Five hundred chochin (Japanese lanterns used for Obon), or 600 koinobori (Japanese carp wind socs used during Boys Day) is always an impressive vision … thank you, Sgt. Major Keith Castaneda and the Waimea High School JROTC (no jet lag time from the European 80th D-Day anniversary!) helped Jerry Hirata set up the display for the Kaua‘i Soto Zen Temple bon dance festival. And congratulations to Chenelle Mae Andres for being the recipient of the Kapaia Foundation scholarship that she will use toward her career goal of becoming a nurse.
Five hundred chochin (Japanese lanterns used for Obon), or 600 koinobori (Japanese carp wind socs used during Boys Day) is always an impressive vision … thank you, Sgt. Major Keith Castaneda and the Waimea High School JROTC (no jet lag time from the European 80th D-Day anniversary!) helped Jerry Hirata set up the display for the Kaua‘i Soto Zen Temple bon dance festival. And congratulations to Chenelle Mae Andres for being the recipient of the Kapaia Foundation scholarship that she will use toward her career goal of becoming a nurse.
Doreen Sahut Robinson came home from Nevada for the bon dance, and the video crew from PBS added to the overflow crowd at the Hanapepe temple where Melia Okura and the Tsunami Taiko were distributing water balloons (no, it’s some kind of Japanese yo-yo).
Mahalo, Dana Howe and Jazlee Crowley for making the trip from Oregon State University (isn’t that where Mari Hinazumi is heading for?) to get a taste of bon dance, and track the DNA path that links the Bodhi tree in Hanapepe with the original tree that the Buddha meditated under. The OSU pair said the Bodhi tree in the state building parking lot (corner of Eiwa and Hardy streets) is also connected, although they don’t have the records of how it got here. And what about the one in the old Kekaha Mill that has a lot of puppies coming up around it?
Happy anniversary Daffodil (Mark Jeffers said it’s Daffy for short), whose anniversary spawned the Honeybee Celebration at the Kaua‘i Coffee Visitor Center where Wayne Katayama got to join Darla Domingo (it’s not Kaua‘i Marathon, yet) and Bronson Yadao … nah, gotta go check out the Pau Hana Market.
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Dennis Fujimoto can be reached at 245-0453 or at dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
