Kauai Buddhists celebrate Hanamatsuri at Hanapepe temple amid gentle rain

Rain drummed softly over the West Kauai Hongwanji Mission Hanapepe Temple as worshippers arrived Sunday morning, turning Hanapēpē’s wet pavement into part of the ceremony itself. Inside the temple social hall at 1-3860 Kaumualii Hwy., the Kaua‘i Buddhist Council marked Hanamatsuri, the Flower Festival that commemorates the birth of Siddhartha Gautama, with a ritual that tied the island’s Buddhist community to a story of rain and blossoms said to have accompanied the Buddha’s birth in Lumbini Garden.

The Rev. Tomo Hojo welcomed that symbolism as the weather kept people dry from the stormy weekend outside. The service centered on a hanamido, a small floral altar holding a figurine of the baby Buddha, as representatives from temples across the island offered flowers and poured sweet tea over the statue. The practice, long part of Hanamatsuri observances in Hawai‘i, is meant to symbolize the joy and glory said to have filled the world at the Buddha’s birth.

Temple and mission members came from Kapa‘a, Līhu‘e, Koloa, Waimea and West Kaua‘i, underscoring how widely the observance still reaches across the island. Participating congregations included Kapaa Jodo Mission, Kapaa Hongwanji Mission, Kauai Dharma Center, Lihue Hongwanji Mission, Koloa Jodo Mission, West Kauai Hongwanji Mission, Kauai Soto Zenshuji, Waimea Shingon Mission and Waimea Higashi Hongwanji Mission. Rimban Yuika Hasebe, chief minister of Honpa Hongwanji Hawaii Betsuin, served as guest minister and gave the service added weight for the island’s Buddhist community.

Mayor Derek S.K. Kawakami also issued a proclamation recognizing Hanamatsuri and the role meditation plays in cultivating compassion, wisdom, peace and happiness. That civic nod fit a service that was devotional but also unmistakably communal, a reminder that Buddhist practice remains visible in public life on Kaua‘i and not just inside temple walls.

The annual observance has become an islandwide marker of continuity. In 2024, more than a hundred people attended Kaua‘i’s Hanamatsuri service at Kaua‘i Soto Zenshuji Temple in Hanapēpē, where clergy again explained the hanamido and the bathing of the baby Buddha in sweet tea. Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii, whose roots in Hawai‘i date to 1889, continues to anchor that tradition statewide, giving Kaua‘i’s Hanamatsuri a historical depth that reaches well beyond one rainy Sunday morning.