Toro Nagashi

From the organizers

The Japanese Arts Foundation is proud to welcome you to our annual Toro Nagashi  lantern ceremony, in Jackson Park’s Garden of the Phoenix. We hope to invite you to join us in this meaningful ceremony to process the loss of loved ones, and to strengthen our bonds as a community. Toro nagashi refers to the Japanese river lantern festivals held in summer where participants release candle-lit lanterns into the river together with their prayers for peace.

This year’s ceremony is held in partnership with the Japanese Culture Center, Chicago Park District, and Asian Improv Arts Midwest.

**We expect this event to be well attended and visitors will be welcomed on a first come first served basis.

About Toro Nagashi

The ceremony of Toro Nagashi (literally, “floating lanterns”) is a Buddhist tradition held to celebrate the end of Obon season. Toro Nagashi can be a smaller family affair to remember lost family members or a much bigger event to memorialize those who have been lost to natural disasters, war, and other causes. Toro Nagashi officially begins at the moment the ancestors commence their return to the spirit world. Communities come together to guide the spirits down to the sea using traditional candle-lit lanterns (toro). Toro nagashi is to send off a spirit to the other world), so the lanterns visually represent the spirits’ send off to the other world.

Lanterns will be floated in the waters of the Garden of the Phoenix pond, and can be placed throughout the garden, Yoko Ono’s SKYLANDING, and along with the sounds of shamisen courtesy of renowned musician Toyoaki Sanjuro of Asian Improv Arts Midwest will comfort guests throughout the evening. This year shares the date of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan where to this date one of the largest Toro Nagashi in the country is held to pay respect to the lives lost as a result of that tragic world event.

For more information visit: https://www.japaneseartsfoundation.org/toro-nagashi