August 16th is the last day of Obon.  It’s still a hot and humid season, but the Gozan no Okuribi floated in the night sky of Kyoto as if to miss the leaving summer.  Due to the corona crisis, the scale of the event was reduced from the year before last and last year, but this year, for the first time in three years, all fire beds were ignited.  This bonfire has the meaning of sending the spirits of ancestors who have returned to our homes in the underworld.  It is said that if you write your name and other information on the goma tree that is lit by the bonfire, it will ward off evil, and if you drink it with the bonfire reflected in the cup, you will not get paralyzed.  In the evening, thunder roared and it rained heavily, so the daimonji was delayed, but by 8:30, all of the daimonji, myo-ho, funagata, hidari daimonji, and torii-gata were lit. emerged in the summer night sky.  By the time the fire was extinguished, it was a night where I could feel the signs of autumn creeping in.

8月16日はお盆の最後。まだまだ蒸し暑い季節ですが、ゆく夏を惜しむように、五山の送り火が京の夜空に浮かびあがりました。コロナ禍の影響で、一昨年、去年と規模を縮小して実施されましたが、今年は3年ぶりにすべての火床で点火が行われました。この送り火には盆に我が家に戻ってきた先祖の精霊が、再び冥府に帰るのを送るという意味があります。送り火で点火する護摩木に、名前などを書いて納めると厄除けに、また盃に送り火を映して飲むと中風にならないとも言われています。夕方には雷鳴が轟き、強い雨が降った為、「大文字」が遅れましたが、８時半には「大文字」「妙・法」「船形」「左大文字」「鳥居形」の全てが夏の夜空に浮かび上がりました。火が消える頃には、忍び寄る秋の気配をわずかに感じられる一夜になりました。