The Mountains Are On Fire

In the middle of August there is a nationwide unofficial national holiday week called O-bon. O-bon is an old Buddhist festival marking the one time a year when the spirits of the dead return to this world to check up on their relatives. The focal point of this tradition is the graves; families return to the countryside to meet up with relatives and visit family graves together. They clean the area, offer flowers and food, and pray for the souls of their ancesters and the safety of their families.

One of the major concerns of the living is that the spirits of the dead will get lost on their way too or from their resting place on this earth. There are many ways of guiding the spirits to your home, but the most important activity is the one to send them back to the other world. There are many festivals involving lanterns set adrift in rivers, lakes, or oceans.

One of the most memorable of the traditions in Kyoto is the "Go-zan Yamayaki," the "Burning of the Five Mountains." There are five mountains surrounding Kyoto onto which five characters have been traced out in fire pits. Once a year, on the 16th of August, the last day of O-bon, all five are lit simultaneously. The characters are:

Dai = big (east)
Hou = law
Myo = mystery, or skill
Fune = boat (not actually a character. it's a picture of a boat)
Dai = big (west)

I am lucky enough to live in a place where I could see four of the five at the same time. Unfortunately, the fifth one went out before I could get to a place to see it.