Celebrating the Spirit of Obon — June 15-19

HANAPEPE — The Kaua’i Soto Zen Temple Zenshuji in Hanapepe is celebrating The Spirit of Obon this week.

“Because the Obon 2022 season has been canceled by the Kaua’i Buddhist Council, our focus this year is to let our guests experience the cultural and religious traditions of Obon by participating in activities and rituals that Buddhists and Japanese people do,” said Jerry Hirata, president of the Kaua’i Soto Zen Temple Zenshuji. “If the Kaua’i Buddhist Council had its bon dance season, this time frame would be the time set aside for the Kaua’i Soto Zen Temple.”

The temple grounds will be open to the public from noon to dusk Wednesday to Sunday. The temple will be decorated with nearly 500 chochin, each bearing the name of a loved one.

Guests will be allowed to ring the bonsho, or the large bell at the bell tower near the monkeypod tree on the Hanapepe armory side of the grounds, in memory of their loved ones.

“Obon is a time to remember your departed loved ones at the family altar at home, giving offerings of food as if the family ancestral spirits were there, to feast and celebrate together,” Hirata said.

“Or remember them through memorial services at the temples by writing their names on a toba, reciting them during a service, and acknowledging them through prayer in a moment of gratitude.”

During that time, there will be exhibits, activities, food and game booths.

Special programs will be featured on Saturday and Sunday.

“Read about the origins of Obon in the ‘Let’s Bon Dance!’ workshop booklet,” Hirata said.

“The ‘Let’s Bon Dance!’ workshop will be held daily from Wednesday through Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m. so guests can have fun and learn what bon dancing is all about, the songs, the music with the rhythms of the taiko.”

A light food menu will be available Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, with festival offerings available Saturday and Sunday from 4 p.m. These include flying saucers, shoyu chicken and nishime.

“There will be a lot of exhibits that will highlight the Soto Zen’s rich plantation roots and heritage — from pidgin English to games children played,” Hirata said.

“There are rich historical superlatives, such as being the first Zen temple in Hawai’i and the Americas, a bodhi tree next to the Kannon Peace Statue that may go back to the time of the Buddha, and two U.S. congressmen, Daniel Inouye and Spark Matsunaga, who had McBryde Sugar plantation roots, not to mention church members who came as picture brides and sang the ‘Hole HoleBushi.'” Torao Hikariyama, a local singing sensation who performs ondo music in Japanese or Okinawa and enka, will be on stage at 6 p.m. Saturday with a cultural performance with ondo songs and a troupe of men and women dancers, the Kaua’i Soto Zen Ondo dancers and the Men of Koi Dynasty, doing an exhibition.

From 5 p.m. Sunday, Hikariyama will be hosting a concert showcasing his enka stylings.

A fire-burning ceremony will close the five-day festival starting at 6 p.m. Sunday.

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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland. com.