What Are Bonbana? | The Meaning of Misohagi and Hōzuki, Japan’s Obon Flowers, Explained Simply for Beginners
The flowers offered during Obon to welcome the ancestors home have their own name: bonbana. Misohagi, used to sprinkle water; hōzuki, whose red husks stand in for the lantern that lights the road; the old custom of going into the hills to gather them; and how offering flowers before the Buddha grew into ikebana — traced gently for those meeting them for the first time.
