It was originally the 15th day of the seventh month that Japan designated for the ancient custom of Obon. A Buddhist celebration of the dead, Obon is today a three day event symbolized by the lighting of lanterns. The image below was taken during the August period designated for the Obon season in Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan.
The lighting of fires marks the beginning of the celebration where the families visit the graves of the dead and invite them to come home again. The mountains surrounding Kyoto are ablaze with the lantern lights set in the specific pattern illustrated here. Fires call okuribi are also lit at the families' residences in an effort to guide the Spirits of their dead ancestors back home.
At the end of the three days of Obon, usually on the 15th day of the month, the families set their paper candle lanterns with the Spirit of their dead to float freely in rivers and streams; dispersing their toro-nagoshi with their ancestors back into the heavens until the next year.
Here in the image at the right, the floating lanterns are sent out to sea...like the scattering of ashes they take their separate paths homeward. But the symbols of Obon, the patterns set into the hills of ancient Kyoto are curious. As I walked through the tombs in the Valley of the Kings on the left bank of the Nile two years after my visit to Japan, I noticed the same symbols lining the walls. I was told that archaeologists believe the carvings represented stars. We were not able to film in the tombs but our ARE tour guides provided us with some photos (one is featured below) from the walls of various tombs. These drawings and carvings in Valley of the Kings seemed at once curiously familiar to me.
Are these carved messages from the ancient Egyptians truly stars or are they perhaps symbols of a very old religion? 
When I first saw these carvings in the tomb of Ramses IV, immediately I felt that it was more than a coincidence; these drawings appear to me to be representing the same symbols that I saw in Kyoto for the age old Buddhist celebration of the dead known as Obon. When we as students of history see things in our small, specific frames of reference it is easy to make mistakes on trying to define or identify the meanings of things from another time. Having been to Japan to appreciate the ancient city of Kyoto from a different perspective it was an easy transition for me to view these religious sites of Egypt with a different eye; appreciating how another ancient civilization celebrated life by erecting and decorating tombs in honor of their dead. Are the symbols the same...is there a connection between Japan and Egypt from another time? Working with Spirit has taught me that there are no coincidences...just undiscovered secrets.