Obon and Ichi Hike:
(graveyard pic) I had the wonderful pleasure of attending the Oban Festival with Mr. Kamata. This festival is held two times a year and is one of the largest festivals of the summer. It is a time for relatives to return to their hometown and honor their loved ones who have passed away. There are many activities around town during this time and one will often see the whole family head to the graveyard to place fruit, treats, flowers, etc… on the graves of their family members. I happened to take a hike above town during this time and I accidentally discovered that the hiking path went through the town graveyard. Walking through I could smell incense burning and I was taken aback by the beauty of the intricately carved black marble gravestones. It was a very peaceful, reflective part of the hike and I felt honored to be there. I snapped a few pics but didn’t want to offend anyone so I didn’t want to stay there too long. No one seemed to mind that I was there, at least as far as I know. The food on the graves attracted many crows, which made me wonder if this was the reason that crows symbolize death here in Japan? The crows here are about the same size, have a deeper call, and a larger beak than in the United States, which… now that I think about it may make these Ravens rather than crows. A colleague told me that she had read somewhere that Japanese crows/ravens are considered some of the smartest because while cars are stopped at stop lights the crows will place a nut under the tire of the cars and when the cars take off they of course crack the nut for the crows and they now have a tasty meal! I’ve never witnessed this yet, so I’m skeptical, but will do a little research on the subject. I’ve seen crows in the US take nuts high atop a power pole and purposely drop the nuts in the hopes that it will crack, but never purposely put them in front of a passing car, which to me, would demonstrate a fair amount of intelligence. Oops… sorry! Back to the Obon Festival. Kamata-san picked me up after dark and he was accompanied by his two lovely daughters and son, Aki (8), Miyuki (3), and Pikaru (1) respectively. We walked a short distance to the fireworks area but on the way passed one of the most beautiful sights I have seen in Japan thus far: a Buddhist monk stood along the bank of the Hasama river, which is about 10 feet wide and 10 inches deep, and runs right through town. He was blessing little paper lanterns that families were placing in the river to honor their loved ones. It’s a shame that the photos I took of this event didn’t turn out because it was so peaceful and lovely to see these beautifully colored lanterns float peacefully down the river… The fireworks started about 10 minutes after we arrived at the town’s central park, and the show was spectacular! These fireworks weren’t quite as large as the big city Fourth of July fireworks in the states, but they were just under that size (which is still big) and they were much more dynamic that the US fireworks. They had more colors, effects and sounds, and we were right underneath them! Everyone gets front row seats in a town this size! Well, we all enjoyed it except for Miyuki- she was scared of the chest rattling loud explosions directly above us, which, I can’t blame her for at all! Kamata-san and I walked back to the car with three tired kids and that was the end to a wonderful evening!