View from the Pew Mary Adamski

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Practice makes perfect

As the obon season approaches, people crowd the Honpa Hongwanji for bon dance rehearsals

It's a Wednesday night in the basement hall of the Honpa Hongwanji Buddhist temple, and the dance floor is crowded.

More than 60 people concentrate on the intricacies of storytelling step dances to enact Japanese folk songs blaring from the speakers.

It's rehearsal time for the bon dance season.

The weekly class draws senior citizens dancing in the footsteps of their grandparents, but also a growing number of younger aficionados, some still in their workday clothes, many of them members of bon dance clubs. People from other Buddhist denominations and temples come. So do non-Buddhists who participate in the summertime festival as a social or cultural experience rather than a religious event.

Obon literally means "lantern festival," and each temple will string the colorful hanging lights that, according to tradition, light the way for the spirits of ancestors to return. The dead are honored with offerings of flowers, food and incense in temple rituals and on family altars.

In Hawaii, Japanese temples and missions string out the season to last all summer long by taking turns with their weekend bon dances.

The Iwakuni Odori Aiko Kai dance club is booked for every weekend in the summer, drafted by temples to provide the music and lead the dances, which draw thousands of people -- many of whom will just ad-lib and mimic the experts.

"These are bon dance fanatics," said Ralston Nakata, coordinator of the Honpa Hongwanji bon dance and the yearlong dance class. He pointed out that two of the dance leaders in the center of the circle are men: Derrick Iwata, a Japanese Cultural Center employee whose family brought him to bon dances since small-kid times and who now travels with a group of 20-something friends to every dance; and Coast Guard officer Jeff Herman, whose interest in Japanese culture has led him to become the Iwakuni club's taiko drummer.

"My parents brought me to bon dances, but I never danced," said Tori Miyagi, a high school junior. "Last year, I came because a close family member died, and I came to honor the past." He said he is a supporter of the Yamada Dance Group.

"For me it's not a religious thing, it's cultural," said Eric Kobayashi, a University of Hawaii student and member of Hawaii Eisa Shinyu Kai, the Okinawan dance club.

Wilma Muneoka, a newspaper advertising saleswoman, said she takes the class year-round for exercise. "I'll go to a lot of the dances. Even if you're not perfect, there's no stress -- as long as you go in the right direction!"

Colleen Izutsu, who is with the Okinawa club, said, "I try to remind people that it's to honor everybody who has gone before us. I came back strong after my parents passed away."

Retiree Sue Ide said people from the temple "hire a bus for the country dances in Kahuku and Waialua. Every dance, you see the same people." The Honpa Hongwanji member said the old-timers are invited to perform the dances for residents in retirement homes.

"A lot of people don't understand the language; they don't know what they're dancing," Ide said.

"We have fun, that's the main thing," said Helen Takamiya, longtime member of the class.

Most of the story songs are about rural life, brought to Hawaii by Japanese immigrants. They added some local versions such as "Hole Hole Bushi," in which dancers go through the motions of planting and harvesting sugar cane.

Part of the tradition is that each temple will unveil a new song.

Joyce Araki, a master teacher of classical Japanese dance, choreographs the annual new entry for Honpa Hongwanji. "Since 1976, I have composed a dance each year, simplifying it as best I can." Simple is the opposite of the intricate traditional dances she teaches. Last year, Araki and students performed kabuki in a Blaisdell Center concert celebrating her 50th anniversary and honoring her mother, the late Masae Nishioka, who founded the local studio in the Bando School tradition.

Unlike the high drama of the Japanese operatic theater, "bon dance is more relaxed," Araki said. "It's danced for pleasure. The dances mostly tell a story of a happy occasion, a fisherman, a farmer's good harvest."

"Last year, I did one that was modern, more jazzy." She created the dance to the song "Bon Dansu," by a popular Japanese singer, Hashi Yukio.

In 2005 the new song was "Matsu Ken Samba," based on famous Japanese actor Matsudaira Ken.

"The crowd liked it, the young people especially. I like to bring in modern things," the teacher said.

This year's new song is "Echo," written by a Hongwanji minister from Osaka, Koran Okahashi.

Araki will teach the new dance step by step at evening practice sessions on June 25, 26 and 27 at Honpa Hongwanji.

That's when the bon dance fanatics will learn a new story dance for their summer repertoire.