Obon & Cultural Festival

By Joyce Chen, Mercury News

Palo Alto, USA -- The Palo Alto Buddhist Temple will hold its 56th annual Obon and Cultural Festival this weekend.

The festival will take place on the temple grounds at 2751 Louis Road from 5 to 10 p.m. Saturday and from noon to 9 p.m. Sunday. Saturday attendees can watch demonstrations of kendo, Japanese fencing, and buyo, Japanese classical dance, according to Jeanette Arakawa, cultural program co-chair for the temple. Sunday's festivities include an arts and crafts booth for children, a traditional Japanese tea ceremony and bon odori, a Buddhist folk dance.

The festival will open each day with a lecture on Buddhism. Dr. Mark Unno, associate professor of Religious Studies at the University of Oregon, will speak Saturday on the spiritual aspects of the Pure Land school of Buddhism. The next day, Dr. Ronald Nakasone, professor of Buddhist studies at Berkeley's Graduate Theological Union, will give a presentation tracing the historical development of Buddhism in Asia.