| Summary: | 碩士 === 義守大學 === 應用日語學系碩士班 === 98 === Although both Chinese Chungyuan Festival and Japanese Ullambana Festival originated in India, they evolved into festivals that feature their respective rituals and customs after a long period of time. Now, Chinese Chungyuan Festival and Japanese Ullambana Festival have become important festivals for both Chinese and the Japanese, and reflect the core values and ethical thoughts of the two civilizations.
As a time-honored product of Confucian, Buddhist, and Taoist doctrines, Chinese Chungyuan Festival is an important festival for Chinese people and reflects the long-lasting ethical thoughts of the Chinese civilization. The Chinese’ offering sacrifices to ghosts and deities is a practice that dates back to ancient China. The ancient Chinese had created rituals and customs of offering sacrifices to ghosts and deities. Afterward, Buddhism was introduced into China, and in consequence the Chinese began offering sacrifices to ghosts and deities with definite timing and rituals. Furthermore, in addition to offering sacrifices, Chungyuan Festival embodies the traditional Chinese ethical thoughts under the influence of Confucian, Buddhist, and Taoist doctrines.
The Ullambana Festival was introduced to Japan from China through the Sino-Japanese Cultural Exchange in ancient time. It ranks second behind the New Year Day as an important festival in Japan and is a family reunion holiday among Japanese. After its introduction into Japan, Ullambana Festival evolved into a festival with rituals and customs different from those of its Chinese counterpart. Although Ullambana Festival is an ancient Chinese export to Japan, it keeps its Chinese spirit and embodies additional unique Japanese cultural values; hence, Japanese Ullambana Festival is a special festival.
The objective of this study is to explore the origin of Chungyuan Festival and Ullambana Festival and then discuss their respective characteristics and embodied thoughts, from a comparative perspective.
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