Kauai bon dance season begins in Waimea, six festivals planned

Bon dance season opened in Waimea last weekend with Bishop Takumi Inouye leading the first obon festival of the year at Waimea Higashi Hongwanji Mission, where dancers and families gathered around the yagura for opening service and dancing. The night marked more than a single temple celebration: it started a six-weekend calendar that will connect Waimea, Līhue, Kapaa and Hanapēpē through late July.

The Kauai Buddhist Council says the island’s bon dances are governed by a collaboration of the island’s Buddhist temples and churches, and the annual gatherings remain among its largest community events, drawing hundreds of local residents and tourists. The council’s 2026 schedule lists the season’s next stops as Līhue Hongwanji Mission on June 19-20, Waimea Shingon Mission on June 26-27, Kauai Soto Zen Temple on July 10-11, Kapaa Hongwanji Mission on July 17-18 and West Kauai Hongwanji Mission in Hanapēpē on July 24-25.

Temple event pages say the dances generally begin at 7:30 p.m., and some temples prepare dancers well before the season opens. Kapaa Hongwanji Buddhist Temple held bon dance practice on Mondays at 6 p.m. from March 6 through July 13, while Līhue Hongwanji Mission offered practice on the first and third Thursdays from 7 to 8 p.m. during March, April and May. Those rehearsals help keep the dances accessible to first-timers, while giving regular participants a place to return each year.

Obon came to Hawaii in the late 19th century with Japanese immigrants working on plantations, according to the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii. On Kauai, the Kauai Soto Zen Temple describes bon as a Japanese-American folk culture that has evolved in Hawaii for more than five generations, a reminder that the festival is both a religious observance and a living local tradition.

Waimea Higashi Hongwanji Mission carries that history especially far. Its roots date to 1899, when Rev. Kenryu Yamada arrived on Kauai to share Nembutsu teachings, and the Waimea temple’s grounds have long been part of the island’s summer rhythm. With memorial tags hanging from the chochin and dancers moving through the opening night, the season again showed how bon dance on Kauai ties remembrance, family participation and community gathering into one of the island’s most durable traditions.