Happy Camper for Monday, June 3, 2019

Dennis Fujimoto / The Garden Island

Strings of chochin, or lanterns, many bearing names of ancestors, grace the entry to the Kauai Soto Zen Temple Zenshuji in Hanapepe Friday, where the first bon dance of the Kauai Buddhist Council calendar was held.

Dennis Fujimoto / The Garden Island

Strings of lanterns guide the spirits of ancestors to the Kauai Soto Zen Temple Zenshuji in Hanapepe Friday, where they join in the joyful dancing at the first bon dance of the season.

Dennis Fujimoto / The Garden Island

Craig and Karen Navratil (they’re good friends with the Kimokeo ohana of Anahola) enjoy the open-air food court after trekking from the “Kawaihau Raceway” to the bon dance at the Kauai Soto Zen Temple Zenshuji Friday in Hanapepe.

Dennis Fujimoto / The Garden Island

The most current version of the Waimea High School JROTC is ready to lend their efforts to the first bon dance of the season at the Kauai Soto Zen Temple Zenshuji in Hanapepe Friday, where they not only did fundraising, but went out to help set up and tear down.

Dennis Fujimoto / The Garden Island

Gerald Hirata of the Kauai Soto Zen Temple Zenshuji, right, gets some words from Haruko Sakai, the church’s eldest member at 97 years young, who visited the bon dance with fellow residents of Kauai Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waimea.

Dennis Fujimoto / The Garden Island

Taiko Kauai gets lively with their performance that welcomes the evening of bon dance at the first event of the year on the grounds of the Kauai Soto Zen Temple Zenshuji in Hanapepe Friday.

Dennis Fujimoto / The Garden Island

Shelley Gerardo, from left, Mahina Pu‘u and Tammy Pu‘u continue the tradition of Sueno Miyazaki, Shelly and Tammy’s grandmother, and Mahina’s great-grandmother, of donning kimono and obi at the bon festival hosted by the Kauai Soto Zen Temple Zenshuji in Hanapepe Friday.