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The segaki (施餓鬼; "feeding the hungry ghosts") is a Japanese Buddhist ritual, traditionally performed to stop the suffering of the such restless ghosts/monsters as Gaki (餓鬼, lit. "Hungry Ghosts"), Jikininki (食人鬼, lit. "Man-eating Ghost/Oni") and Muenbotoke (無縁仏, lit. "Without Buddha")--the dead who have no living relatives)--all ghosts tormented by an insatiable hunger. Alternatively, the ritual forces them to return to their portion of hell or keeps the spirits of the dead from falling into the realm of the gaki. The segaki may be performed at any time, but traditionally performed as part of the yearly Urabon'e (Sanskrit: उल्लम्बन Ullambana) services in July to remember the dead and the segaki ritual for offering alms to specifically hungry gaki or muenbotoke, not for spirits of one's ancestor.

The ritual is held at Buddhist temples and there is a custom to place segaki-dana (rack for gaki) or gaki-dana (shelf for gaki) at home, present offerings (traditionally rice and water) for hungry ghosts who are wandering in this world as muenbotoke during Urabon'e or O-bon. Various Japanese Buddhist traditions also typically have different segaki rites.

In Chinese Buddhism, there are various rituals that correspond to the Japanese Buddhist segaki rite, such as the mengshan shishi, which is carried out during daily evening liturgical services, as well as the yujia yankou, which is often after or as part of regular temple events and services like the shuilu fahui ceremony. The ritual is known as mataka dānēs or matakadānaya in Sri Lankan Buddhism.

From Segaki on Wikipedia