Obone and the YSA

Friday night we went to Iidabashi for the festival of souls or Obon which is an annual Buddhist event to commemorate ancestors.  It is believed that every year during Obon the ancestors return to the world in order to visit their relatives and to gain peace. Lanterns are hung to guide the ancestors' spirits, Obon dances are performed, graves are visited and food offerings are made at temples and in some homes' altars for the spirits of the ancestors.. Floating lanterns are put into rivers, lakes, and seas in order to guide the spirits back into the world but we haven't seen the floating lanterns.

There is a story or legend behind the Obon festival that there was a Buddhist monk named Mokuren. After his mother’s death, he had a vision that her mother’s soul was not in peace because of the life she lived on earth. He asked his Guru how he could help his mother. His Guru told him he had to perform good deeds in order to balance his mother’s bad deeds so that her soul could get peace. Mokuren followed his teacher's advice and when he realized that his mother's soul was now at peace due to his good deeds, he broke into a joyful dance of relief that is known as the Bon dance so that is one of the reasons why they do the dancing at the festival.

Someone wrote in wikiipedia that the large hats cover the dancers faces to hide them from the wrath of the gods they hope to appease.

 

We never could find out why they wore these scarves like this.

There were lots of loud drums at the festivals and in the parade.

After the festival, we walked past the Tokyo Train Station, one of the largest in Tokyo, built as a government building in the early 1900s and many years later reconstructed as an ultramodern train station in central Tokyo.

Here's the festival at Ebisu which we walked to on Saturday night. it is said that besides being the custom to honor the spirits of one's ancestors,this has also evolved into a family reunion holiday during which people return to ancestral family places and visit and clean their ancestors' graves.  It has been celebrated in Japan for more than 500 years 

SQUID!  Don't try this at home!

Here's our friends and fellow missionaries, the Ricks, who had a cute little girl in her Yukata sitting by them.

Many join in the great circle around the yagura which is

supposed to be symbolic of human cooperation.

Here's a thought about Obon that someone wrote:

"Obon season is a time to express our gratitude to loved ones who have passed on before us. Without them, we would not be who we are today, due to the basic tenet of interdependence. We would not be where we are and we would not be able to do the things we do to enjoy life. Just think about the number of people involved in creating each of us. If we go back several generations, we can calculate that there were many, many people, starting with our two parents, their parents, etc.

Since we’re all influenced by a countless number of beings, our interconnections, and therefore our debt of gratitude, is without bounds. Thus, we hold an Obon memorial service to enable people to pay tribute to the departed. "

We attended a Young Single Adult activity on a Sunday at the apartment of Brett and Bonnie Humphrey in Tokyo.  They invited us to speak to them so we told them to find a good companion and get married but I think they're just having too much fun to really settle down.

Here are the young single adults again.  Actually we told them how important it is to endure to the end, not only in marriage but in whatever you do in life--mission, college, etc..  Endure doesn't mean dealing only with challenges, but rather it means having the strength and endurance to remain committed to what you believe in no matter what the world or those around you may say.  We all need to hope, courage, and faith that we can endure whatever comes our way.