Gardena Buddhist Church is holding their Obon festival this Saturday and Sunday. It’s the last Obon festival in Southern California for 2009, and your last chance to get out your kachi kachi for Bon Odori!
If you’re in the Bay Area, the Buddhist Church of Oakland is also holding its annual Obon festival! The major bazaar is tomorrow with the memorial and family services on Sunday.
In Japan, Obon has been held since 657 CE. It is observed in July or August. A commonly held belief among people in Japan is that the disembodied spirits of the dead return to visit at this time of year. This belief is not supported by Jodo Shin Buddhists, who consider such a belief to be an unfounded superstition
Most Japanese-American Buddhists belong to the Jodo Shinshu school (including the sangha of West LA Buddhist Temple), so it is important to understand the history and significance of our Obon Festival. It is not, as some mistakenly believe, to welcome back the spirits of the dead. Instead, it is a time of gratitude, giving, and joy in the Truth of Life. Hence, it is also known as Kangi-e, or the Gathering of Joy.
I searched around the Buddhist blogs for other mentions of Obon and sadly found only a single post by Rev. Danny Fisher with a couple links he plucked out of his daily news scan. Obon is a major holiday for Japanese American Buddhists, and by extension one of the longest held Buddhist festivals in North America. This weekend, you can catch the Revs. Usuki at West LA Buddhist Temple’s Obon festival. You’ll find me there and also in downtown LA at Higashi Honganji Buddhist Temple’s 50th annual Obon festival!
I decided to replace today’s post for another day. In the meantime, my post on Southern California Obon festivals has brought over a number of web surfers who Googled for the blog of the Gardena Buddhist Church. I think this confusion has since been fixed on the search engine. The Gardena congregation maintains both a blog and temple website. They also hold the last and one of the most popular Obon festivals in Southern California, on August 1 and 2. If you live in the area you should check it out! Not to mention, you should also go “Obon hopping” to all the other local festivals on the weekends in between! This weekend you can check out festivals in Pasadena, Venice and Guadelupe.
I’ve only ever been introduced to the Obon Festival as celebrated in the United States. The first festival I ever went to was years ago, at a Shin temple where a friend’s father worked as minister. As described in the Nichi Bei Times:
Councilman Ronald Ikejiri, a member of the Gardena City Council whose family is active in the church, stated, “The Obon Festival is probably the most appreciated event in the city, not only because of the significance of Obon as an observance and remembrance of those who have passed away, but also because it brings together the community. Whether it’s Japanese Americans, Hispanics, African Americans, Vietnamese, Chinese, or the community as a whole, they all come together for the Obon festival.”
Down here in the Southern District, the festivals started rolling out in June. Here are the following locations and times for the July and August festivals.
You can search for more festivals over a wider area at Discover Nikkei.