Unlike the Gion and Aoi festivals, the Okuribi's origins are hazy.
In 1603 the nobleman Funabashi Hidekata (舟橋秀賢), in his diary 'Keichō Nikken-roku' (慶長日件録), describes going to the Kamo River to see the mountain bonfires. It is the earliest record we have.
🔥舟形🔥
Funagata (舟形) is the 3rd of the Gozan-no-Okuribi. The ringing of the temple bell at Saihō-ji (西方寺) signals the bonfire to be lit at 8:15pm.
As the name suggests, the bonfires form the shape of a huge boat on the side of Mt Myōken (妙見山 aka Nishigamoyama 西賀茂山).
👋FAREWELL TO THE DEAD🔥
Obon draws to a close in Kyōto on August 16th. As darkness falls families say goodbye to the ancestral spirits for another year.
From 8pm fiery shapes appear on five of Kyōto's mountains...beacons guiding the dead back to the Netherworld.
The boat's mast is 113m tall and its body 40m deep. It stretches 93m to the left of the mast and 93m to the right.
400 bundles of split pine and 130 bundles of pine needles are used to create bonfires on the 79 fire beds.
54 local men are selected to light the fires.
According to Yūsen-ji (涌泉寺) lore, in 1307 the monk Nichizō (日像 d.1342) converted the village of Matsugasaki to the Nichiren sect. In celebration he carved the letter 'Myō' (妙) on Nishiyama (西山-West Matsugasaki) with his walking stick, close to the village cemetery.
After Nichizō's death the villagers maintained the tradition, continuing to illuminate the character he had drawn on the mountain slope.
👋FAREWELL TO THE DEAD🔥
Obon (お盆) draws to a close in the next few days, and tomorrow evening families will be saying goodbye to their ancestral spirits for another year.
From 8pm fiery shapes will appear on five of Kyōto's mountains...beacons guiding the dead back to the Netherworld.
#五山送り火 #Japan #Kyoto #京都 #wagashi #お盆 #Obon #GozannoOkuribi #Daimonji #大文字
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