Obon lantern designs: hanging, floating and Bon Odori lanterns

Lanterns of Obon, the Japanese summer festival when families welcome the spirits of their ancestors home. The paper chochin hangs at the house and at the Bon Odori dance; floating lanterns go on the river on the last night. The nine designs show the lanterns themselves, as people paint or print them. Choose sumi ink, woodblock print or flat vector. Type a different motif, such as a gold crest, cranes or lotus, and the three treatments follow the request.

• a lantern design for a summer festival poster
• a display for a Bon Odori evening
• a painting or print project for a class
• a card or banner with a Japanese summer theme

Frequently asked questions

What does the floating lantern look like?

A square paper lantern on dark water, lit from within, with lotus flowers on its four sides and its reflection on the ripples.

What is on the hanging lantern?

A round paper chochin with a single family-crest circle, a band of waves and a red tassel beneath.

What is written on the Bon Odori lanterns?

Each lantern carries one black character, 盆, the Obon character.

Can I ask for a different motif?

Yes. Type a motif as a direction; the design follows the request and is not a guaranteed result.

About toile

This page is a showcase and a starting point: nine samples already rendered, three readings of the pack crossed with three styles, each shown at the size and ratio it was made for. Take any of them further on the wall with a few words, or ask for all nine again under your own direction; a sign-in keeps what you make, and it is free while Toile is new. The recipe behind each sample — the subject, the style, the palette, the framing — travels with the image rather than staying private to the render: it is in the alt text of every sample and in the page's own structured data, so a search engine reads the same handles a person would.