Spirit Horses 精霊馬 (shōryōma) 2
Recently we celebrated the 御盆 o-bon, a festival similar to the druid holiday that became Halloween. During this season, the dead come back home to reunite with their descendants and families come together. In Tōkyō, this is an excuse to get out of the city and return to one’s hometown or just have a 夏休み (natsu yasumi – summer vacation). There are still festivals connected to o-bon in Tōkyō and various traditions, but much of it has become watered down over the years.
When you go to the country, you’ll find a variety of local practices that are still alive and well during this season. One is the making of Spirit Horses 精霊馬 (shōryō uma). These are made from from eggplants with chopsticks. They represent the horses that will bring the departed souls from their graves back to their ancestral home. These makeshift spirit horses (shōryō uma) are placed in front of the house with some other food offerings. Often a scene is created, not unlike a nativity scene in Christian homes. The horses may have saddles made from そうめん (summer noodles) and may have troughs of sweet beans or rice or anything. The idea being, the deceased ancestors are part of the clan and are always welcome back.
The family may put 線香 (senkō) incense at both the family grave or graveyard (墓・霊屋) and the home of the main branch family. The idea being that the spirits of the deceased can follow the smoke from the grave to the home and vice-versa.
As I said before, traditions vary throughout the country (even the date is different). Some areas use cucumber or both eggplant and cucumber. Since travel restrictions were lifted at the ed of the Edo Period, families have become mixed so many conventions have become integrated. It’s essentially a family thing now.
And in Tōkyō, you may never see this at all.