KUKUI‘ULA — There were no clouds in the sky, and the horizon was streaked with the golden afterglow of the setting sun as daylight succumbed to the crisp cool air of the evening in Kukui‘ula. “This is perfect,” one of
KUKUI‘ULA — There were no clouds in the sky, and the horizon was streaked with the golden afterglow of the setting sun as daylight succumbed to the crisp cool air of the evening in Kukui‘ula.
“This is perfect,” one of the hundreds of spectators said. “It’s not too windy, and it’s not raining.”
Spectators overflowed the boat launch area and spilled onto the runway leading down the boat docking area at the Kukui‘ula Small Boat Harbor as the Koloa Jodo Mission hosted their Annual Toro Nagashi event, Sunday night.
The event marks the end of summer for many as the opening of school looms right around the corner, but for Buddhists, it is one of the ways they recognize the end of the bon season.
Toro, or paper lanterns, are released onto the dark water after the candle contained in each lantern is lit. Each toro represents the soul of a deceased ancestor who comes to visit relatives during the bon season, and the toro nagashi represents their departure from the earthly world with their sacred fire (candle).
During a short explanation preceding the chanting of sutra and offering of incense, Reverend Kosen Ishikawa of the Koloa Jodo Mission explained that the best way to honor the memories of the deceased is to be happy.
Happiness from those who are living are the means of pleasing those who have deceased, he pointed out.
Despite a short interruption from the landing of a catamaran laden with passengers, the ceremony continued as the shuttle bus, now filled with peering passengers, picked its way among the throng that lined the small facility.
The toro came to life as volunteers lit the candles from the toro neatly lined on five rafts. The rafts were pulled by a lead boat laden with foodstuffs and festooned with fragrant plumeria lei with a big paper lantern hanging from either side of its mast.
“Is it going to come back?” a spectator wanted to know.
“No. No one knows where it’s going to, but it’s not coming back,” Rev. Ishikawa explained.
As the flotilla began to take shape with each raft being hooked onto the lead boat, the evening was punctuated by the drone of the chant in the background while the aroma of incense wafted in the air, pleasantly combining with the fragrance of plumeria.
Once all the rafts were hitched to the lead boat, swimmers began to move the flotilla out past the breakwater point in a glimmering display as the gentle ocean swells bobbed the shimmering candlelit toro. Spectators watched in silence, the evening air broken only by the occasional flash as cameras tried to record the event. As the candles moved out towards the point, one spectator noted, “Look! Even the moon and the stars are watching.”
