Summer Festivals

Mid-August is Obon (お盆), or the time to commemorate one's ancestors, whose spirits are believed to temporarily return to this world to visit their relatives during Obon in Japan. At this time, many workers get a week's vacation and sometimes return to their hometowns. It is also a time for summer festivals.

夏祭り(natsumatsuri, summer festival) is synonymous with summer in Japan. Each matsuri, or festival, has something unique about it. All matsuris Have some combination of fireworks, lanterns, floats, and street food.

In the first town in Japan where I lived, the first weekend in August was always Ishidori Matsuri and, although it translates to “stone bringing festival”, there are no stones involved. There are lots of drums, though. This festival has drums throughout the streets in the evening and food stalls throughout the town. This matsuri began with drums starting at midnight on Friday at a local shrine with the main event happening on Saturday night.

I also attended a fireworks festival in Inuyama, Aichi about an hour north of Nagoya. I enjoyed this particular festival because it wasn't too big and I went with a group of Japanese friends. One of my friends lent me her yukata and her mom helped me put it on. Yukata are like summer kimonos, but with only a few light layers, as Japanese summers are scorching and humid. You cut those for females are typically very colorful while those for men are usually shades of black and dark blue.

Although there is some controversy around this shrine, I recently went to Mitama Matsuri at Yasukuni Shrine in Chiyoda City, Tokyo. At the festival, over 30,000 lanterns were lighting up the grounds. My favorites were the ones of horses and seeing the rows of lanterns.