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Fumizuki: Star Festivals, Welcoming Departed Ancestors, and Other July Traditions

  • Brightly colored tanzaku flutter from a rooftop forest of bamboo branches in an 1857 by Utagawa Hiroshige in his series One Hundred Famous Views of Edo. (Courtesy ColBase)

    Brightly colored tanzaku flutter from a rooftop forest of bamboo branches in an 1857 by Utagawa Hiroshige in his series One Hundred Famous Views of Edo. (Courtesy ColBase)

  • The Iriya morning glory market depicted in an 1866 print by Hiroshige II. (Courtesy Tokyo Metropolitan Central Library Special Collection Room)

    The Iriya morning glory market depicted in an 1866 print by Hiroshige II. (Courtesy Tokyo Metropolitan Central Library Special Collection Room)

  • Iriya’s morning glory market attracts swarms of visitors with its vast array of flowers. (© Pixta)

    Iriya’s morning glory market attracts swarms of visitors with its vast array of flowers. (© Pixta)

  • Mukaebi fires welcome ancestral spirits home for Obon. (© Pixta)

    Mukaebi fires welcome ancestral spirits home for Obon. (© Pixta)

  • A bonfire depicting the kanji “big” burns on Kyoto’s Nyoigatake, in the series Famous Places in the Capital by Hasegawa Sadanobu. (Courtesy National Diet Library)

    A bonfire depicting the kanji “big” burns on Kyoto’s Nyoigatake, in the series Famous Places in the Capital by Hasegawa Sadanobu. (Courtesy National Diet Library)

  • Boats ply the waters at Takanawa carrying revelers awaiting the moon in an 1864 print by Utagawa Toyokuni III and Utagawa Hiroshige II. (Courtesy Tokyo Metropolitan Central Library Special Collection Room)

    Boats ply the waters at Takanawa carrying revelers awaiting the moon in an 1864 print by Utagawa Toyokuni III and Utagawa Hiroshige II. (Courtesy Tokyo Metropolitan Central Library Special Collection Room)

  • Parishioners crowd the confines of a temple in the Kuramae area of Asakusa to pay their respects to a giant image of Enma. Normally closed to the public, the statue was displayed on July 16. (Courtesy ColBase)

    Parishioners crowd the confines of a temple in the Kuramae area of Asakusa to pay their respects to a giant image of Enma. Normally closed to the public, the statue was displayed on July 16. (Courtesy ColBase)

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