Shelley Gerardo, from left, Mahina Pu‘u and Tammy Pu‘u continue the tradition of Sueno Miyazaki, Shelly and Tammy’s grandmother, and Mahina’s great-grandmother, of donning kimono and obi at the bon festival hosted by the Kauai Soto Zen Temple Zenshuji in Hanapepe Friday.
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Dennis Fujimoto / The Garden Island
Taiko Kauai gets lively with their performance that welcomes the evening of bon dance at the first event of the year on the grounds of the Kauai Soto Zen Temple Zenshuji in Hanapepe Friday.
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Dennis Fujimoto / The Garden Island
Gerald Hirata of the Kauai Soto Zen Temple Zenshuji, right, gets some words from Haruko Sakai, the church’s eldest member at 97 years young, who visited the bon dance with fellow residents of Kauai Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waimea.
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Dennis Fujimoto / The Garden Island
The most current version of the Waimea High School JROTC is ready to lend their efforts to the first bon dance of the season at the Kauai Soto Zen Temple Zenshuji in Hanapepe Friday, where they not only did fundraising, but went out to help set up and tear down.
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Dennis Fujimoto / The Garden Island
Craig and Karen Navratil (they’re good friends with the Kimokeo ohana of Anahola) enjoy the open-air food court after trekking from the “Kawaihau Raceway” to the bon dance at the Kauai Soto Zen Temple Zenshuji Friday in Hanapepe.
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Dennis Fujimoto / The Garden Island
Strings of lanterns guide the spirits of ancestors to the Kauai Soto Zen Temple Zenshuji in Hanapepe Friday, where they join in the joyful dancing at the first bon dance of the season.
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Dennis Fujimoto / The Garden Island
Strings of chochin, or lanterns, many bearing names of ancestors, grace the entry to the Kauai Soto Zen Temple Zenshuji in Hanapepe Friday, where the first bon dance of the Kauai Buddhist Council calendar was held.
Dennis Fujimoto The Garden Island
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The Rev. Kosen Ishikawa is getting excited about the special guests from Japan hell be hosting when the Koloa Jodo Mission (the Jodo Shu in Hawaii celebrates its 125th anniversary and five generations of members this year!) hosts its bon dance Friday and Saturday (traditional bon dance starts at 7:30 each night).
The Rev. Kosen Ishikawa is getting excited about the special guests from Japan he’ll be hosting when the Koloa Jodo Mission (the Jodo Shu in Hawaii celebrates its 125th anniversary and five generations of members this year!) hosts its bon dance Friday and Saturday (traditional bon dance starts at 7:30 each night).
Ishikawa was among the huge crowd that visited the first Kauai Buddhist Council bon dance over the weekend at the Kauai Soto Zen Temple Zenshuji in Hanapepe, where Gerald Hirata honored the temple’s most eldest member — Haruko Sakai — who visited the festivities with other residents of Kauai Veterans Memorial Hospital (and what is Elsie Bayot’s favorite bon dance food?).
Craig and Karen Navratil made the trek all the way over from the “Kawaihau Raceway,” and took advantage of the early serving of food. They were gone by the time that line formed for flying saucers cranked out by the West Kauai Lions Club (they’ve got their fishing derby for youth Saturday morning in Hanapepe!).
Mayor Derek S.K. Kawakami jolted when he saw that line, and Chef Glenn Hayakawa settled for a bag of andagi (mahalo, Jocelyn Barriga and the Kauai Special Olympics — they even had board president Leona Sa McDermott cooking!) before looking for the rest of his family.
Chef Carla Dusenberry (she’s making ??? for the KVMH bon dance!) made a brief appearance to check out the spread of foods before diving in to cook food for the dancers.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
