The Urabon’e Buddhist ceremony for the repose of the dead falls on the thirteenth day of the seventh month in Tokyo, and ends on the sixteenth. On early evening on July 13th, the Tokyo-ites greet the spirits of their ancestors, and light a bonfire send off their spirits. Most rural areas, however, follow the month-late lunar calendar, and practice the rites one month later. Some places in Mie, western Japan, observe the tradition on August 1st, because they were too busy raising silkworms when the silk industry was booming a century ago.
　 Kusaichi leaf fairs, which specialized in selling offerings to ancestors, open on the night before the bon ritual and close the next morning. Offerings include ogara hempsticks, used to light bonfires to greet or send off the sprits, horses and oxen made from cucumbers and eggplants, paper lanterns and flowers. These are used to create an altar to greet one’s ancestors.　
　 Place fresh bamboo logs in four corners, and bind with rope to create an altar. Embellish the altar with leaves and flowers, including pine, and set the ancestral tablet. The best sake should be offered to one’s ancestors, who may have had a fondness in the liquor.
　The descendents should drink sake with the spirits of their ancestors, and thank them for bringing them into this world, while praying for family prosperity.
　 If possible, the sake should be offered in inokuchi sake cups and such used by one’s ancestors. It would be nice for the descendents to drink from these cups, too. One may be pleasantly surprised to learn that these cups serve a worthwhile purpose.

　 Shrines across Japan perform, on June 30th in the lunar calendar, Nagoshi no Oharai, a purification ritual to atone for their sin in the first half of the year to pass the summer safely. Nagoshi, which, in Chinese characters, is written “summer passing”, literally means to pray to pass the brutally hot summer without much ado. It’s believed that this ritual came to be after ancient Japanese believed the hot temperatures at this time of year to be a sign of anger expressed by the deities.
　 At the same time, the word Nagoshi, can also mean to ease. The expression may also be a play on words, because it can also mean to defuse the anger of the deities.
　 Worshippers pass through a large ring made of cogon grass, erected on the pathway leading to the shrine, to purify themselves from misdeeds. It would be a good idea to pass through such a ring to avoid running into trouble, when visiting shrines to worship one’s ancestral spirits.
　 Please have a taste of mellow tasting Nagoshi no sake (sake for summer purification ritual) in a gathering following the observance.