Otsu Bon-bune Nagashi

Festival highlights

A highlight is the bon-bune, each crafted with distinctive details by the family.

The boats are fitted with features such as an engine room, smokestack, rudder, oars, and mast. Boatmen made from straw, watermelon, and eggplant are placed at the bow and rudder.

After a joint memorial service at the wharf in Otsu Port, the Tendai Buddhist nenbutsu dance known as “Jangara Nenbutsu Odori” is performed.

Entrusting Kitaibaraki’s memorial prayers to bon-bune sent out to sea

What to expect

For the ritual, families welcoming their first Obon after a death make bon-bune from wheat straw or wood and set white sails bearing the boat’s name and the deceased’s posthumous Buddhist name.

Incense is burned on the bon-bune, and offerings and fresh flowers are placed aboard before they gather at the wharf in Otsu Port.

After a joint memorial service and nenbutsu dance, the bon-bune are carried offshore by fishing boats and set adrift.

In recent years, the boats have been retrieved to avoid polluting the sea.

Location and access

Venue and address

The wharf in Otsu Port.

The address is 89 Otsu, Kitaibaraki City.

Address 89 Otsu, Kitaibaraki City

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Dates and season

Season

The 16th day of the lunar-calendar Obon season in August

Accommodation and hotels PR

Tips for your visit

The bon-bune gather at the wharf in Otsu Port and are carried offshore after the memorial service and nenbutsu dance.

As the event takes place by the sea, please take care not to disrupt the proceedings or the movements of those involved when watching.

The bon-bune are retrieved after being set adrift.

Origins and History of Otsu Bon-bune Nagashi

Otsu Bon-bune Nagashi is a Buddhist summer-observance ritual passed down in Otsu, Kitaibaraki City, in which families welcoming their first Obon after a death send a bon-bune (memorial boat) out to sea.

In Showa 54March 8, it was designated an intangible folk cultural property of Ibaraki Prefecture.

Today, methods for retrieving the boats to avoid polluting the sea have also been adopted, allowing the tradition to be carried on while taking the environment into consideration.

Official information

The Ibaraki Prefectural Board of Education features Otsu Bon-bune Nagashi as a prefecture-designated intangible folk cultural property.

It is managed by the Otsu-machi Bon-bune Nagashi Preservation Society.

The page also includes related links to Kitaibaraki City and the Kitaibaraki City Tourism Association.

Otsu Bon-bune Nagashi at a Glance

Otsu Bon-bune Nagashi is a Buddhist summer-observance ritual in Otsu, Kitaibaraki City, in which families welcoming their first Obon after a death send boats out to sea to pay tribute to the deceased.

After a joint memorial service and “Jangara Nenbutsu Odori” at Otsu Port, the bon-bune are carried offshore.

Its distinctive features are the craftsmanship of boats made from wheat straw or wood and the memorial observances passed down by the sea.