Obon, or "The Feast of Lanterns", is a Japanese Buddhist festival that begins on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month (July-August), in honour of the spirits of the community's deceased ancestors. This custom originated in China and has been celebrated in Japan for more than 500 years. Over time, some older, non-Buddhist beliefs and practices have become part of the festival, which combines elements of a holiday for family reunions, an annual gathering to clean ancestors' graves and monuments, and an opportunity for the spirits of the ancestors to revisit their families' household altars. The three day event traditionally includes a Bon dance, or Bon Odori, that expresses gratitude toward one's ancestors.

Following the arrival of the first Japanese immigrant in BC in 1877, a number of Japanese communities grew up around Vancouver Island's fishing, mining, forestry, and farming industries. Bringing their families with them and seeing themselves as permanent settlers here, the Japanese established burial places that were in use for more than fifty years. After all Japanese-Canadians on the West Coast were detained and exiled to internment camps in the BC Interior in April, 1942, these burial grounds suffered badly from years of vandalism and neglect.

From the late 1950s on, efforts were made by the Japanese-Canadian community to the record the names and other information from vanished and vanishing grave markers, and members of the Buddhist Church in Vancouver began visiting these neglected cemeteries with their minister at Obon, to perform a service and clean graves and markers. In 1986, this activity was taken over by the BC Buddhist Churches Federation, who organized a Vancouver Island Obon Bus Tour from the mainland. Unfortunately, it eventually became difficult to maintain the participation necessary to organize the bus tour and 2007 was the final year that it took place.

In order that some form of Obon observance continue, Rev. Tatsuya Aoki of the Vancouver Buddhist Temple will be visiting four Japanese-Canadian cemetery sites on Vancouver Island on July 16 and 17, 2010. Rev. Aoki advises that because he has so much ground to cover, his stay at each location will be quite brief, but he will spend some time before and after the services tidying graves and monuments. The actual Buddhist ceremony will only take about five minutes. The public is invited to help with the cleanup and attend the services and Rev. Aoki says that he hopes to see many people turn out "to remember and pay our respects to those who have gone before us on Vancouver Island." I know from their comments that the presence of 40 or 50 members of the community at the Cumberland Japanese cemetery last year meant a great deal to the Buddhist community and I thank the Courtenay and District Historical Society for getting word about it out to its members!

These Buddhist Obon services are scheduled to begin at the following time and places:

Friday, July 16
11:00 am Mountain View Cemetery, Somenos Road, Duncan

11:30 am Chemainus / St. Michael's and All Angels Cemetery, Chemainus Road

3:00 pm Greenwood Cemetery, Josephine Street, Port Alberni

Saturday, July 17
11:00 am Cumberland Japanese Cemetery, Cumberland Road

9:30 am Nanaimo Municipal Cemetery, Bowen Road

There will also be a separate Obon observation in Victoria, BC, on:

Sunday, August 8
2:00 pm Ross Bay Cemetery, Fairfield Road, Victoria. The annual Obon ceremony organized by the Old Cemeteries Society and the Japanese-Canadian Buddhist community will take place at the Kakehashi Monument in the southwest corner of the cemetery . A short guided tour of the Japanese graves will follow.

For further information about the 2010 Obon observances on Vancouver Island, please contact Rev. Tatsuya Aoki at rev.aokitelus.net or Mike Bieling of the Old Cemeteries Society at oldcemeterianshaw.ca / 250-748-5031.