Shoronagashi

Happy Obon one and all! Actually, my salutation in a bit dated. The Obon festivities are generally celebrated over a few day period in August. This year, people in Nagasaki honored their dead from the 12th to the 16th.

Obon is one of the biggest holidays in Japan and most people return to their hometowns where the pray in front of the graves of their ancestors, light lanterns and shoot off firecrackers in order to welcome the spirits back from their unworldly journey over the past year.

Nagasaki's Obon festival is one of the most lively Obon festivals held in Japan. The actual day of Shoronagashi (when people carry hand-made floats adorned with lanterns from their homes to the port in order to destroy them) is one loud affair. People sometimes tell me that the abnormal amount of "bakuchiku" (firecrackers) that are lit here is from the heavy influence of the Chinese in the area.