- Tōrō nagashi
nihongo|Tōrō nagashi|灯籠流し is a Japanese ceremony in which participants float paper lanterns (chōchin) down a river. This is primarily done on the last evening of the Buddhist Obon festival as a way to supposedly guide the
spirit s of the departed back to the other world.The ceremony may be done on some other days of the year, for similar reasons, such as to commemorate those lost in the bombing of
Hiroshima and those who died onJapan Airlines Flight 123 ; or in other areas of the world, such asHawaii , to commemorate the end ofWorld War II . Obon takes place on the thirteenth to sixteenth of August or July, depending on the calendar you go by. The white lanterns are for those who have died in the past year. Some Japanese believe that we come from water, so the lanterns represent our bodies returning to water (the sea).External links
* [http://www.lanternfloatinghawaii.com/ Lantern Floating Hawaii] Official site of Hawaii's largest Tourou Nagashi ceremony, held at Magic Island in Honolulu. Presented by Shinnyo-en Hawaii and the Na Lei Aloha Foundation.
* [http://www.lightfantastic.org/imr/extras/videoblog/archives/2006/05/toro_nagashi.html Tourou Nagashi Video] A videoblog entry from the 2006 Tourou Nagashi ceremony in Honolulu.
* [http://apple3.web.infoseek.co.jp/nishi/hiroshima/toro.htm Tourou Nagashi Photos]
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