Hozo Shrine Urabon Memorial Festival
The 55th Hozo Shrine Urabon Memorial Festival was solemnly held from August 17 to 19 at the Seicho-No-Ie Uji Temple in Uji City, Kyoto Prefecture.
On August 19, the Hozo Shrine Main Festival, the Seirei Shokon Shrine Festival, the Memorial Tower for Neglected Souls of Aborted Children Throughout Japan Festival and the Suekazu Inari Shrine Festival were held. Rev. Masanobu Taniguchi, President of Seicho-No-Ie, served as the Chief Priest. Mrs. Junko Taniguchi, President of Seicho-No-Ie White Dove Association was also present at these ceremonies. A total of 5,382 people attended the three-day Festival. Throughout the Festival the weather was fine but marked by a terrible heat.
The Main Festival was held at the worship hall from 9:00 a.m. on August 19 and lasted for about one hour and forty minutes. At 9:00 a.m. Rev. and Mrs. Masanobu Taniguchi entered the worship hall. After the purification rite, opening of the shrine door, Invocation and offerings, Rev. Taniguchi read the supplication.
Rev. Taniguchi then offered a sacred branch and worshiped the Deities enshrined in Hozo Shrine, the Spirit-World Holy Missioners (Holy Mission Fellowship members in the spirit world and souls being perpetually memorialized), and this year’s newly memorialized souls.
Rev. Kamino Kusumoto, Head Priest of the Uji Temple, recited the prayer for the Main Festival. This was followed by Mrs. Junko Taniguchi’s offering of a sacred branch and worship.
Rev. Kusumoto and Rev. Kazuo Isobe, Chairman and CEO of Seicho-No-Ie, also offered sacred branches and worshiped. This was followed by eulogy by Rev. Toshio Seno, a director of Uji Temple. He read the ceremonial statement and eulogized the contribution of 35 souls to the Humanity Enlightenment Movement, including the late Rev. Tetsuo Sugimura, who served as the Chief of Aomori and Iwate Missionary Areas.
Then during the reading of the Holy Sutra, Nectarean Shower of Holy Doctrines, the attendees proceeded to the front of the worship hall and made offerings of incense.
This was followed by the offering of a sacred dance, “Urayasu no Mai,” the removal of the offerings, the Affirmation of Perfect Peace and Harmony, and the closing of the doors before the Main Festival came to an end.
On August 17, the spirit extraction ceremony of the Sending Off Festival was held to extract the souls from the spirit registers that had been memorialized over the past year at the Hozo Shrine. On August 18, the purifying flame ceremony of the same Festival was held for the old spirit registers. There was also a ceremony to call the spirits. While the attendees read the Holy Sutra, Nectarean Shower of Holy Doctrines, 1,214 volunteers from Missionary Areas across Japan read the names from 2,252,757 soul registers (down by 174,047 from last year), which were subsequently placed in the Hozo Shrine for memorialization for one year by the reading of the Holy Sutra, Nectarean Shower of Holy Doctrines.
Also, on the evening of the same day, a Bon Dance was held near the Shrine, where 15 groups from various parts of the country participated.