With a steady hand, Joyce Hamaguchi brushed glue onto pieces of paper bearing names of the dead.

One by one, she carefully placed the notes on a lantern fashioned from rice paper and a wooden base.

"We're remembering ... not only our ancestors, but all who have passed away," the school teacher and Niu Valley resident said as she stuck another piece of paper onto the lantern. "We're sending prayers to all of them."

The lantern is among more than a thousand to be set afloat at the 8th annual Lantern Floating Hawaii, 6:30 tonight at Magic Island.

Lantern floating is a traditional Japanese Buddhist rite to express respect to ancestors and comfort the spirits of the deceased, organizers said.

"We're beginning to take it to a different level," said Given Tokunaga, executive director of Na Lei Aloha Foundation, a nonprofit that organized the event with Shinnyo-en Hawaii, a Buddhist order established in Japan in 1936.

"Incorporating the Hawaiian or American culture together with it makes it very unique."

For example, rather than holding the event during obon season — early August — as it is traditionally done in Japan, organizers chose to host it on Memorial Day, when Americans nationwide remember loved ones they've lost.

Pre-event activities feature cultural performances, including Japanese and Filipino entertainment, and the ceremony incorporates Buddhist rituals with a Hawaiian blessing.

Tokunaga quoted a kumu hula who described Lantern Floating Hawaii: "This event is not an American thing, it's not a Hawaiian thing, it's not a Japanese thing. It's a human thing."

"We took (those words) to heart because that's really the essence of this — everybody coming together," Tokunaga said.

WORLD PEACE

Traditionally known as Toro Nagashi, or "lantern offerings on the water," the ceremony involves candle-lit lanterns that are set afloat on the ocean, ferrying spirits "from the shore of delusion to the shore of salvation," organizers said.

The lanterns carry prayers for victims of wars, water-related accidents, natural disasters, famine and disease, and for loved ones and ancestors, as well as prayers for a future of harmony among all people.

Organizers accept from the public requests of remembrance; names of dead loved ones will be written on paper and included with the lanterns.

Requests are taken for a donation; 100 percent of the proceeds go toward the enhancement of Ala Moana Beach Park, Tokunaga said.

There will be 1,150 lanterns: 700 on wooden bases set afloat from canoes and 200 on wooden bases set afloat from shore by volunteers. For the first time, 250 paper-based lanterns will be set afloat from the shore by the public

The ceremony, open to everyone, transcends religions, cultures and generations, said Chieko Steele, program officer of Na Lei Aloha Foundation.

Last year the event attracted nearly 30,000 people. Organizers expect a similar turnout this year.

Steele also received inquiries and prayer requests from California, Oregon, Florida and Massachusetts.

"We don't want to have any kind of temple barrier," Steele said. "Everybody has ancestors, and everybody has somebody that they have lost, so from that connecting point, we can all be one and pray for world peace."

NO BARRIERS

Preparations for the event began in February and involved hundreds of volunteers, including students from Brigham Young University-Hawai'i, Hawai'i Pacific University, Roosevelt and Kailua high schools, as well as members of the Honolulu Japanese Junior Chamber of Commerce and Shinnyo-en Hawaii.

Volunteers assembled the lanterns over the past three months and will help organizers run the event tonight, Steele said.

Two weeks ago, about a handful of members of Shinnyo-en Hawaii spent an afternoon at the temple completing lanterns. Volunteers worked in a cool, bright room storing more than a dozen racks with hundreds of finished pieces.

"It's really wonderful seeing all the people work together," said volunteer Jerry Iwata of Hawai'i Kai. "They all believe in what the lantern represents."

Joyce Nakamoto, chairwoman of the lantern construction committee, watched as Hamaguchi, the Niu Valley resident, finished gluing a request of remembrance onto a lantern.

"I think most of us feel that this is for those who have passed before us and we are what we are because of them," Nakamoto said.

Hercules Huihui of Waipahu isn't a member of the temple, but has been helping out with Lantern Floating Hawaii for the past five years. This year he'll be among 200 volunteers launching lanterns from the beach.

"Every year I go, I feel the spirit of a higher being ... and I weep," Huihui said. "(Everyone) should just feel this. It's so awesome."

Reach Zenaida Serrano at zserrano@honoluluadvertiser.com.