Jikoen Hongwanji Mission
Obon Dance - July 28 & 29, 2006

Hurricane Daniel may have petered out into a messy tropical depression by the time it reached the islands, but it managed to bring a fair amount of rain and wind this past weekend. Although the rain kept me from attending the bon dance on Friday night, I took my chances on Saturday, hoping that someone hung a Teru Teru Bozu on their windowsill somewhere in Kalihi.

Teru Teru Bozu

Well, there was a big yellow one looking pretty sun-shiny hanging at the Jikoen Mission, doing his best to keep the rain away. It reminded me of a hanabata days memory… Anxiously anticipating a grade school field trip, I was hoping for good weather the following day. I recalled what my Japanese school sensei taught us about Teru Teru Bozu and decided to try it. Using kleenex and a rubber band, I carefully crafted a Teru Teru Bozu and hung it outside on the porch. With great expectation, the next morning I ran outside to the porch to check on the weather and Teru Teru Bozu. Dark clouds hovered overhead and heavy droplets of rain fell from the eaves. Teru Teru Bozu, well, what was left of him, was a rainsoaked clump of tissue paper hanging from the rubber band. The smiley face that I had penned was smeared into a black, indistinguishable mess. That day, I learned that there were better things to put your trust in than a few pieces of kleenex and a rubber band. Although, it is quite possible that MacGuyver could have made me a decent umbrella with that.

Sorry, tangent.

Although Teru Teru Bozu seemed to be doing his job on Saturday night, one thing he could not do was keep the wind at bay. Gusts blew the Diet Pepsi right out of Shari’s hands and even caused her to drop her fried noodles. Luckily, she was able to keep her grip on the saimin because the consequences of that would have been much more dire.

It seems as though the crowd that would have attended on Friday all opted to stay indoors and watch “Wheel of Fortune” on TV. When the clouds parted, the people came en masse. The small bon dance area, thoughtfully marked with concentric circles painted on the pavement, was packed beyond the safe limit. Not that bon dance circles are subject to fire code, but trampling by overzealous Fukushima dancers does come to mind.

Renee, Joyce, and Kris joined us later. Hubby waited all night for his favorite “Tanko Bushi,” but was disappointed to discover it was not on the group’s repertoire. Instead, he danced the “Fukushima Ondo” with me. It pleases me to see Hubby enjoying himself at the bon dances. After all, what started out as “I’ll do it for Donna,” has developed into something that he actually started enjoying for his own cultural reasons.

There’s just a few more bon dances on my calendar for this year. Summer seems so fleeting and bon dance season is over before you know it.

Go out and enjoy one or two before it’s done. If not for the dancing, at least go for the BBQ sticks and the shave ice.

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