KAHUKU — With smiles and hugs and more than a few misty eyes, present and former residents of Kahuku gathered tonight to celebrate, for one last time, an event that for more than 80 years kept the small North Shore community in touch with itself.

News that Kahuku Hongwanji, the modest temple established 108 years ago to serve Japanese laborers at the nearby sugar mill, would be hosting its final bon dance drew a heartfelt response from Kahuku High School alumni and others who grew up attending the annual dance. Hundreds of people, many of who arrived hours early, packed the small lawn upon which a traditional Japanese yagura had been constructed and listened reverently as the opening prayer was delivered.
In the adjacent gravel and grass parking lot, old friends and neighbors, many of whom had long since left Kahuku for other neighborhoods and other states, renewed acquaintances and did their best to catch up.
“From the 1940s to the 1950s, the bon dance was ‘the’ thing to do here in the summer,” said hongwanji representative Barbara Tatsuguchi.
But with the closing of the sugar mill and the migration of third- and fourth-generation Japanese to other areas of the island or to the Mainland, membership with the temple has dwindled to just 21 people, most in their 80s and 90s, with only seven active members to attend monthly services.
Even with help from several Kahuku High School classes, Tatsuguchi said the annual dance is too much for the few remaining members of the temple to maintain.
So tonight’s bon dance marked the last time the temple will welcome the neighborhood to share in song, dance and camaraderie.
And for the hundreds of Kahuku alumni who have come to rely on the bon dance to keep in touch with one other, the feeling of sweetness and loss was palpable in the humid night air.
“This is just tremendous,” said Thomas Onguay, 71. “I can’t express how touching this is, and how emotional it is for all of us. This bon dance is what helped bring us all together every year. A lot of us won’t see each other after tonight.”
And twilight gave way to night and the beat of the drums rallied the crowd to its feet.