Non-Japanese Participants in the Obon Dances

For the first time since before the Covid-19 closures, Martine and I attended the West Los Angeles Buddhist Temple’s Obon celebration yesterday. In Southern California, the various Buddhist temples take turns in offering an Obon celebration. Many of the participants that we saw included families from the Venice, Nishin (downtown L.A.), Gardena, Orange County, San Fernando Valley and various other hongwanjis that spend weekends traveling from one celebration to the next—as the celebrations are designed not to interfere with one another.

Again, the Men’s Club at WLA provided their superior udon noodle soup, which I enjoyed with some Japanese chili powder (togarashi) for extra flavor. Missing was the sushi booth, which I patronized in previous years.

In many of the posts I have written about ethnic festivals, I have rued the steady decline as various ethnicities become more attenuated to the hamburger and french fry mainstream of American culture. This does not seem to be the problem with the Obon festival we attended. Many of the participants dancing and wearing kimonos and happi coats represented either mixed families or all white families.

Apparently, the WLA Buddhist temple is very attractive to refugees from some of the nastier Christian denominations. According to their website:

We are a Jodo Shinshu Pure Land Buddhist temple located in the heart of Sawtelle Japantown in the West Los Angeles area of Southern California. We are an inclusive community welcoming of all people, regardless of age, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, etc.

That inclusive attitude seems to have borne fruit. I’m happy, at any rate, at least as long as the Men’s Club continues cooking up their udon soup.