User:HelloAnnyong/Translated/Shoronagashi

The Spirit Boat Procession (精霊流し, Shōrō nagashi) is an event celebrated in various places in Nagasaki prefecture, Japan. It is part of the Bon Festival. During the event, the souls of the deceased are mourned and sent off.

Description[edit]

Started in Nagasaki city, various places in the prefecture participate in this traditional event for O-Bon. (However, places that are far from the ocean do not do this.) The basic idea is special boats called shōrōbune (精霊船) have the spirits of the dead on them, and the souls are carried away as they float off into the water. Although it is performed mainly by people who have lost family in the past year (and this is the first O-Bon since then), other people take O-Bon lanterns or artificial flowers and do it.

It is done every year on the night of August 15, and is done with the sounds of firecrackers, gongs, and various kakegoe. The boats are built to have splendor that's evocative of festival floats, and many tourists come to see the event. Although shoro nagashi is mistakenly thought to be a matsuri, it is actually a Buddhist event of mourning the deceased.

People who are not having the first obon after a death do not make the boats; instead, they make small mats woven from straw and put flowers or fruit (as an offering) on them, and float those instead. Previously the boats and offerings would wash out to sea, but in Nagasaki city in 1871 it was banned. These days, however, the boats can be floated out.

In Nagasaki city there is a festival called Nagasaki Kunchi. A shorobune structure resembles a pulled thing in a type of performance. This performance involves parading around a festival car, and the boat mimics this. In a video relay, a local historian describes it as a shipwreck, and every year it is explained as an evil deed? This deed is often seen as likeable, and police have to regulate dancing around the boat.

In Ōhato, a part of Nagasaki, heavy machinery is used to disassemble the large boats. Family members and relatives take home the Bon festival lanterns, pictures of the deceased, and the mortuary tables. The carrier of the boat press their hands together in the añjali mudrā, and the boat is destroyed.

Shorobune[edit]

The shorobune can be split up into two large groups. There are boats sent by individuals, and then boats created by neighborhood councils or people with regional bonds, called "moyaibune". It is typical for an individual to send a boat, and this became popular after World War II. In the years before the 1950s, moyaibune were more popular, as an individual making a boat was relatively expensive, so it was limited to the rich.

Aside from individual and group boats, there are also so-called large boats, and splendid boats, which are for status. As moyaibune are more traditional, aside from neighborhood boats, hospitals and funereal/ceremonial companies perform workmen's songs and send their own boats. Boats can also be sent for one's pets.

The line up to the place where the boats are released has the chief mourner who carries a lantern with the family crest, led by the leader of the people in charge (who is also carrying a lantern). Young people carrying lanterns that are stuck to the end of poles, gongs. Afterwards many adults who are wearing white happi coats move the shorobune (it's referred to as 'shouldering' the boat, though really it's on the ground and is pulled.)

From around 5 PM to past 10, so that nothing particularly interesting happens, many of the boats are created so as to appear lit. The average boat is lit up by a light bulb driven by a battery. Small boats and some others use candles, but as there's the chance of it burning, more people use electricity. Boats that are dozens of meters long use some form of electrical generator. The boats can be built from a number of different materials and no particular one is preferred, though cogongrass is popular in Saikai, Nagasaki^[1], and some other people use hardened corrugated cardboard.

The shorobune has the family crest and the family name at the prow of the ship, and moyaibune have the village name on them. The briddge of the ship has the mortuary tablet and a portrait of the deceased, is decorated with flowers, and is illuminated by a festival lantern. Often boats also have a sail with sutras for Buddha and Kannon.

The lanterns with family crests on them are each different. Moyaibune are decorated by the village symbol. Boats made by individuals have the family crest or something that exemplifies the deceased (for example, someone who liked shogi may have a shogi piece on them; children may have an anime character.)

Boat size varies, but overall they are between 1 and 2 meters, though some can be as long as 20 to 50 meters.

The basic form of the boat is as described above, but in recent years a desire to play or have fun has caused a change in styles. So-called kawari shorobune (変わり精霊船) can be seen a great deal more (for example, someone who liked yachts may have a yacht-shaped boat.)

Origin and firecrackers[edit]

There are various theories as to the festival's origin, though it is believed to be strongly influenced by a similar Chinese festival. The meaning of the firecrackers that are fired on the side of the road leading up to the launching place comes from a Chinese idea on how to ward off evil spirits, and by passing the boats by, they are cleansed. In recent years these beliefs have faded, much as the problem of Chinese New Year firecrackers in China. The trend has moved strongly towards as a way of showing off. Many firecrackers are put into cardboard boxes and set off all at once, creating a pillar of flames, a dangerous situation viewed as a problem. As spectators could be directly hit, rocket-shaped firecrackers are prohibited. There are people trained by the police in how to handle rockets that are around to keep issues to a minimum.

Sightseeing points[edit]

In Nagasaki city, Nagasaki Broadcasting Company records from outside the Nagasaki prefectural office where many boats are deployed. In the area around the Nagasaki city government office, near the shitamachi, there are many traditional moyaibune.

Regulations for municipalities[edit]

道路上での船の作成や、全長2m以上の船を流す場合は、所轄の警察署長の道路使用許可が必要。
船の大きさは最大で全長10m（10m以上の場合は10m以下の船を連結する）、胴体7m、幅2.5m、高さ3.5m（持ち上げたり担いだりしたときの高さ）。
矢火矢（やびや、ロケット花火）、連発花火などの使用禁止。悪質な場合は法律に基づき処罰される。
花火を人や車両に向けて使ってはいけない。
流し場で取り扱える精霊船の大きさは各所で異なり、大きいものは長崎市であれば大波止など、一部の場所でしか扱えない。
（長崎市）花火取扱者以外の花火取り扱いは禁止^[2]。
（長崎市）責任者は青、花火取扱者は赤のたすきが必要。このたすきは事前の届け出を行う際に、所轄警察署の署長から交付される^[2]。

Effects on the city[edit]

During the time of the procession, transportation regulations are in effect in places around the starting areas, and services are affected.
After the procession when municipalities are disposing of their boats, the taking in of oversized garbage is temporarily suspended.

Masashi Sada[edit]

Shoro nagashi is an important event to people in Nagasaki, and according to Masashi Sada, a singer from Nagasaki, the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945 left many people asking, "If I die, who will sail a boat for me?" as they died.

When a male cousin of Sada's died, he used that to write a hit song called Shoro nagashi. However, the song became associated with tōrō nagashi (a similar ceremony), and tourists with an inaccurate image in their heads would come to see the ceremony, and would exclaim "This is different from the song!" In the song, Sada wrote "Shoro nagashi is gorgeous", and on the album that the song was released, the song opens with the sound of a firecracker exploding. Even though the song was written out of sadness, it strongly gives an impression that the event is not.

At the end of 2009 Sada's father died, and in 2010 he and his family sailed a boat in honor of his father. Footage was broadcasted all around the country.^[3]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

[1] チガヤや竹で精霊船作り　西海・柳地区、お盆の伝統脈々 - 長崎新聞

[nagasaki-2] 広報ながさき8月号

[3] お盆の伝統行事「精霊流し」、長崎 on YouTube

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