Visiting ancestor's grave / Japanese bouquet for ancestors / Secret about ancestor worship
Thursday, July 20, 2017
Most Japanese have opportunity to visit ancestor's grave a few times a year.
Some people in rural regions,visit grave every month.
Visiting grave is called "Haka-Mairi" or "O-haka-Mairi".
People clean grave,weed around the property,and dedicate incense,flowers and some foods.
Exclusive flower bouquet for grave and home grave(Butsudan),called Bukka(Photos) mostly includes chrysanthemum.
We put a pair of vase for ancestors.
In ancestor worship,the most important event is Obon week in middle of August.
For Japanese,Obon is special summer holidays.
In Obon,my family used to get up so early and went to some grave gardens in the traffic jam.
It was one the most important experience in my life because
my grandparents did ancestor worship so seriously.
I learned a lot of things from them although they didn't explain about the worship.
I didn't know the importance of ancestor worship and Haka-Mairi when I was a child,
but I felt that my ancestors have been waiting for my visit.
Now,I'm sure my feeling was absolutely right.
Taking care of invisible things is Shinto's main concept.
Not taken care.You take care of it.
By the way,ancestor worship is not Buddhism custom.
Nature worship and ancestor worship in Shinto are one.
And Shinto is far older than any other traditional religions.
To tell the truth,visiting ancestor's grave is not effective way to heal and save ancestors.
Visiting grave is a good habit in order not to forget your ancestors but it means self-satisfaction of descendants.
Sorry,this may be a sad information for you.
Only true worship and correct ritual in each household can save your ancestors without side effect.
Wise Japanese do the ritual for ancestor every day.
There are suffering ancestors and miscarried or aborted fetus in every family line.
And their painful wave of feeling have an effect on your family.(To same family name holders)
To perform true ancestor worship,
you need to prepare a hard paper board for the ritual
and write your current family name on it.
There is an invisible line among same family name holders.
They are sharing same wave from common ancestors.
You need to know about meaning of your surname/family name.
If you begin to install a sacred table for ancestor in your home,
it means you give a wonderful place to your ancestors in another world.
It is calm,secure and peaceful place for them.