Pearl City Hongwanji Bon Dance 2026

Pearl City Hongwanji was established in 1905 as a Jodo Shinshu Buddhist temple, one of many congregations formed by Japanese plantation workers across Oʻahu. The current 1938 building is one of the last intact plantation-era Buddhist temples on the island, its nave ceiling made of canec — a fiberboard pressed from sugarcane bagasse — a direct material link to Hawaiʻi's plantation past. Its bold irimoya roof is an integration of Japanese architectural forms with plantation-era construction techniques.

The bon dance runs a single night, with the temple's country store, crafts booths, and dessert café opening in the late afternoon before food booths begin service and the main event starts at 7 p.m. A Hatsubon memorial service — honoring those who passed in the preceding year — precedes the dancing. The evening also features live taiko drumming.