Part 2 of Festivities

Hello again faithful followers. I decided to make a part 2 of my last blog titled Festivities since I didn't fit everything in last time. As I explained previously, there were lots of cultural experiences to take in this past week with festivals and events lining up night after night. The whole week Japan was celebrating a festival called O-Bon. Essentially the week is for commemorating one's deceased relatives. People from all over Japan are inviting the spirits of their loved ones back into their homes for the week during a time of remembrance. Being a spiritual person myself, I thought it was a brilliant way to show your appreciation and respect for your loved ones and to also remind yourself of your heritage and your future as well. What a wonderful way to pay tribute to the afterlife as well as to those who have gone before us! 

Now rewind to before Joel, Matt, and I went to Kiyomizu-Dera temple. As we were making our way to the temple, we came upon another beautiful sight. It was Ryozen Kwan-on, a statue of Buddha that was carefully positioned between the immense hillside as well as a pond and a few shrines that lay before it. Although the enormous statue is about 80 feet tall, you feel right at home as it looks down on you while entering it's presence. The large statue and the surrounding shrines serve as a memorial of the unknown soldier killed in World War 2 as well as others that died during battle. Services are conducted frequently to honor and cherish their legacy. Buddha was breathtaking shelled in white and laying against a bed of green foliage in the background. Certainly the Kiyomizu-Dera temple and the Ryozen Kwan-on, both masterpieces, are definitely some of my favorite sights I've seen so far.

The statue against the hillside

Lanterns that dotted the shrine with light

Saying goodbye to Buddha and moving onto Kiyomizu-Dera

When you enter the shrine they give you an incense and you then place the incense into a large pit where you can offer up a prayer. 

On Friday August 16th, Japan continued it's celebration of O-Bon. This was the final night for the celebration and the city of Kyoto would be celebrating in a very interesting way. Joel and I invited several other JET programmers to our apartment to view the final phase of O-Bon called Daimonji. This is a ceremony in which they light 6 fires on several different hillsides around Kyoto to guide the Japanese relative's spirits back to the afterlife. We got very lucky because you could view all 6 fires from our apartment roof top and watch them light up and burn out. It was different this evening, you could tell that spirits ran high and that there was something unworldly swirling about. Again, being spiritual myself, I thought there was a definite magical quality to the air that evening. We were joined by several different people that live in our apartment building as well as their guests. We all watched closely as the fires lite up one by one around the city. Truly a memorable experience!

Joel and I enjoying the festivities

This is just one of the 6 symbols lite on the mountain sides

My city, Kyoto

Stay tuned for more from Kyoto Kanai!