okikamuro island fan club, 沖家室島ファンクラブ|Kamuro party かむろ会

Minoru Yamada

Minoru Yamada

Hiroshima Kamuro Party President


ESSAY

 Kamuro Diary 11 (2025.08.19) "Kamuro Bon Festival in 25"

Minoru Yamada      recieved Aug. 19, 2025


 I returned on the 12th. The children going to return to island and visit the graves on the 16th, so Obon became a car-free in Kamuro.


 On the 12th, after visiting the grave, I decorate the altar, put up lanterns, and prepare for the spirits. After I've finished tidying up the surrounding area, I sit by the window and start my usual drinking session. The book I'm reading is "A Drop of the Great River" by Itsuki Hiroyuki, which I usually give up on midway through, so I just skim through it and flip through the pages.


 The “Tanagyo” will start at 8am on the 13th, so I will cut the grass on the road to my house and in the vacant lot before then. I will do my best to cut the grass along the road that the priest will use. After the “Tanagyo” is over, I will climb the 100 steps to the Kannon Hall, visit the grave, and then head straight to my mother's family home to say hello. It is just over 1km one way to Saren, but the heat and the ups and downs of the bridge are a bit hard on the body. I will have lunch when I get home and sit in a chair by the window...


 While reading Hiroyuki Itsuki's book, I was reminded of an article he previously posted in President. Searching through my bookshelf, I found his 2019 book "How to Enjoy Solitude 100 Times More" and his 2022 book "How to Live Without Throwing Away," which I took out. The first article cites the lines "Harmony without uniformity" from the “Analects” and "The friendship of a gentleman is as pure as water" from “Zhuangzi” to explain the topic. The second article uses the key concept of "yorishiro" (a place where objects can evoke memories). I have always been comfortable being alone, so I nodded along as I continued reading.


 On the 14th, the Bon Odori venue was set up. It started at 6:30 (6:00 Kamuro time) and, as is the case every year, voices of "this is not good," "that is not good," "someone give me instructions" could be heard, but it was finished in about two hours.


 The Bon Odori dance began at 8pm. This year was different from previous years. When the "Kamuro Ondo" song started, I was the first to start dancing, but this year, no one seemed to join in. After a short pause, I was dancing with my classmates. After dancing around two or three times, they formed a circle. This year, it seemed like there were a lot of children in the lower grades of elementary school or younger, the grandchildren of our generation. I heard that a set of fireworks was distributed to the elementary school or younger generation, but about 30 of them were gone.


 On the 15th, I mowed the remaining grass around the house. I worked up a sweat until after 9pm, cutting down grass from the retaining wall and any trees that were bothering me.This Bon Festival was the first year for my classmate's mother’s death, so I thought I would just light some incense at the Buddhist altar, but I thought there would be a lot of people returning to the house, so I decided to hold a memorial service at the “Manto-e” ceremony held at the temple in the evening. On my way home, I stopped by the Bon Festival venue just to say hello before heading home.


 On the morning of the 16th, I realized it was already past 5:30, and hurried to the venue for the “Nagarekancho” ceremony with “Shoryosama”, just in time to make it to the place where the boat was lowered. After seeing off the “Nagarekancho” ceremony, I visited the graves and announced the end of Obon. I exchanged words with several groups of people, and this year's Obon came to an end.



 It was a hot summer in Kamuro too. The only thing that saved me was the cool nights and the rain before Obon... I sweated a lot, drank a lot of sake, and drank a lot of tea, so I was left with nothing but fatigue during Obon.



 Around 10:40, the children return to visit the grave and then leave the island.


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