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Obon

Japan has a Buddhist festival in the summer called Bon (ぼん) (盆) or Obon (おぼん) (お盆). ("Obon" means "Honorable Bon".) It is Japan's All Soul's Day Festival.

In the following video at 2:45, you happen to see the unique Japanese custom of repeatedly bowing, saying thank you, and apologizing for inconsequential and uncontrollable things such as the fact it's raining.




The following video gives a more detailed explanation of Obon.

 
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Hello everyone! Started this new youtube adventure as we really like travelling in Japan. Hope you enjoy seeing Japan through our eyes! ✌️

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The Tottori video is our latest update and in the next few weeks, we will update regularly with videos from our summer holiday 2-week road trip to Kyushu.
We really hope you enjoy it!
Id like to watch 😫 link doesnt work
 
I found another video which does a good job of explaining Obon. (This video is from Japanesepod101.com.) This video is in Japanese with English subtitles. She speaks at regular speed, so this is good listening practice for people whose Japanese listening ability is at the intermediate or higher level.

 
Bon dance has its own characteristics depending on the area

風の盆Kaze no bon
Kaze-no-Bon (風の盆) is a Japanese festival held every year from September 1 to 3 in Yatsuo, Toyama, Japan.


Owara Kaze no Bon Last day Tenmancho stage dance (final) Reiwa first year (2019)



郡上八幡 盆踊り(Gujo Hachiman Bon Odori)
郡上おどり(Gujō Odori)

Gujō Odori (郡上おどり) is a Bon Festival held every summer in Gujō, Gifu, Japan.
The dance festival's origins have been traced back to the Kan'ei era (1624–44),
when it is believed to have originated as an exercise in social cohesion;
it has been designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property

Gujo All Night Dance "Harukoma, 2nd day rainy weather"


エイサー(Eisa)
The traditional arts that it is danced in Okinawa and Amami, Kagoshima group of islands at the time of the Obon.


Invitation to Bon Dancing
 
Bon Odori — Tokyo

As Hiroyuki has pointed out, some areas of Japan have their own Bon Odori ("Bon dance"). It should come as no surprise that Tokyo has its own Bon Odori called Tokyo Ondo (とうきょう おんど) 東京音頭)




Here is instruction in how to dance Tokyo Ondo (from Eastern Michigan University).




Here is an entire baseball stadium of people dancing Tokyo Ondo.

 
I found another video which does a good job of explaining Obon. (This video is from Japanesepod101.com.) This video is in Japanese with English subtitles. She speaks at regular speed, so this is good listening practice for people whose Japanese listening ability is at the intermediate or higher level.


This channel is good
 
General Bon Odori song.

"花笠踊り(Hanagasa Odori)Hanagasa Dance" in Yamagata Prefecture.


In the 8th year of the Taisho era, the construction of the Tokura Lake embankment was carried out to secure irrigation water in Obanazawa City,
and the song sung at that time is said to be the origin of "Hanagasa Ondo".

河内音頭(Kawachi Ondo)


Kawachi Ondo (河内音頭) is a kind of Japanese folk song that originates from Yao City in the old Kawachi region of Japan,
now part of modern-day Osaka Prefecture.
This song's style and melody are said to have evolved from another folk song called Gōshū Ondo from Shiga Prefecture,
known as Goshu in earlier days. Kawachi Ondo accompanies the Bon dance (also known as Bon Odori) in the Osaka/Kawachi region of Japan, however,
this song has recently grown in popularity and is often played at other major Bon dances,
even in Tokyo.

炭坑節(Tankou Bushi)
Folk songs in the coal mine area of Fukuoka prefecture in northern Kyushu.
Tankō Bushi (炭坑節) is a Japanese folk song. Despite the term "fushi/bushi" found in its name, the rhythm is in swung, ondo style.
It is a song about coal mining, and it refers to old Miike Mine in Kyūshū (Tagawa City).
It is a common song used in Bon dances during the Bon Festival, and the dance that accompanies it depicts actions in mines such as shoveling coal,
throwing a bag of coal over the shoulders, wiping sweat from the brow or pushing a cart of coal.

Tankō Bushi @ Kanda Myojin Ryobon Odori (Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo)


Ondo is still growing

ハワイ音頭(Hawaii Ondo)

"Hawaii Ondo" is a Bon Odori song released by Tonosama Kings, a comic band that gained popularity mainly in the 1970s.
Lyrics: Seiichi Ida, Composition: Ichiro Tone.
Anahachimangu Bon Odori, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo



The anime Ondo is popular with children and makes it easier for them to participate in Bon Odori.
ポケモン音頭(Pokemon Ondo)



ヤドン音頭(Yadon Ondo)


あんぱんまん音頭(Anpanman Ondo)
 
Hiroyuki mentioned Hanagasa Odori (はながさ おどり) (花笠踊り) from Yamagata Prefecture. I would like to share this video of it because someone did an excellent job of editing all the individual clips into one video. (Check out the cooks dancing in their cook uniforms.)

