I'm assuming @everything bagel knows more about this festival than I, having been raised Shinto and being a Buddhist. But in Shinto, to hang upside down like Mussolini did is symbolic of the same thing the cross means in Christianity. When Jesus said to carry one's cross, it implied "To suffer greatly".
To hang upside down in Shinto means to "suffer greatly", but it actually came from a Buddhist Monk and his vision of his deceased mother hanging upside down which the Buddha told him to give alms and pray for her suffering to go away.
Obon is a Japanese term translated from the Sanskrit word ‘Ullambana’ which actually means ‘to hang upside down’. It is used to imply the excruciating suffering, be it physical or spiritual, when one is hung upside down. The festival is considered an Invitation to the Dead because it is believed to be the time the spirits revisit our world. Even though such dark imagery is associated with its name and meaning, the Obon festival is actually a fun tradition celebrated with large gatherings, family reunions, and bright lanterns.
Mokuren Sonja, Sâkyamuni’s disciple and a priest renowned for his supernatural powers amongst all the other disciples, used these supernatural powers to meditate about his deceased mother seen hanging upside down.
Obon is a Buddhist festival but also became Shinto, as most people who adhere to Shinto also practice Buddhism.
The Obon festival (also known as Bon festival) is an annual Japanese holiday which commemorates and remembers deceased ancestors. It is believed that their spirits return at this time to visit their relatives.
Chochin (paper) lanterns are hung to guide the spirits and Obon dances (bon odori) are performed. Families have reunions and visit the graves of their relatives and make food offerings at altars and temples.
It is observed from the 13th to the 15th day of the 7th month.
On the first day of Obon, people take the chochin lanterns to the graves of their families. They call their ancestors’ spirits back home in a ritual called mukae-bon. In some regions, huge fires are lit at the entrances of houses to guide the spirits to enter.
At the end of the Obon festival, families help their ancestors’ spirits return back to the grave by guiding them with their chochin lanterns. The ritual is called okuri-bon. Again, the ritual varies slightly between different regions of Japan.
In recent years, floating lanterns (toro nagashi) have gained in popularity. The beautiful lanterns float down a river that runs to the sea to symbolically send their ancestors’ spirits into the sky.
The style of the traditional Bon Odori dance varies from region to region but it is normally based around the rhythms of Japanese taiko drums. Dancers perform on a yagura stage and participants wear light cotton kimonos. Anyone can join in the dances which are held in parks, temples, and other public places around Japan.
Independent studies have discovered archeological evidence that Mussolini is now a weeb:
One thing these findings reveal is that Il Duce has an annoying obsession with Japanese culture plus the patriotic Nationalistic state Religion (but he doesn't like Anime as a general rule), and after taking the place of the Egyptian Sun God, it became a scientific fact that Amaterasu and he became joined in a type of matrimony and that may have resulted in a baby dragon named "Frankie three fingers" being born. But everyone knows that already.
So his hanging upside down was destiny no doubt, and he wants all nations to have a Yasukuni Shrine (Home of the war dead where everyone who dies for the country is ensrhined on the wall or written in a "book of souls".)
Shinto is a cool One-world Religion. In fact, I know of no other that could potentially be practiced by virtually every Religion without contradicting any Doctrine or Sacred Text, including Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.
So in Il Duce's One World Government, Shinto is the one world Religion that is to bind all Religions together as a common bond so that they form one unbreakable Fasces and have unity.
Unlike Christianity and Islam, which are intrinsically full of bigotry, Shinto has no Scriptures, so is not in it's essence bigoted or hateful (despite the behavior of adherents sometimes being otherwise, that isn't it's intrinsic nature).
The Bible full of hatred, radical misogyny (Sexism) , and a Yahweh calls himself a "jealous God" and easily verified racist, misogynist, intolerant, mass-murdering bigot (which SusieDerkins should know by now, and she repeatedly uses Scripture to judge, harrass, and condemn what others hold as sacred by using such insults as "Whore of Babylon, Evil Mother of Harlots, Idolators" etc) Shinto is free of such toxic teachings.
The only Doctrine in Shinto is "Belief in the Kami (Spirits)". God is Kami as well as Angels. It's kind of hard to find a Religion that contradicts "Belief in Kami" (unless it's a completely material Religion that denies entirely the existence of Spirits, which I personally wouldn't call such a system of belief to be a Religion.)
So, while the Bible causes incessant arguments over Doctrine, and is a book that repeatedly contradicts itself, (causing wars and brutal inquisitions over Doctrine and Scripture interpretation), Shinto doesn't have any basis for that behavior.
Soldiers of Yasukuni are over 2 million 400 thousand immortal Kami I call "Samurai Buddhas and Sun Divinities" enshrined in one holy sanctuary to be invoked in trying times. I'd seriously consider having a personal relationship with them but some of them are class A war criminals, so be careful not to piss them off. They are good to their friends though.
They include all the Kamikaze pilots and Kaiten suicide torpedo men who fearlessly did their last toast to the Emperor and said "we shall see each other again at Yasukuni Shrine. You can see live footage of some them and the Kamikaze here (which I've shared elsewhere but who knows. I could watch the soldiers of Yasukuni in action more than once:
