modern music and using props like fans or towels. The dances began as a religious welcome for spirits but now serve to commemorate ancestors during summer.

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    Presentation Japan Culture

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    διάβολος дьявол
    125 views3 pages
    Obon is a Japanese Buddhist tradition celebrated for over 500 years to honor deceased ancestors. It occurs for three days in mid-July, mid-August, or regionally in northern Japan, with festivities including Bon Odori dances, lantern floating, and summer festival foods. Bon Odori dances vary regionally but commonly involve dancing in a circle to folk songs or modern music and using props like fans or towels. The dances began as a religious welcome for spirits but now serve to commemorate ancestors during summer.

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    Obon is a Japanese Buddhist tradition celebrated for over 500 years to honor deceased ancestors. It occurs for three days in mid-July, mid-August, or regionally in northern Japan, with festivities including Bon Odori dances, lantern floating, and summer festival foods. Bon Odori dances vary regionally but commonly involve dancing in a circle to folk songs or modern music and using props like fans or towels. The dances began as a religious welcome for spirits but now serve to commemorate ancestors during summer.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    125 views3 pages

    Presentation Japan Culture

    Uploaded by

    διάβολος дьявол
    Obon is a Japanese Buddhist tradition celebrated for over 500 years to honor deceased ancestors. It occurs for three days in mid-July, mid-August, or regionally in northern Japan, with festivities including Bon Odori dances, lantern floating, and summer festival foods. Bon Odori dances vary regionally but commonly involve dancing in a circle to folk songs or modern music and using props like fans or towels. The dances began as a religious welcome for spirits but now serve to commemorate ancestors during summer.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    of 3

    CULTURE OF

    JAPANESE PEOPLE

    By Bonita Shanny
    Obon or just Bon is a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the departed (deceased)
    spirits of one's ancestors
    It has been celebrated in Japan for more than 500 years and traditionally includes a
    dance, known as Bon-Odori.
    The festival of Obon lasts for three days; however its starting date varies within
    different regions of Japan. "Shichigatsu Bon" (Bon in July) is based on the solar
    calendar and is celebrated around 15 July in areas such as Tokyo, Yokohama and the
    Tohoku region. "Hachigatsu Bon" (Bon in August) is based on the solar calendar, is
    celebrated around the 15th of August and is the most commonly celebrated time.
    "Kyu Bon" (Old Bon) is celebrated in areas like the northern part of the Kantō region,
    Chūgoku, Shikoku, and the Southwestern islands. These three days are not listed as
    public holidays but it is customary that people are given leave.
    Obon is a shortened form of Ullambana. It is Sanskrit for "hanging upside down" and
    implies great suffering. The Japanese believe they should ameliorate the suffering of
    the "Urabanna".
    As Obon occurs in the heat of the summer, participants traditionally wear yukata, or
    light cotton kimonos. Many Obon celebrations include a huge carnival with rides,
    games, and summer festival food like watermelon.
    The festival ends with Toro Nagashi, or the floating of lanterns. Paper lanterns are
    illuminated and then floated down rivers symbolically signaling the ancestral spirits'
    return to the world of the dead. This ceremony usually culminates in a fireworks
    display.

    Bon Odori (meaning simply Bon dance) (August 1st) is an event held during Obon. It
    is celebrated as a reminder of the gratefulness one should feel toward one's ancestors.
    Originally a Nenbutsu folk dance to express the effusive welcome for the spirits of the
    dead, the style of celebration varies in many aspects from region to region.
    Each region has a respective local Bon dance, as well as different music
    accompanying the dance. The music can be songs specifically pertinent to the
    spiritual message of Obon, or local min'yo folk songs.
    There are other ways in which a regional Bon dance can vary. Some dances involve
    the use of different kinds of fans, others involve the use of small towels called tenugui
    which may have colorful designs. Some require the use of small wooden clappers, or
    "kachi-kachi" during the dance. The "Hanagasa Odori" of Yamagata is performed
    with a straw hat that has been decorated with flowers.
    The music that is played during the Bon dance is not limited to Obon music and
    min'yo; some modern enka hits and kids' tunes written to the beat of the "ondo" are
    also used to dance to during Obon season. The "Pokémon Ondo" was used as one of
    the ending theme songs for the anime series in Japan.
    The Bon dance tradition is said to have started in the later years of the Muromachi
    period as a public entertainment. In the course of time, the original religious meaning
    has faded, and the dance has become associated with summer.

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