Homecoming of the Heart
Join Byodoji's Obon memorial service from home.
Each evening at 8 PM, a priest reads the submitted names and dedicates the merit of the service to the departed.
Two seven-day observances in July and August 2026
Choose the period observed by your family or hometown. July Obon is common in Tokyo, Yokohama, and some other cities; August Obon is common in Shikoku, Kansai, and much of Japan. If you are unsure, follow your family temple's calendar or choose the period when your family can most easily join in prayer.
Following the urban calendar of Tokyo, Yokohama and other metropolitan areas
7.10 ― 7.16 (Fri → Thu)
Held in keeping with the July Obon observed in Kanto and other urban regions, in memory of your ancestors and departed loved ones.
The month-later Obon observed across most of Japan
8.10 ― 8.16 (Mon → Sun)
Held in keeping with the August Obon observed in Shikoku, Kansai and many other regions, in memory of your ancestors and departed loved ones.
Throughout the July and August Obon periods, the priests of Byodoji hold a memorial service every evening from 8:00 PM before the shoryodana in the temple's Jibutsudo hall. A priest reads aloud the names of the ancestors and loved ones you entrust to us and dedicates the merit of the service to them.
If you can be present at 8:00 PM, please join us then. If not, quietly put your hands together at a time that suits you.
20:00
Throughout Obon, from 8:00 PM each evening, we hold a memorial service for your ancestors and loved ones before the shoryodana, the memorial altar set up in Byodoji's Jibutsudo hall.
The service is held at 8:00 PM every evening of the period, without missing a night.
Recitation & Dedication
We prepare offerings and welcome the departed, recite the sutras to convey our gratitude, and dedicate the merit to them.
From a computer or smartphone at home, you can join the Obon memorial held before the shoryodana in Byodoji's Jibutsudo hall. If returning home is difficult or going out worries you, you can put your hands together from wherever you are.
During the service, a priest reads aloud the names, posthumous Buddhist names, and prayer intentions you entrust to us, and dedicates the merit to your ancestors and loved ones.
Family members who live apart can join the same service through the same livestream. Even in a year when you cannot gather, you can pray at the same hour.
Every evening at 8:00 PM throughout Obon, we hold the memorial before the shoryodana in the Jibutsudo hall, from welcoming Obon through sending Obon.
Work, distance, illness, caregiving, raising children, living overseas: whatever makes it hard to visit, you can keep up the memorial in the way that is possible for you now.
Anyone who wishes to remember the departed and put their hands together in gratitude to their ancestors may apply, whatever their tradition. If you have a family temple (bodaiji), please give its services priority first, and use our online memorial to supplement them in years when returning home or visiting the grave is difficult.
The mukaebi, or welcoming fire, is a light kindled to receive your ancestors and loved ones. It is lit with the wish that they find their way home.
The okuribi, or sending fire, is a light kindled to see them back to the world of the buddhas. We see them off with thanks for coming home again this year.
The cucumber horse carries the wish that the departed return quickly. The eggplant ox carries the reluctance to part, asking them to take their time going back.
The Bon lantern marks the way home for your ancestors and loved ones. At a first Obon (shinbon or hatsubon), a white lantern is sometimes lit. The white lantern carries the family's prayer that the departed, coming home for the first time, will not lose their way.
At Obon, families offer seasonal fruit, somen noodles, vegetarian dishes, and the things the departed loved. Offering with care matters more than setting out fine things.
The time you spend remembering the departed and speaking to them as you make your offerings is itself a memorial.
Whether you choose July or August, the heart you bring to your ancestors is no different. Please select the time that fits your hometown, your family temple's calendar, or simply when your family can most easily put their hands together.
At Obon, families welcome the departed, prepare offerings, give thanks, dedicate merit, and see them off. If travel is not possible, you can still observe Obon and pray from home.
Before the shoryodana, the memorial altar prepared in the temple's Jibutsudo hall, a priest reads aloud the names, posthumous Buddhist names, and prayer intentions you have entrusted to us. You may join the same service from home, while traveling, or from overseas.
If your family has a temple, please give priority to its services and your family's customs. Byodoji's online service is available when returning home or visiting the grave is difficult.
Obon took its present form as three streams came together over many centuries. The first is the story in the Ullambana Sutra of the Venerable Maudgalyāyana, a disciple of the Buddha, who sought to save his late mother. The second is the ancestor festival (Zhongyuan) held in China since ancient times on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. The third is the Japanese custom of welcoming the departed home, hosting them, and seeing them off again.
年年七月十五日，常以孝順慈憶所生父母，乃至七世父母，為作盂蘭盆施佛及僧。
Obon rests on a passage the Buddha taught to Maudgalyāyana. The Buddha taught that on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when the rains retreat ends, one should offer gifts to the saṅgha (the monastic community) and turn the merit toward those who have passed.
This offering later became an annual observance in China. It then reached Japan, where it joined the local customs of welcoming ancestral spirits.
大目乾連始得六通，欲度父母，報乳哺之恩。即以道眼觀視世間，見其亡母生餓鬼中，不見飲食，皮骨連立。目連悲哀，即鉢盛飯，往餉其母。母得鉢飯，便以左手障鉢，右手摶飯。食未入口，化成火炭，遂不得食。
Welcome them, set out the offerings, dedicate the merit, and see them off again.
Each act of Obon is a way of telling the departed, “We have not forgotten you.”
Even in a year when you cannot go home, there is a memorial you can offer from afar.
Every day, throughout the period
We hold the service every evening throughout Obon, continuing the memorial from welcoming the departed through offerings and dedication of merit to seeing them off.
Choosing between July and August Obon, joining online, first Obon (shinbon or hatsubon), tradition, stupas and bestowed items.
佛告目連：「十方眾僧於七月十五日僧自恣時，當為七世父母及現在父母厄難中者，具飯、百味五果、汲灌盆器、香油錠爥、床敷臥具，盡世甘美以著盆中，供養十方大德眾僧。」
年年七月十五日，常以孝順慈憶所生父母，乃至七世父母，為作盂蘭盆施佛及僧，以報父母長養、慈愛之恩。
盂蘭，是西域之語，此云倒懸。盆乃東夏之音，仍為救器。若隨方俗，應曰救倒懸盆。
「盂蘭」即梵語 odana(米飯)之中期印度語口語形 olana 之音譯；「盆」為漢語盛食之器。
(大同)四年。帝幸同泰寺設盂蘭盆齋。
(推古十四年) 是年自始、毎寺、四月八日・七月十五日設齋。
(斉明三年七月辛丑) 作須彌山像於飛鳥寺西。且設盂蘭瓫會。
