Bon festival; Feast of Lanterns
A Buddhist ceremony held around July 15th (or August 15th in some regions) to honor ancestral spirits. Often referred to as お盆 (obon) in modern Japanese.
During the Bon festival, we hold memorial services for our ancestors' spirits.
Many people return to their hometowns during the Bon festival period.
盂蘭盆 is the formal Buddhist term for the same festival that お盆 refers to in everyday speech.
Standard kanji spelling for the Buddhist ceremony.
Search-only kanji form; not a standard written variant.
From Sanskrit 'ullambana' (hanging upside down), referring to the Buddhist legend of Maudgalyayana saving his mother from suffering. The kanji are ateji.