Post by washi on Aug 13, 2015 15:54:36 GMT
A Google Street View car has been through my neighborhood at least three times. Late last month I was looking at some of the new imagery (I was trying to spot some of the feral cats I can't walk a block in real life without seeing), when I wondered across the rail line to the area of Kana Oka Park. I last looked at that imagery in April, when I sent Spacecowboy a Street View image of what he confirmed were meta sequoia trees. To my surprise, I found a yagura (the high platform around which dancers circle in a bon odori), and the other trappings of a bon dance. I walked over to the park early the next morning, and asked one of the people passing by if a bon dance were held here. She said yes, it would be held on August 7th and 8th. I visited the park again on August 5th, and no preparations had been made, so I am guessing from the poster that the SV car passed by this spot on July 31st or August 1st of 2014. At any rate, there was a very narrow window when the bon dance chōchin (lanterns) would have been visible.
O Bon is a Buddhist festival held in August throughout Japan. People from all over the country return to their hometowns to visit their families and their departed forbearers, who are also thought to return briefly at that time. Bon Dances (or Bon Odori) are held to honor the returning spirits. The dance and music traditions vary widely from area to area. One of the most famous styles in the Kansai area is called Kawachi Ondo. It originated at Jōkōji, a very old temple in Yao.
While the Genji ga Oka Bon Dance is nowhere as old or as large or as famous the Bon Dances in nearby Yao City, it has a nice neighborhood feel, with everyone, young and old, skilled and enthusiastic, welcomed to join in. The video I shot is embedded in the attached placemark.
Kawachi Ondo: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawachi_ondo
Obon Festival: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bon_Festival
