File picture of Japanese devotees with their mini rath

Japanese devotees keep their promise to attend the rath yatra festival every year and once again they are busy with preparations for their mini car festival in Puri.

They are ready with their colourful mini chariots that will house replicas of the sibling deities and will be pulled on Sunday coinciding with the main festival.

The festival holds special significance for Buddhists since they believe that among the three deities Lord Jagannath is Buddha, Goddess Subhadra is Dharma and Lord Balabhadra is Sangha.

But since Buddhists are not allowed to enter the Jagannath temple and it is only during the car festival that they get a chance to get a glimpse of the Lord. Japanese devotees believe in coming to Puri braving all odds.

“Every year we host a team of 25 to 30 people from Japan at our India Japanese Friendship Centre. They gladly come to Puri to participate in the rope pulling rituals and even every year build their own chariots,” said Srimanta Kumar Dash, president of the centre.

The Japanese come from Tokyo, Kobe, Osaka and celebrate their mini rath yatra. The three chariots they build are about five-feet tall and two-feet wide.

“Male devotees usually take up the task of building the chariot, while the women love to decorate them with colourful papers. We love to wear traditional clothes on the rath day. Men go for dhoti kurta, while women either sport saris or salwar kameezees. Other foreigners, too, join our rath pulling event,” said Naoko, a Japanese devotee.

“There are lot of similarities between Hinduism and Buddhism. Our religion has a strong connection with Lord Jagannath and we Japanese are devoted followers of Lord Jagannath,” said another devotee.

The Japanese chariots tour from Pentacota to Chakra Tirtha Road. This is the fourth annual edition of their chariot pulling ceremony.

“They have been sincerely coming here every year to display their affection for the deities. Every year a few new faces to join after hearing tales of their friends’ experience,” said Dash of the decade old Friendship Centre.