In July, Buddhists celebrate the Obon Festival. This festival and memorial service are in recognition of a story found in the Ulambana Sutra. The story concerns one of the Sakyamuni Buddha’s ten great disciples, Mogallana. In the sutra, Mogallana learns the true meaning of gratitude through the life of his deceased mother with the help of Sakyamuni Buddha. It was said that at this realization, Mogallana’s joy was so great, that he began to dance. In commemoration of this legend, one of the highlights of the Obon festival is the Obon dancing. Japantown is noted for its large Obon Festival. So of course, we had to go. It seems that Buddhists are not early risers as things did not begin until after lunch. We wandered down in the afternoon to check it out. In addition to craft booths, there were many delicious foods for sale. And lots of people dressed in kimonos and the boy version of jackets and bathrobes. We especially wanted to attend the Buddhist temple’s Buddhism 101. We learned that all Buddhist sects and denominations are tied together by the Three Treasures – Buddha (the Awakened One), Dharma (Buddha’s teachings), and Sangha (the Buddhist order). It was lovely to step inside the cool building and smell the incense. The temple was started by the first Japanese immigrants to settle in San Jose. It belongs to the Shinshu tradition of Buddhism. The temple served as a focal point for Japantown in its early years. During WWII, most of the Japanese Americans in Japantown were interred in prison camps. A San Jose attorney took care of the temple until after the war when the Japanese could return.
The biggest highlight of the festival is the dancing. Fifth St is closed off from Taylor to Jackson St. Three platforms are placed down the center of the street and lines are drawn creating an oval space. It looks like lanes for a race track with viewing stands on the outside edges. As the start time grows closer, kimonos, jackets and bathrobes begin gathering at the far end of the oval. Small groups mount the stairs to each platform and take their places….. the music starts…. Or at least I THINK it starts as the speaker at our end of the oval is not working and we can’t hear anything. The dancers on the platform in front of us look confused until they see the dancers on the center platform dancing. Then they quickly jump in. I look to the end of the oval and see this endless mass of color start to move in unison down the lanes in front of us. I assume that some can hear music because they all seem to be keeping together. And the song continues and waves upon waves of kimonos/jackets/bathrobes on adults and teens and children file past. And then I notice that many of the dancers are NOT dressed up but have stepped out of the crowd along the edge and are dancing… and there are some cub scouts and some adolescent girls all dressed up and giggling and adolescent boys NOT dressed up but dancing along with the girls. And the song ends and I think that the show is over and it was very interesting and my neck (which has NO sunscreen and recently has lost its protective covering of long hair) is getting painful. And then the music starts again. But this time, everyone has whipped out a fan (hidden in the big sash/obi on the ladies and who knows where on the jackted/bathrobed men. This dance entails waving the fan and bending and swooping. Now imagine a Kentucky Derby-type race track FILLED with lanes of people all waving fans and bending and swooping to music that you can’t hear. It was a bit surreal. And just as I was really getting into it, the sound crew fixed the speaker in front of us and music came blasting out. And the fan dance was over and fans were tucked away only to be replaced by castanets…. Well, I know that they probably aren’t CALLED castanets. But that’s what they looked and sounded like.
So now we have music and clacking and bending and swooping and stepping and my neck MUST be getting burned. But wait! There’s more! The music ends, the castanets are tucked away (no wonder they need that wide sash!) and off come the neck scarves! The scarves are flapped and waved and twisted up as everyone bends and swoops and hops and the masses of people dance slowly around the oval. By now, we have seen everyone dancing as they passed us by. We have even picked out our next door neighbor’s granddaughter who is dancing for the first time this year. Apparently the local experts ( those are the dancers on the platforms) give lessons for several weeks before the festival. Anyone can take the classes and join in the dancing. As the scarves are neatly returned to dancers’ necks, I think that we MUST be at the end…. But no. I look at the program and finally notice the TWO COLUMNS of dances listed. Oh my. I look at Mark who is also getting burned despite the hat he has on. And we both agree that it is time for us to dance our way home. We discuss the Buddhism class on the walk back and agree that we would like to attend the evening Dharma classes in the Fall to learn more. And I suggest that maybe next year, we even take the dance classes. I think Mark would look sooo cute in a bathrobe and I have a fan. Who knows?
The biggest highlight of the festival is the dancing. Fifth St is closed off from Taylor to Jackson St. Three platforms are placed down the center of the street and lines are drawn creating an oval space. It looks like lanes for a race track with viewing stands on the outside edges. As the start time grows closer, kimonos, jackets and bathrobes begin gathering at the far end of the oval. Small groups mount the stairs to each platform and take their places….. the music starts…. Or at least I THINK it starts as the speaker at our end of the oval is not working and we can’t hear anything. The dancers on the platform in front of us look confused until they see the dancers on the center platform dancing. Then they quickly jump in. I look to the end of the oval and see this endless mass of color start to move in unison down the lanes in front of us. I assume that some can hear music because they all seem to be keeping together. And the song continues and waves upon waves of kimonos/jackets/bathrobes on adults and teens and children file past. And then I notice that many of the dancers are NOT dressed up but have stepped out of the crowd along the edge and are dancing… and there are some cub scouts and some adolescent girls all dressed up and giggling and adolescent boys NOT dressed up but dancing along with the girls. And the song ends and I think that the show is over and it was very interesting and my neck (which has NO sunscreen and recently has lost its protective covering of long hair) is getting painful. And then the music starts again. But this time, everyone has whipped out a fan (hidden in the big sash/obi on the ladies and who knows where on the jackted/bathrobed men. This dance entails waving the fan and bending and swooping. Now imagine a Kentucky Derby-type race track FILLED with lanes of people all waving fans and bending and swooping to music that you can’t hear. It was a bit surreal. And just as I was really getting into it, the sound crew fixed the speaker in front of us and music came blasting out. And the fan dance was over and fans were tucked away only to be replaced by castanets…. Well, I know that they probably aren’t CALLED castanets. But that’s what they looked and sounded like.
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