Obon in Nagasaki and Tsushima

This blog post is going way back. Way, way back to August 2009. Oh, and then jumping forward to August 2010. Yes, my blog time-travels. What of it.

I like August in Tsushima not only for the awesome swimming (well, until the jellies come) but also for an unofficially official 3-day holiday (it's not on the calendar as a national holiday but pretty much everyone gets days off): Obon. I suppose I have to call it a "festival of the dead," although to me that phrase conjures images of Johnny Quest running about Mexico with killers dressed up in skeleton outfits on his heels. Obon is basically a time when Japanese people honor their ancestors/dead family members, go home to clean up the family grave, etc. Oh, and there are many special rituals for family members who have died in the past year, too.

In August 2009, I was lucky enough to be invited to celebrate Obon with one of my friends and her family. My friend's father had died in the past year, so the family was performing many of the special Obon rituals. Oh, and her family is from Nagasaki city, which has its own unique twist on some of the rituals.

For families who have lost members in the past year, during Obon of course the family gathers together. Many aquaintences come to visit, too, or at the very least send lavish gifts in honor of the deceased. These gifts are placed in front of the family's altar in their home, usually with a picture of the recently-deceased family member:

(note the boxes of gifts, always edible items or o-miyage, stacked to the left, with candle and incense set up below the altar for visiting friends to use. my friend's deceased father's picture is to the right with a big basket of fruit underneath).

I never had the chance to meet my friend's father, but I thought their arrangement was very touching. They put his glasses beside the picture.

Here's another part of the Obon altar set-up: colorful lanterns with revolving lights or images inside.

While it's hard to call Obon a 'festival' because of the western positive connotations, that's kind of what it was. Because Obon comes long after the family member dies (if, for instance, someone were to die close to Obon, it would probably be postponed until the following year), it's not incredibly sad like western funerals are. Obon really is a chance to remember the person and the good times you had together.

...which makes the following pictures a little more understandable, I hope.

The first Obon activity I got to participate in was sort of like a grave-side party. We all went to the family grave with a bunch of Japanese firecrackers (which are of much more powerful stock that what you can legally obtain in the US... they're also a traditional part of Obon activities) and lit them up.

(I look happy in this picture, but that's only because I don't know that when lit, the thing I'm holding on a string will spin around and emit streams of fire and sparks. That part was terrifying).

...after that, I stuck to regular sparklers....

...and let the family handle the bad-boy firecrackers.

While our celebration came around mid-day, the grave was decked-out with lanterns that had their family's crest.

...which we later took down and with us the next day (always August 15th) to the main Nagasaki City Obon event, Shoro Nagashi. It was an incredible day. Shoro Nagashi is basically a parade of boat-floats that families buy and decorate to represent the passing of their family members. In the olden days, the 'parade' was more of a procession to the water, where the boats would be released. Now, in order to prevent pollution (and the filling up of Nagasaki bay), the boat-floats are collected afterwards and taken to be ceremonially burned. This procession happens in many places, but it's special in Nagasaki because everyone uses very loud Chinese firecrackers; the "BANG!"s are constantly going as the boat-floats process down the street. Seriously, it sounds like there's a gang war going on.

First, we picked up the family's boat-float (it's on wheels, thankfully) and decorated it with the family's-crested lanterns.

While the male members of the family get to wear cool outfits, the ladies are limited to this specific polka-dotted headband (tied in a special way with the knot in front).

....but because I'm a foreigner and it would probably be my only chance, my friend's family insisted that I try on the guys' outfit and hold their lantern. The guys also get tabi-sock-boots, but I stuck with my sandals.

Here are the guys in all their glory.

...you can see it's more of a procession than a parade. Traffic doesn't stop in the city, since the float-boats are making their runs down to the bay all day. So yeah, we had to stop for buses.

...although we didn't always stop for red lights! ^^ J-walking ancestor-boat procession, I guess? ...let's be thankful that most of the cops were down near the bay, directing congested float-boat traffic.

We took to the sidewalks or the streets, depending on what was more passable. It's no-rules and every-boat-float-for-itself at Shoro Nagashi!

Some of the other floats were way bigger than ours. I bet they were way more expensive, too.

My friends' family holds in his hands three packs of what makes Nagasaki city's Shoro Nagashi so wonderful....

The Chinese-style firecrackers!

Here's one in mid-explosion. Note that it looks like a small pack of dynamite. It's certainly as loud.

The closer we got to Nagasaki's bay, the louder it got and the more littered the streets became with the remnants of the firecrackers. I was told that sanitation workers stay up all night to get the streets clean for the next morning's traffic.

Wheee! You've got to watch your toes with Chinese firecrackers in the road! I love that this was legal.

And here the police forces are. They really were directing traffic. Kind of.

The family's crest on the back of the happi/jacket.

I loved the big floats with pictures of Buddha.

At the end of our procession-run. Did I mention that it's HOT in Nagasaki in mid-August? Seriously sweating all the way, with the pavement just radiating heat.

There were many dump-trucks waiting at the end of the procession to take charge of the floats (just in case anyone had any ideas about sneaking theirs into the water). The side of the truck says, "Making Nagasaki Beautiful."

Close-up of a family-crested-lantern.

Many ancestoral float-boats lined up, waiting for disposal.

The gang afterwards: hot, sweaty, and ready for onsen (and a fancy dinner!)

...we all went to a very fancy Nagasaki restaurant above the city. It was dark by the time everyone had onsenned, and we could see Nagasaki's city lights dotting the hills and reflecting off of the bay.

Flash-forward to Obon in August 2010 with the very different rural-Tsushima style celebration! ...I went with one of my student's families to watch the (*cough* illegal *cough*) mini-processional boat launches in Oura, a few villages over. Tsushima doesn't have a processional/parade like Nagasaki does; there weren't any Chinese firecrackers to be seen anywhere. But they do still hold to the traditional let's-put-our-ancestral-boat-into-the-ocean-and-shove-it-off event.

Here's an ancestral boat ready for launch. Its lanterns are lit, it's being sent out at dark (away from the eyes of the pesky police who would seek to stop its launch), and it's full of goodies for the ancestors.

This is the same boat, viewed from the rear. Note the whole pineapple.

This was someone else's boat that drifted towards our bank of the river-that-turns-into-a-bay. It's bigger, has more lanterns, and sports something that looks like.. tinsel?

After the boat-launch, it was sparkler-time! Here is the power of Japanese fire-crackers:

...it's like a fire extinguisher but in reverse. ^^ This is something you definete don't want to be holding the wrong end of!

And thus ends my Obon adventures to date.