From July to August, it’s the time of the summer festival in Japan.
In my hometown, the firework event for the summer festival was hold in early August.
People live around here are looking forward to see this firework event every summer.
The other main event of Japanese summer festival is Bon-odori(Bon dance).
“Bon” is the period in the middle of August, people believe their ancestor come home in this world from the other world after death in this period.
The one of events people hold for their ancestor ‘s spirit or soul is Bon-dance.
In Tokushima prefecture their Bon-dance is called Awa-dance, which is enhanced artistically and technically.
For Awa-odori festival days a lot of people come from around the country and the world!
It’s so hard to book hotels in Tokushima city for this period. if you’d like to visit Awa-odori festival you should make a reservation about half a year or more in advance.
The close of summer festival and Bon-period is the end of summer in Japan.
People make animal figures using summer vegetables, eggplants and cucumbers, in Bon period. A cucumber attached four wooden legs is a horse that bring ancestor’s sprit or soul from the other world very fast. An eggplant with four wooden legs is a cow that carry them to the other world very slowly.
It means people and their ancestor’s spirit want to stay together as long as possible.
