Obon & Daimonji Japanese Festival

It is believed that each year during Obon, starting on August 13th and ends on August 15th, the ancestors’ spirits return to this world in order to visit their relatives who remain.  Obon begins with the welcome fire Mukaebi 迎え火 . You put out a lantern or a very small fire in front of your home to guide the spirits back.

Inside homes, offerings of rice, green tea, fruit, sweets and ancestors’ favorite food are placed to offer the ancestors at the family’s Buddhist alter called Butsudan 仏壇.

During this time families visit the graves of the ancestors and perform ritual cleaning of the grave stones.

At the end of the 3 day ceremony there is a bonfire to send off the spirits back, Okuribi 送り火.

In Kyoto there is a large festival to send the spirits back called Daimonji大文字 Festival.  It’s formal name is Gozan no Okuribi五山の送り火 which means  “Five mountains send off fire”.  There are three giant characters, 大Dai, 妙法Myoho, another大Dai, and two shapes, one is a shape of boat 舟形Funagata, and the other is a shape of bird鳥居形Toriigata, made out of bonfires placed on mountain slopes.  The bonfires are large enough to be able to see from the distance.

At 8 PM on August 16th,2017, the bonfires will be lit starting with 大Dai, 妙Myo, 舟形Funagata, another大Dai, and 鳥居形Toriigata.  By 8:30 pm all of the bonfire characters are burning in the dark sky.

Gion Festival in July and this Daimonji大文字 Festival in August are very famous festivals in Kyoto, Japan.

In Tokushima in the island of Shikoku, there is a dance festival called Awa Odori 阿波踊りduring Obon.

This is the most famous dance festival during Obon date back 400 years, and draws over 1 million tourists every year.

Sadao and I are very proud of his Japanese heritage, and are always happy to share this culture with visitors to our Berkshires Shirakaba Japanese-American Guest House.

 

 

The post Obon & Daimonji Japanese Festival  appeared first on Berkshires-Shirakaba.

4th Place in USA Today’s “10Best Eco-Friendly Hotels 2017!”

After a month of voting, the results are in! And with competing earth-friendly resorts such as the Ritz-Carlton in Charlotte, Virgin Hotels in Chicago, and the Mardarin Oriental in Vegas… our little 2-suite Berkshires Shirakaba placed 4th! Thank you to everyone who voted for us!

Quaint Japanese Style Bed and Breakfast in the Berkshires

It’s quite an honor, to say the least! If you recall, USA Today began way back in 1982, and launched their website in 1995… back in the days when the world wide web was in its infancy. Their travel site, 10Best.com is where we were nominated by a panel of travel experts. Would you believe that travel site averages 5 million visitors per month?

This is what makes it even more exciting! Though we were nominated by travel experts… voting was done by regular Joe’s like you an me! And we placed fourth! Sadao and I are just really happy to have had our quiet little place nominated, let alone actually place!

Environmentally Friendly Green Hotel in the Berkshires

It’s always fun to be recognized as a leader in something you believe and practice for the benefit of others, not for yourself. Being environmentally conscious here in the Berkshires is just a way of life for us, and by sharing this sustainability with our guests, we hope to show others how enjoyable it is to tread lightly on this planet.

So I just wanted to send out this quick update regarding this very exciting news. The next time you’re in our neck of the woods, stop by and say hi! We’re always happy to have you!

The post 4th Place in USA Today’s “10Best Eco-Friendly Hotels 2017!” appeared first on Berkshires-Shirakaba.

Nominated for USA Today’s 10Best Eco-Friendly Hotels

A BIG Thank You to all our guests, friends and family who voted for Berkshires Shirakaba in
USA Today’s 10Best Eco Friendly Hotels contest!

Image credit: USA Today

Sadao and I have been together for many years now, and one thing that has always been important to us has been to have the smallest negative impact on our environment in everything we do. We were eco-friendly before it became the norm!

So it was just a given that we first built our home back in 1999, we would do it with the help and guidance of the Energy Star Program.

• We used triple pane Thermotech windows,
• Geothermal Furnace/cooling by Water Furnace,
• Solar panels on roof, radient floor heating,
• Icynene insulation (we even donated all the cut offs to be made into giant bumpers that were used on local ski slopes to keep guests from hitting trees!)
• We used all energy Star rated appliances and light fixtures.

Even today, we also use eco friendly products for cleaning and toiletries for guests and recycle/reuse everything we can.

Being environmentally aware has been our way of life for many years, and will continue to be. And we’re so happy to provide this environment for all our guest when they stay with us.

We have been so honored to be nominated as part of the 10Best… and are excited to see the results when they are posted on Friday!

I’ll keep you updated!

The post Nominated for USA Today’s 10Best Eco-Friendly Hotels appeared first on Berkshires-Shirakaba.