New children’s book brings Kaua‘i bon dance tradition to life

A new picture book is giving Kaua‘i parents, grandparents and teachers a child-friendly way to talk about bon dance, family memory and the island’s Japanese-American traditions. Brandi-Ann Uyemura’s debut picture book, I Am A Bon Dancer, was published by Holiday House and grew from her interest in plantation life and family heritage after she attended a bon dance at Kaua‘i Soto Zen Temple in Hanapēpē in 2023, Gerald Jerry Hirata said.

The story follows a shy Japanese-American girl who wants to join the dancers, but needs her grandfather’s help to understand Obon and find the courage to dance. Uyemura has described the main character as about 6 or 7 years old, a detail that makes the book especially accessible for young readers who are just beginning to ask where traditions come from and why they matter.

For Kaua‘i, that matters because bon dance is not just summer entertainment. The Kaua‘i Soto Zen Temple says the Bon, or Obon, festival reflects a Japanese-American folk culture that has evolved in Hawaii for more than five generations, and it is meant as a joyous occasion for welcoming and honoring ancestors while valuing family ties and connections. The Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii says bon dance is rooted in Japanese Buddhist Obon and was brought to the islands by early Japanese immigrants, where it became one of Hawaii’s most beloved summer celebrations.

That living tradition will be visible across the island in the weeks ahead. The Kaua‘i Buddhist Council, which brings together the island’s Buddhist temples and churches, lists six 2026 bon dance dates: June 12 and 13 at Waimea Higashi Hongwanji Mission, June 19 and 20 at Līhue Hongwanji Mission, June 26 and 27 at Waimea Shingon Mission, July 10 and 11 at Kaua‘i Soto Zen Temple, July 17 and 18 at Kapaa Hongwanji Mission, and July 24 and 25 at West Kaua‘i Hongwanji Mission in Hanapēpē.

During Kaua‘i Soto Zen’s festival week, Hirata said the temple will host Uyemura for a book signing at Talk Story Bookstore in Kaumakani, a presentation at Hanapēpē Public Library and an appearance at the festival itself. The setting gives the book a wider purpose than a publication date or shelf space. It places a new children’s story inside the island’s own bon dance season, where memory, music and community participation continue to pass from one generation to the next.

That connection reaches back to 1903, when the Kaua‘i Soto Zen Temple traces its origins to McBryde Sugar Co.’s Wahiawa Camp. The temple site now also features its well-known Bodhi tree and World Peace statue, and it identifies itself as the first Zen Buddhist temple in the United States, a reminder that this island story is also part of a much longer history of plantation life, migration and resilience.