How to Welcome the Dead Home: Obon in Japan (Ep. 196)

First, let's start with, has everyone heard of Obon? It's often translated as Festival of the Dead or the more unwieldy annual Japanese holiday that commemorates and remembers deceased ancestors.

It's a pretty big deal here in Japan.

So let's do a quick catch up on what and when and kind of why it is before getting into some of the actual rituals and traditions.

What is it? Let's go back to the time when the historical Buddha was walking around and giving really interesting lectures to his followers.

Well, he had a disciple named Mokuren, who was really upset because his mother had died, and using his mysterious powers, he could see that instead of being reborn in, say, heaven or someplace nice, she was now in the realm of the hungry ghosts and suffering terribly.

So Siddhartha Gautama, aka the Buddha, listened to his woes, gave advice about making offerings, which was done, and then when Mukuren took a peek again, he was able to see that his mother's suffering had ended.

Phew! Thank you, Buddha.

A little extra part of the story says that Mokuren and possibly some other monks were so happy that they began to dance around, and that this was the very first Bon Odori.

Everyone knows Bon Odori dancing, right? From the Ghibli movie Ponpoko.

or karate kid too.

Bonodori is also traditionally practiced during this time of year in cities, towns, neighborhoods, and kindergartens everywhere.

Interesting about the word Obon.

In Japanese, it comes from the Urabon-kyo or Urabon Sutra, a prayer that tells the story of Mokuren and his not-so-saintly mum.

There are different theories as to the origin of the word.

One, which is especially fun, says that it comes from the Sanskrit word, urambana, which means to hang upside down.

Because when you're a soul suffering in hell, or with the hungry ghosts like Mokorin's mom, there's a pretty good chance that part of your daily torture schedule will involve being hung upside down.

But then there's the Buddhist scholar, Takakusa Junjiro, who says, nope, it's a corruption of a Pali word that means raising up, saving, or helping.

Not Sanskrit at all.

And yeah, that would make more sense.

Next question.

When is it? Not easy to answer, actually.

Mostly it's safe to say August 13th through the 16th, four days.

But you've got your regional differences, and then you've got your old lunar calendar compared to the modern Gregorian calendar, which moves everything forward by a month.

My city actually adheres to both calendars, depending on the area or family and how they want to observe it.

So July 13th to 16th, or August 13th to 16th, or thereabouts.

First, let's start with, has everyone heard of Obon? It's often translated as Festival of the Dead or the more unwieldy annual Japanese holiday that commemorates and remembers deceased ancestors.

It's a pretty big deal here in Japan.

So let's do a quick catch up on what and when and kind of why it is before getting into some of the actual rituals and traditions.

What is it? Let's go back to the time when the historical Buddha was walking around and giving really interesting lectures to his followers.

Well, he had a disciple named Mokuren, who was really upset because his mother had died, and using his mysterious powers, he could see that instead of being reborn in, say, heaven or someplace nice, she was now in the realm of the hungry ghosts and suffering terribly.

So Siddhartha Gautama, aka the Buddha, listened to his woes, gave advice about making offerings, which was done, and then when Mukuren took a peek again, he was able to see that his mother's suffering had ended.

Phew! Thank you, Buddha.

A little extra part of the story says that Mokuren and possibly some other monks were so happy that they began to dance around, and that this was the very first Bon Odori.

Everyone knows Bon Odori dancing, right? From the Ghibli movie Ponpoko.

or karate kid too.

Bonodori is also traditionally practiced during this time of year in cities, towns, neighborhoods, and kindergartens everywhere.

Interesting about the word Obon.

In Japanese, it comes from the Urabon-kyo or Urabon Sutra, a prayer that tells the story of Mokuren and his not-so-saintly mum.

There are different theories as to the origin of the word.

One, which is especially fun, says that it comes from the Sanskrit word, urambana, which means to hang upside down.

Because when you're a soul suffering in hell, or with the hungry ghosts like Mokorin's mom, there's a pretty good chance that part of your daily torture schedule will involve being hung upside down.

But then there's the Buddhist scholar, Takakusa Junjiro, who says, nope, it's a corruption of a Pali word that means raising up, saving, or helping.

Not Sanskrit at all.

And yeah, that would make more sense.

Next question.

When is it? Not easy to answer, actually.

Mostly it's safe to say August 13th through the 16th, four days.

But you've got your regional differences, and then you've got your old lunar calendar compared to the modern Gregorian calendar, which moves everything forward by a month.

My city actually adheres to both calendars, depending on the area or family and how they want to observe it.

So July 13th to 16th, or August 13th to 16th, or thereabouts.