Obon Happi Times Reflections
Obon is a time for reflection and for appreciation of our ancestors. It is also a time when families and the community gather at the temple for Bon Dance – a festive evening of dancing, delicious food and friendship. Colorful happi coats are often worn by men, women and children.
Please enjoy these reflections from a few BWA members which include:
cherished or happy memories of Obon or Bon Dance, and/or
photos wearing a happi coat, kimonos and other festival items
The smell of BBQ meat grilling brings back memories of Bon Dances at Ewa Plantation. As a child buying a fist full of BBQ meat sticks for a dollar. All us little girls dressed in kimono and wearing red lipstick. Memories of long ago.
Our grandchildren comes to the Betsuin Bon Dance and we enjoy the food but we also have pictures taken by a professional photographer. The Betsuin BWA ladies bring out racks of kimonos and slippers in different sizes and dress us from top to bottom. Thank you Betsuin BWA ladies for helping to create Bon Dance memories for our grandchildren.
by Liane Wong
Our family has such joyful memories of participating in Bon Dance circles in So. California and Hawaii. This photo was taken at the Buddhist Temple of San Diego in 2000. I'm wearing my yellow Vista Buddhist Temple happi and our son, Forrest, is sporting his YBICSE (Young Buddhist Int'l Cultural Study Exchange) happi. Roy is joining us in the Coalminer's Dance where we "mine the coal" with hammer and chisel! After "working" so hard, we run to the shave ice booth for a refreshing treat!
by Wendie Yumori
It was fun time during bon season to go dancing with the five of us…Ayako Taketa, Carol Yamamoto, Margaret Iizaki, Peggy Shintaku, and I.
How I miss those days.
by Sumie Sueishi
“Sekkaku kita noni!” - It’s a long story.
It was probably in the late 1980’s that I had been appointed as the Betsuin’s Bon Dance chair. Because of my hesitancy to take on this role, I was assigned a mentor, “Mr. M.,” who shadowed (or rather, foreshadowed) me so as not to innocently upset any temple traditions.
Around that time, temples on Oahu were beginning to overlook decades of dress code decorum. Mr. M, forcefully, instilled upon me that the Betsuin is the main temple of the largest Buddhist sect in Hawaii and it was “our job” to do things the correct way and, therefore, not to allow women to dance with a happi coat …. No, nothing less than yukata or kimono!
The sun had just set and he took notice of this middle aged or older woman in one of the outer dance circles in a light colored happi coat. He tugged at my sleeve and said, ‘Nagata, you see that lady there in the happi? You tell her to get out.” So, reluctantly, I walked over to her, wondering how I could say it, without embarrassing her.
Gathering my courage, I said, “Excuse me, women need to dance with a kimono or yukata, but not in a happi coat here at our Bon Dance.” At first she seemed not to have heard me, then in a mid-dance motion she turned, glared back at me and said, “Sekkaku kita noni!” *
I was stunned and retreated back to where my mentor was watching and told him that I wouldn’t tell anyone else to leave. He did not say a word.
The following year, the Betsuin allowed women to dance with happi coats thanks to Alan Tomita’s intervention with our temple’s cultural advisor.
* “How can you say that, after I made a special effort to come here!”
by Ralston Nagata
Here's a photo of members dancing at the Bon-dance at the Papaaloa Hongwanji front yard. We were happy to dance to the Niigata Ondo, sung by the elderly Mr. Sasaki, accompanied by the beating of the drums. Tokyo Ondo, Kirishima Ondo, Tanko Bushi, Asatoya Yunta were some of the dances of yore.
Since my work was to be on-call by pager for medical translations at Queen's, 24/7 for 25 years, until I was 70-years old, I am happy to be able to come to the temple again after many years.
I have not danced at our Betsuin Bon-dances, except for once, at the Bon-odori on our mother's Hatsubon year. When our father, Rev. Kakusho Izumi, was the presiding minister at the Papaaloa Hongwanji, Honohina Hongwanji and the Ninole Fukyojo on the Big Island from 1945-1951, Bon-Odori was very popular and many ladies and girls went from one temple to another, to dance. So did I. Two of my girlfriends met their future husbands, one fellow from the Olaa Hongwanji and the other fellow, from the Honokaa Hongwanji at the Hongwanji Bon dances, for boys from all over the islands came to watch "us girls," in our kimonos, yukatas and obis. We made friends with them . I enjoy watching the dancers at our Betsuin Bon-Odori and the many new songs they dance to today. It is also very nice to see many men joining in with their happis to dance too.
by Tomo Mohideen
Obon is a time when we remember our many family members and friends and give thanks for the cherished memories and positive impact on my life. I remember going to Pearl City Hongwanji as a youngster and dancing around the yagura with my cousins and seeing my aunt hard at work in the booths. My grandmother would wait at her home for us to return after dancing and have a spread of food for us to enjoy. It was a fun time with family!
by Irene Nakamoto
Edith Maeda, age 5 (circa 1927): Edith’s mom, Seki Hattori Maeda, made this kimono for Edith to wear on special occasions. Edith shared with me that her mom was born in Papaikou, Territory of Hawaii in 1891 and adopted by a Japanese family who raised her in a traditional Japanese home. Edith said her mom wore kimono everyday until the bombing of Pearl Harbor after which she only wore plain cotton dresses.
