Category: Traditional

A couple of weeks ago, from the 13th to the 15th of August, Obon お盆 was celebrated around Japan. Matsuris took place all around the country to honor the spirits of the people’s ancestors.

One of the traditions during Obon consists on introducing wood sticks into eggplants and cucumbers like shown on the pictures below. Cucumbers represent horses and eggplants represent cows. Legend has it that the spirits of one’s ancestors travel to our world riding on cows and horses. In the following pictures that I took in a coffee shop in Kichijoji there’s no incense, but usually there should be. The smoke of the incense marks the way from our world to the spirits world so they don’t get lost when coming and going back.

A typical scene seen in parks and beaches around Japan during Summer is this:

Senko hanabi 線香花火 is difficult to translate but it would be something like “fireworks of incense sticks”. In reality the fireworks don’t have incense but they are very similar to incense sticks in shape and size, thus the name. Senko hanabi are sticks with a small amount of powder which doesn’t blow up and lights up with fire of diverse colours during some seconds. To play with senko hanabi is fun and not dangerous at all.

People say that lighting up a senko hanabi and seeing its light go away instantly in the darkness will make you feel closer to the ephemera of things (Mono no aware 物の哀れ) and will help you being more sensitive to the transience of our lives.

Related posts:

• Fireworks in Japan
• Yukata and Hanabi

Kunigami is a Shintoist shrine that is specialized in blessing its visitors to cure them or protecting them from hemorrhoids. In the shrine there is a big egg-like rock in a fountain and a statue of a hen. This symbolizes a hen laying a magical rock egg that will cure hemorrhoids. According to the ritual you need to squat and put your butt towards the egg.

If you want to visit the “hemorrhoids temple” you can find it here on Google Maps.

Source: Itmedia

More about hemorrhoids and its kanji character in Japanese