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Buddhism · Shinto

Obon

When is Obon in 2027, the Japanese Buddhist festival of the ancestors: welcome fires, the bon odori dances, lantern-floating and how the spirits of the dead are received and sent back.

Next date

13–16 August 2027

The most common dates; some regions keep Obon in July or by the lunar calendar.

In brief

  1. I.Obon is the Japanese festival when the spirits of ancestors are believed to return home.
  2. II.It comes from the Buddhist Ullambana festival and the story of a disciple who saved his mother.
  3. III.Families light welcome fires, visit graves and dance the bon odori.
  4. IV.At the end, lanterns or fires send the spirits back.

Chapter I

What it celebrates

Obon combines Buddhist teaching with Japanese reverence for ancestors. Its name comes from Ullambana, a festival based on the story of the disciple Maudgalyayana (Mokuren in Japanese), who learned how to free his mother from suffering through offerings and merit.

For three or four days the spirits of the family dead are believed to visit, and the living welcome them as honoured guests.

Chapter II

How it is kept

Families clean graves and home altars, offer food, flowers and lanterns, and light small fires at the door, mukaebi, to guide the spirits home. Priests may visit to chant sutras. In the evenings communities gather to dance the bon odori around a raised stage with drums. On the last night okuribi, sending-off fires, are lit, and in some places paper lanterns are floated on rivers or the sea.

Chapter III

Around the world

In Kyoto five giant bonfires in the shape of characters, the Gozan no Okuribi, are lit on the hills on 16 August. Tokushima’s Awa Odori is one of Japan’s largest dance festivals. Japanese communities from Hawaii to Brazil hold bon dances each summer.

Questions people ask

What is the story of Ullambana?

Maudgalyayana, a disciple of the Buddha, saw his dead mother suffering as a hungry ghost. The Buddha told him to make offerings to the monks at the end of the rainy season retreat, and her suffering was eased.

Is Obon a public holiday?

Not officially, but many companies close and it is one of the busiest travel periods in Japan, as people return to their home towns.

Sources and further reading

  1. Peter Harvey, An Introduction to Buddhism (Cambridge University Press, 2nd ed. 2013)
  2. John K. Nelson, A Year in the Life of a Shinto Shrine (University of Washington Press, 1996)

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