About a week and some change ago, in most parts of Japan, the country celebrated the season of O-bon, a Buddhist observance that honors departed ancestors. Even though Halloween has started to pick up a little bit in popularity around Japan, O-bon is the traditional scary time of the year, probably because all those dead souls are believed to come back for a visit during the holiday period.
I have plans for a fun and scary storyline that I’m holding in store for the Halloween season, but I didn’t want to let O-bon pass without so much as a nod. So, in fact, I’ll give two:
- The Obakemono Project is one of my favorite creepy sites. It’s a beautifully illustrated encyclopedia of all kinds of Japanese ghoulies. I really dig it.
- A blast from my own past: Zombies Around the World, a Halloween strip I did as part of Peter Delgado Jr.’s annual Zombie-a-Go-Go event, back in 2004. Points to folks who recognize the obscure pop culture references in the Japan panel.
Boo!
Tags: culture, Halloween, holidays, monsters, O-bon, obakemono, zombies
This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 25th, 2009 at 4:23 pm and is filed under Blog.
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August 26th, 2009 at 2:08 am
Obscure? The Ring is hardly obscure! It’s fantastic work, by the way…
August 26th, 2009 at 9:31 am
Thanks
You’re right about the obscurity, speearr. I guess the Ring always felt a little obscure to me, because I became a die hard fan while I was in Japan, a few years before the American version came out. I wonder how many people in the States still remember the Ring, now that the remake is seven years old.
August 26th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
woot! a shout-out to me!
btw: i want more strips done by monday. 50 more would do (muhahahahahahaha!!!)
August 26th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
Waaaah!
August 27th, 2009 at 6:08 am
So what does one do during o-ban?
August 27th, 2009 at 7:53 am
Usually folks travel to their hometowns, Bearman, and pay respects at the grave sites of their ancestors. Different regions may have other different local customs. The boat-floating scene in Karate Kid 2 was an O-bon observance, as I recall.
The candles in the tiny paper boats were supposed to lead souls back to the other side at the close of O-bon, or something like that. I believe it’s an Okinawan custom.
October 4th, 2009 at 11:14 pm
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