The flower festival in Jintoku Temple celebrates the birthday of Shaka.

The historical Buddha Shaka, which was the first Buddha ever to come to Japan in 538, is being honored Sunday with a flower festival in Naha City.

The Jintoku Temple Flower Festival begins at 11:30 a.m. Sunday at the Jintoku Temple located at 38 Asato, in Naha City.  It’s free to the public.  Shakyamuni was presented to Japan by a Korean King, and Shaka has become a popular figure in Okinawa.

The “Flower Festival” which celebrates Shaka’s birthday is performed every year.  The page children who put on vivid clothes celebrate Shaka’s birthday, apply sweet tea to the Buddha statue located in the center

Children dressed in colorful garments have an important part in the ceremony.

after sutra recitation. The first participants can also hear beneficial talk from the monks.

Delicious meals will be also prepared after this Buddhist service.  The page children’s procession along Kokusai street is also planned.  Jintoku Temple is a Shingon sect temple located in the Asato district of Naha. It was built as a second temple of Hachiman Gu. The principal image of this temple is Acala, literally the “immovable” one.  Acala is one of fierce, angry-faced guardian deities of Vajrayana Buddhism, otherwise known as esoteric Buddhism, and is particularly revered by Buddhists in Japan.

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