お盆: Japan's Festival of the Dead

August 10, 2024

Last week, we talked a bit about how jellyfish tend to come out after お盆ぼん.

Well, お盆ぼん is coming up in just a few days for Fukuoka (the dates vary depending on region), so it's likely a good time to be a bit more cautious with the beaches now. Unless you don't mind jellyfish stings ^^;

But what is お盆ぼん anyway?

お盆ぼん is a Japanese holiday that often is just called "Obon" in English. You might see it as the Festival of the Dead or such too. More details in a sec!

Also, while I said it was coming up in just a few days, it actually takes place over several days: From the 13th to the 16th of August (again, this can vary per region. Some regions celebrate お盆ぼん in July).

Let's talk about it

To start with, be sure to check out the NativShark lesson on お盆:

↑ I found that lesson with the NativShark search feature.* I think we've covered every major Japanese holiday on NativShark at this point so be sure to look up whatever holidays you might not be familiar with when you come across them!

*You can click on the magnifying glass at the top of most pages or press the keyboard shortcut ctrl/cmd + K to open up the search bar.

In that lesson, we learn that many families honor their ancestors by visiting their graves and placing offerings at their home altars during お盆ぼん.

By the way, don't worry if the Japanese in the above lesson is a bit tough. It's in Milestone 19 after all ^^

Once you reach that lesson via enough presses of the Study Now button, that Japanese shouldn't pose much of a problem to you.

One day at a time:

You'll need an account to press the above button if you don't have one already! Start your journey for free:

What else is there to know about お盆ぼん?

We saw that お盆ぼん takes place over several days. What do we do on any given day?

Well… there's a lot going on during this holiday. I'll have to skip a few details, but here are some of the main ones:

The first day is known as 迎むかえ盆ぼん. This is when families welcome the spirits of their ancestors by visiting the graves of family members (called お墓はか参まいり) and lighting 迎むかえ火び ('welcoming' ceremonial fire).

迎むかえ火び is used to guide the spirits of the dead from あの世よ ("that world"; the world of the dead) to この世よ ("this world"; the world of the living).

The following two days often consist of eating meals as a family while remembering those who have passed. Since this is a Buddhist holiday, お経きょう ([Buddhist] sutras) are also chanted.

On the final day, another お墓はか参まいり is done and an 送おくり火び ('sending-off' ceremonial fire) is lit to see the spirits off as they return to あの世よ.

Some places really take 送おくり火び to another level.

I'm going to guess that this might look at least vaguely familiar to you:

(Photo from this Asahi Shimbun article)

This is the 大文字だいもんじ焼やき done in 京都きょうと (Kyoto) on the last day of お盆ぼん, meaning it's the 送おくり火び to see the spirits off as they go back to あの世よ.

I vaguely knew about this for a while but I am only just now making the connection that this is done for お盆ぼん. So cool to find out! I'm heavily debating making my way over there to see it in person this year 👀

Other places are known for sending 提灯ちょうちん (lanterns) and お供そなえ物もの (offerings) down rivers, which is known as 灯籠とうろう流ながし. 長崎ながさき (Nagasaki) is particularly famous for this, though a few other prefectures share in this practice.

By the way, there are a few types of lanterns for different purposes. Certain lanterns are only lit for 初盆はつぼん, which is the first お盆ぼん after losing a family member.

This was an interesting one to write ^^

If you don't live in Japan with a Japanese family, you might not experience お盆ぼん much besides the really big parts such as the 大文字だいもんじ焼やき in 京都きょうと, or noticing a few お盆ぼん items on sale in various places like the supermarket.

That said, お盆ぼん is a very busy time for a lot of families here, so it's nice to be familiar with some of the vocab and various events to do with it, especially if you live here, plan on living here, or visit when it's going on.

Also, while this was a lot of information, I still feel like I barely scratched the surface of お盆ぼん.

I didn't even talk about what this is:

(Picture from this ウェザーニュース article)

Feel free to ask me about it in the #newsletter channel in the community ^^

To access the #newsletter channel in the community:

1. Create a Discord account
2. Join the NativShark Community Discord
3. Click here to open up the #newsletter channel

Thanks for reading and I hope this was helpful!

P.S. There are other, more superstitious reasons that you shouldn't go to the beach during お盆ぼん. One such superstition is that the dead might bring you back with them to あの世よ 😱

ぐるぐる

One of the new Units we released this week involved the grammar points ごとき and ごとく.

These are generally pretty stiff and you don't say them too much in everyday situations, but sometimes you can use them in a joke to hit just right:

I highly recommend checking out the lesson here, the female audio is hilarious:

Saying 'like' with ごとき and ごとく

If the above Japanese is difficult for you, all you need to do is keep hitting the Study Now button and you'll understand it when you get there. When using a comprehensive study resource like NativShark, it's just a matter of time and consistency. The above is from a lesson in Phase Three, Unit 267.

NativShark goodie bag

NativShark Units

4 new Units have been added to Phase Three ^^

As always, these Units are filled with vocab with their own unique contexts that help you understand Japanese at a deeper level, any relevant new kanji, and natural conversations called Dialogues at the end.

They also have the following lessons:

Thanks for reading!
Ty & the NativShark team