 
Occult legend about Bon Odori.

Legend of the human pillar of Matsue Castle.
(Matsue Castle (松江城, Matsue-jō) is a Japanese castle located in Matsue, Shimane Prefecture.)
They couldn't build the stone wall of the castle tower and it collapsed many times.
Some ingenuity commented that the construction would not be completed without the human pillars.
Therefore, a Bon festival dance was held, and the most beautiful and best-dancing girl was sacrificed.
Her daughter was kidnapped during the dance and was buried without knowing what was going on.
The stone wall was completed beautifully and the castle was completed safely, but the father and son of the castle owner died suddenly and it was changed.
The castle tower was abandoned because people feared it was a curse of their daughter. After that,
the legend of the castle remains that the castle tower heard sobbing until Matsudaira entered the castle.
Also, due to the legend that the castle will shake,
we did not perform Bon festival dance in the castle.

 
Hiroyuki has mentioned the Bon Dance called Tanko Bushi (Coal Miner's Dance) (たんこうぶし) (炭坑節). It is one of the best-known Bon Dances. Here is a video which teaches the movements. This song is unique in that it visually tells the story: The miner struggles to dig up coal and shovel it into a wheel barrel, struggles when the a wheel barrel rolls backwards, etc. Take a look.

 
Bon Odori is a religious practice (although for most people it is only an opportunity to dance).

One of the most popular religions in Japan is Buddhism. One of the most popular forms of Buddhism in Japan is Zen Buddhism. Here is an interview with a Zen master in Kyoto. The interview with Zen Master Toryo Ito begins at 0:46.

 
It may seem that Zen is the most popular form of Buddhism in Japan, but it is not. The most popular form of Buddhism in Japan is called Pureland Buddhism. The idea is that a person can go to the Pureland ("Heaven") after they die if they recite a 'mantra' known as the Nembutsu. (Such an idea does not fit into my own personal belief system, I am only mentioning it here because so many Japanese people believe it. )




It should be mentioned that the largest Pureland denomination in Japan is the Nishi Honganji denomination, much larger than all the other Pureland denominations in Japan put together. Nishi Honganji has been particularly successful in establishing temples and followers in Hawaii and California.

 
北辰一刀流兵法 星眼伝授・七曜劒 | Hokushin Ittō-Ryū Hyōhō - Transmission of Seigan / Shichiyōken


Hokushin Ittō-ryū Hyōhō (北辰一刀流兵法) is a koryū (古流) that was founded in the late Edo period (1820s) by Chiba Shusaku Narimasa (千葉周作成政, 1794–1856). He was one of the last masters who was called a Kensei (sword saint).

北辰一刀流兵法 高上極意五点形 / Hokushin Ittō-Ryū Hyōhō Kōjō Gokui Goten no Kata
 
Kyudo (Japanese archery)

One martial art some people may not have heard of is Kyudo (Japanese archery) (弓道) (きゅうど), said to be the oldest martial art in Japan.




Here is a video on a westerner apprenticing in Kyoto on how to make bamboo bows. This video is very good at explaining the do (道) (ど) of kyudo (弓道) (きゅうど). .道 means the way, or path, to self-mastery, and this video shows how having a proper mindset is perhaps the most important part of 弓道. (The video describes 道 as the relationship between shooting an arrow and the qualities of heart of mind.)




Here is a video on the preparation of bow and arrow (applying kusune (くすね) (薬煉) (boiled pine pitch) to the string, etc.) (In Japanese, no English subtitles)




Here is a video on (among other things) the very rare skill of shooting arrows while on horseback.

 
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I couldn't resist posting an image of the Japanese archer who is best-known to westerners, the archer in James Clavell's movie Shogun. His name is — Buntaro!
 

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A key part of Japanese culture is the samurai and Bushido (the samurai 'code of conduct'). Here is a video by Japanese swordsman Shodo that is highly critical of Bushido culture in present-day Japan.

 
If you have seen the movie The Last Samurai with Tom Cruise, you may be interested in the story of the real foreigner (a Frenchman, not an American) who was a samurai (in Hokkaido, not on the Shimoda Peninsula) at the beginning of the Meiji Era. (Calling him a 'samurai' might be a stretch, but he was one of the leaders -- perhaps the main leader -- of the group of Japanese fighters that successfully seceded from Imperial Japan and fought against Imperial forces in Hokkaido.)

 
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We have some info on Jules Brunet in our article on Enomoto Takeagi:

 
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