It's that time of year again. The whole of Japan seems to be on the move as people head to their hometowns for the mid-August O-bon festival. And it's not just the living who make travel plans this month. O-bon is the Buddhist holiday when the spirits of the dead are believed to visit the homes of their living families, to celebrate with them what is the netherworld's holiday season, too.
In many Japanese homes O-bon begins with the lighting of lanterns, often hung in doorways to guide the spirits home. The spirits are believed to visit for several days before returning to the netherworld, when their return journeys, too, are often guided by lanterns -- this time released into nearby rivers.
Buddhist guides to O-bon preparation also describe a special altar in the home bearing a variety of offerings for the spirits: food and drink they enjoyed in life, and often a small horse or a cow made out of vegetables such as cucumbers or eggplant, that are believed to serve as transport for the spirits between the worlds of the living and the dead.