Kahului Hongwanji Bon Dance

Kahului Hongwanji was established in 1911 as a branch of Wailuku Hongwanji Mission, originally serving Japanese plantation workers, and became an independent Jodo Shinshu congregation in 1957. Its obon carries a double legacy: in October 1972, after HC&S closed its plantation villages, the neighboring Puunene Hongwanji — which had served that community for 62 years — merged into Kahului Hongwanji. As a symbol of that union, a sapling from Puunene Mission's Bodhi tree was planted on the front lawn, folding the ancestral memory of two congregations into a single annual dance.

The mission completed a new yagura for its 2025 bon dance, giving the traditional raised tower a permanent home on the temple grounds for dancers to circle beneath. The two-night event features food booths and taiko drummers alongside the bon odori.

Bon dance (bon odori) is the centerpiece of obon, the Japanese Buddhist season honoring ancestors. In Hawaii the tradition arrived with plantation-era immigrants and became its own local institution — most temples across the islands hold a dance on a summer weekend between June and September, and the whole community turns out.

The setup is consistent: a yagura (a raised tower) anchors the temple yard, taiko drummers and singers keep the beat, and dancers move in concentric circles around the tower. You don't need to know the steps or be Buddhist to join — follow the circle, copy the person ahead of you, and you'll pick it up by the second song. Around the edges you'll find food booths selling andagi, plate lunches, shave ice, and saimin, plus craft and game tables.