A light dawned on me

I am sticking to my rule about not talking about my work after the first week.

Kawagoe Obon Festival

The 1.000.000 lantern festival is being celebrated in Kawagoe. How Kawagoe looks like during the day I have already shown you. Yet this festival provides the opportunity to take some pictures of the place I am currently living at night.

Vroooooom!

Occasion for the ceremonies are the Buddhist Obon- (お盆or also simply Bon)-festivals being celebrated in Japan during the summer months (usually in July and August). Then Buddhists are commemorating their deceased ancestors. They believe that their ancestors come back to their altars as ghosts and even visit their descendants at home. Of course that’s a great honour. So the cities are being straightened up, the kimonos are being taken out of the wardrobes, you honour your ancestors with dances and good food of course. One would like for them to feel at home at last. The Bon festival lasts for three days and takes place in every prefecture or location on different days. Cool, huh? So you have the chance to celebrate it several times! :)

Kawagoe's pedestrian area

Also the ceremony is celebrated differently from place to place. Here in Kawagoe people are hanging up lanterns everywhere. This custom dates back to an old tradition which has its origin around the 1850′s. Back then after the lord of Kawagoe had died, the daughter of the lords vassal hung up lanterns in the lord’s honour at Obon. As the Kawagoe lord was very popular amongst the people of the town soon the idea was adopted by more and more inhabitants and this way carried out throughout the whole city. And so it became custom to festoon the whole city with lanterns on every Bon.

Yaki Niku grills

Obon feast

As my host Brandon and me are ambling through the streets of Kawagoe I simply can’t resist to ask a convivial crowd if I may take some pics of them.

Instead of getting a simple “Hai” as an answer Brandon and I are being invited to the table. Three Yaki Niku grills are placed on the table and we are being offered Whiskey and both are being pampered by three eighteen year young students. Oh Japan you are beautiful!