Edith and I were enjoying a shave ice break at the Betsuin Bon Dance in 2004 when one of our friends stopped to take our photo; she said we looked like twins! Edith was always amazed at how often people mistook us for mother and daughter. She would comment to me, “Can’t they see that you’re haole and I’m Japanese!” I responded to her, “They don’t see my haole face and your Japanese face, they see our love and concern for each other- and because you are older, you get to be the mom!”
by Jo desMarets
Getting dressed up for Obon was a highlight of my summers growing up. I remember my mom pulling out our yukata from storage, and feeling the silkiness and texture of clothing much more special than what I got to wear on normal days. Aunties, especially my Aunty Miyo, would help me get dressed. Although she recalled that when she was younger there were much stricter rules about how to wear summer yukata, it still felt very strict to me as I got my waist sinched by a cord and had to walk with tiny steps. Each year, I noticed that less and less fabric had to be folded under my obi as I grew taller. When it came time to dance, I never knew many of the steps except for Tankobushi, but we were always welcomed into the circle and closely followed the guides in the center. We watched them so intently that I ran into the person in front of me at least once every song!
Of course, wearing a yukata could only last so long when my friends were busy at the shave ice stand pouring sticky syrups flavored grape, lime, blue, and red. Blue was my favorite flavor. The yukata came off (I didn't help much with the storage of it) and I was behind the booth, my feet getting covered in sugar that acted as a magnet for dirt in my zori/slippers. I wanted to be old enough to work at the yakinigiri booth, with the cheery aunties and uncles wearing happi coats and dancing from behind the booth when they had a break.
Flash forward about 10 years to a Bon Dance season shaded by lingering covid restrictions. Once again, I learned from my Aunty how to prepare an appropriate costume. Aunty Sharon, my sewing mentor and role model, generously taught me how to make a happi coat this year. While she was teaching me, I thought, 'Wow! Aunty Sharon cuts fabric and stitches pieces together with remarkable precision.' I tried my best to match her standard in cutting and sewing. But, compared to getting dressed for Obon in years past, putting on a happi takes significantly less effort than the process of properly wearing yukata.
I experience Obon as a chance to take stock of change and passing time. Whether that's through seeing myself grow out of the kids yukata, being able to work a different food booth, or getting dressed by myself, Bon Dance has not been a static experience for me. When I first sat down to write this reflections, my first thought was that this Obon season has been particularly different or difficult compared to what I remember growing up. After thinking on it more, I realized I don't have a singular memory or idea of "Obon." Learning to make a happi this year from Aunty Sharon is just another facet of what I'll recall when I think of Obon Happi Times.
by Koki Atcheson
Long ago at a Seattle Obon Odori, a young girl and her mother invited Koki to join her Campfire meetings held at the temple. (Mahalo - Kayla and Lisa) From that invitation, we became close friends and participated in many Bon dances, Dharma School parent meetings and other activities related to the temple. In addition, a special connection related to Obon was when a dear "aunty" helped dress Koki yearly in kimono for future dances. (Domo Arigato - Miyo Kaneta)
by Penny Kumagai Atcheson
My cherished memory of the Honpa Hongwanji Betsuin Bon Dance was when my daughter was attending the Hongwanji Mission Preschool and we took Ashley to her first Bon Dance in Kimono.
By Dawn Nabeshima
Memories of Obon and Bon Dance
When I grew up in the 1940s in Honolulu there was no bon dance due to World War II when things Japanese were shunned. I remember going to the first community bon dance held at Ala Moana Park in 1951 which was sponsored by Hawaii's Japanese-American veterans' groups to honor their buddies who died in World War II. It was fun to watch people dancing to Tanko Bushi.
Bon dance which coincides with Obon at Buddhist temples is a major summer event to remember with gratitude deceased family members and friends by dancing in a circle around a yagura with joyful music. In the 1970s, my husband, two sons, and I enjoyed going to Maui during summer break to spend about a week with his mother (grandma). Going to bon dances was always on our itinerary to watch grandma dance with her sisters at various temples on Maui.
by Ruth Tokumi
When Yukie Sakai was a member of Upasika (now BWA), she learned to sew kimonos. Here are samples of kimonos Yukie sewed for her granddaughters, Teresa and Melanie. Precious Bon Dance memories!
By Eileen Sakai (Yukie’s daughter)
I was part of the team that launched the Bon Dance tee shirt tradition by our Hongwanji Mission School 5th grade class to raise funds to go on our East Coast Study Tour. It was a lot of work but well worth our efforts. The families really bonded as a result.
The shirt designs were all very different each year. Everyone has their favorite. One shirt that stands out to me was the Angry Birds musubi shirt. Please look out for the shirts at our next Bon Dance.
By Charlyne Tom
“Friends make dancing more fun.”
By Amy Hirohata Goto
2021 Sato/Fujioka Families Obon Service - Submitted by Miyoko Sato
