View from the Pew
A look inside Hawaii's houses of worshipBy Mary Adamski
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Bon dance teacher and dancer Betty Delacuesta turned out for practice at the beginning of this year's bon dance season at the Moiliili Community Center on Tuesday night.
Attracted by exotic sounds of drums, flutes and chanting, motorists and pedestrians on congested South King Street slowed to peek between buildings and caught a glimpse of the city's rich ethnic and religious tradition. Tradition of dance
The Obon season is a time of rich
culture and religious practiceLanterns cast a soft glow on the wave of people slowly circling a bright red tower with their hands outstretched in stylized gestures.
The Tuesday night practice session on Moiliili Community Center grounds drew more than 100 people and triple that number is expected at 7:30 p.m. tonight at Moiliili Hongwanji Mission's bon dance. The dance also will be held at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow. This weekend is the urban Honolulu temple's turn to host a festival in the Obon season which spans two months of summertime weekends.
It is a Japanese Buddhist spiritual observance to honor the dead and, as a trio of regulars described it, more than that.
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Bon dancer Alice Shiroma of the Yamada Dance Center also took part.
"It's as much cultural as religious," said Kuni Morita.
"It's a tradition we got from our parents," said Alice Morioka.
"It's a chance to see friends you haven't seen in years and it's good exercise," said Gail Kaji- yama.
The three women arrived early Tuesday to get a choice spot to set up their folding chairs. They are members of the Honolulu Fukushima Bon Dance Club, one of several groups that are booked by temples to ensure their bon dances are done right. The amateur groups bring yagura gumi -- musicians including taiko drummers, flute players and singers. A disc jockey is also on board because much of the many-versed storytelling music is recorded.
Each club also provides a troupe of dancers guaranteed to know the steps and gestures, led by a sensei, one of the shrinking resource of teachers, all of whom are women and senior citizens. Morita teaches Japanese folk dancing including bon dance throughout the year at Honolulu senior centers and gives semi-annual bon dance classes during Japanese culture sessions at Hawaii Tokkai International College in Honolulu.
The Honolulu Fukushima group also provides something more than any other bon dance club. "We're the only ones with our own yagura," said Arthur Kojima. The traditional tower from which the musicians broadcast is on wheels, ready to be towed from one site to the next. It was built by the late Tatsumi Abe, a first-generation immigrant from Japan and Kojima's father-in-law.
"I didn't get interested in bon dance until he died and my mother-in-law didn't have anyone to take her to dances, so we did," said Kojima. Now he's trying to keep the tradition alive in the next generation, encouraging his 14-year-old granddaughter to play the flute and trying to persuade two teen-aged drummers not to let girlfriends draw them away from their Friday and Saturday night temple gigs.
Betty Dela Cuesta, sensei with the Yamada Dance Troupe, interpreted some of the songs. "Kore Kara Ondo says don't look back, make your path in life bright ... you and your loved one together." The first set of the evening started with "Kawachi Onna No Ukari Bushi" a memorial song for the troupe's founder, the late Mabel Yamada. Another song the Yamada club usually does is "Natsu Ureshii Ne," which Dela Cuesta choreographed as a memorial to her own daughter who died three years ago.
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Taiko drummers, from left, Keith Tatsuguchi, Glenn Tomita and Darren Yakabu-Muramoto got a chance to practice their chops on Tuesday night at the Moiliili Community Center.
A clear favorite with the men in the crowd -- who were outnumbered about 4 to 1 -- was "Bokyo Hole Hole Bushi." It didn't need an interpreter to figure out this tale describes the heavy labor of chopping and hauling sugarcane. It's become a folk classic about the first Japanese immigrants and the hard life they found in Hawaii.
Jennifer Okimoto and Shannon Hirokane, both 13, hesitated on the edge of the graveled field of dance, then glided right into the patterns without benefit of lessons, as did several other youngsters. Their hit parade choices were "Pokemon" -- telling about those familiar television characters -- and "Odoru Pon Po Ko Rin" a Japanese children's fairy tale.
In typical island style, non-Japanese and non-Buddhist folks join in the unique form of line-dancing that is both solemn and light-hearted. Jeffrey Herman, a college math instructor wearing his U.S. Coast Guard Reserve T-shirt, clearly knew all the moves. He said he got involved through his fiancee and after she died "I dance in her memory." He is now a taiko drummer with the Iwakuni Dance Club.
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Fue (Japanese flute) player Guy Matsumoto worked his wind magic Tuesday night at the Moiliili Community Center.
The Moiliili Hongwanji Mission minister said that although many people participate as a social or cultural experience, the spiritual aspect of the Obon observance is the most significant. "People come to commemorate a loved one," said the Rev. Tatsuo Muneto. "Beyond that, to dance is a joyful expression of emancipation from the suffering world of human existence.
"As a minister I feel so good when those who recently lost a loved one spontaneously participate in the dance. I think their sense of loss is affirmed and is transformed into a sense of togetherness with the community," said Muneto.
The minister had a pragmatic concern for the wider community Tuesday night. While the music reverberated from nearby buildings, Muneto made the rounds of apartment buildings to distribute fliers begging the neighbors' indulgence and patience for the disruption and inviting them to join in.
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Bon dancer Joyce Gushiken, center, got an early start on this year's season Tuesday night at the Moiliili Community Center.
He said the observance has its roots in Buddhist scriptures dating back 2,500 years. "The story is of a disciple who was agonized by the vision of his deceased mother suffering in the realm of hungry ghosts, one of the realms of suffering of humanity. Shakyamuni Buddha told him to honor Buddhist monks who came back from a summer retreat, so the young disciple had a feast in honor of the monks. As a result of the purity of his selfless giving, the mother's spirit was emancipated from the realm of hungry ghosts. Then the young monk expressed his joy with dance and music," Muneto said.
The sacred dance tradition is particular to Japan, where it has been observed since the 7th century, when it was combined with the tradition of summer festival and folk music and dance, he said. Other countries with Buddhist populations memorialize the dead with lantern festivals, not dance.
"It's easy," said Dela Cuesta, who has been at this for 40 years and also teaches classical dance forms at Matsudai School of Japanese Dance.
She tried to persuade an observing writer to share the bon dance experience. After watching a few faltering, lurching steps, the sensei recognized the presence of a terpsichorean-challenged person and, without comment or laugh, wafted away on the song.
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Mary Adamski covers religion for the Star-Bulletin.
Email her at madamski@starbulletin.com.
