Shinnyo-en Lantern Floating Ceremony at Lake Kawaguchi

Date: August 16, 2012
Location: Lake Kawaguchi, Japan

Shinnyo-en’s founders first conducted a lantern floating ceremony in 1936 when paper lanterns were set afloat on a small stream near Oyasono, the first Shinnyo temple outside of Tokyo, to honor the passing of their son. The service in its present form began in 1952 at Lake Kasumigaura. Since 1988 it is has been held at the foot of Mount Fuji on Lake Kawaguchi in Yamanashi prefecture. Today, the Shinnyo lantern floating on Lake Kawaguchi, one of the largest held in Japan, is the forerunner of the annual Lantern Floating Hawai’i held each year on Memorial Day in Honolulu for over 40,000 people.

Families near Lake Kawaguchi gather in advance to prepare lanterns for the ceremony, and the public, who gather at the lakeside before sundown, also has the opportunity to prepare lanterns.