Obon Season in Hawaiʻi

Obon season in Hawaiʻi is usually in the summertime, between June and September, and is so much fun! It is an outdoor community celebration, usually held at Buddhist temples and parks on the four major islands.

The community enjoys the gathering for its ono food, rummage finds, plant sales, craft fairs, music, dancing, and dessert. But it’s so much more than that! It is rooted in Japanese Buddhism as a tradition where everyone honors the spirits of the ancestors through music, food, and dance.

Even if you don’t share this belief, what I find most humbling and rewarding is taking part in appreciating others’ cultures and traditions. During the bon dance, everyone unfamiliar will focus on the leaders in the center of the circle, who are usually elders. Watching them gracefully flow through the movements that they have memorized, you can’t help but be in awe of them. And then, when your eyes meet theirs and they smile at you, it’s like they are passing on a message not to forget those who came before you and to carry on with all that they have sacrificed for you to make the next generation even better.

Japan Guide states that Obon is the annual Buddhist festival based on the belief that the spirits of the deceased ancestors temporarily return to the living world to visit their families.

At this Mililani Hongwanji Mission bon dance that I try to get to every year, I felt my grandma and grandpa with me. When my eyes met an obachan or aunty in the center of the circle, I felt a warmth in my heart and had a flash back to being a little girl in my yukata on Maui, following my own obaachan to do the “Tanko Bushi” or the coal miner’s song ““Tsuki ga deta deta, tsuki ga deta…”

It is something so beautiful to not only witness, but take part in.

I can’t describe it; you just have to try it!

Finding peace by piece:

Sometimes a peace you didn’t even know you were searching for, can be found in the eyes of an obachan dancing a piece in the middle of the circle.