Three Buddhist congregations that lost their temples to the August 2023 Lahaina wildfire are coming together again this Friday, Aug. 14, from 5 to 9 p.m., for a joint O-Bon Festival meant to honor ancestors and keep a century-old West Maui tradition alive. The event will be held at Lahaina Jodo Mission, 12 Ala Moana Street, the site where the temple's iconic 12-foot bronze Great Buddha statue survived the fire even as the surrounding wooden structures burned to ash.
The festival is presented by the West Maui Buddhist Council, which represents Lahaina Hongwanji Mission, Lahaina Shingon Mission and Lahaina Jodo Mission, according to Maui Now. All three congregations lost their temples in the 2023 fires and have since combined their summer O-Bon observances rather than hold separate events. O-Bon itself is a Japanese Buddhist tradition rooted in remembrance and gratitude for ancestors, brought to Hawaii by 19th-century sugar and pineapple plantation workers and now marked statewide each summer with a series of weekend bon dance festivals, as Go Hawaii notes, with dancers circling an elevated yagura tower to the sound of live taiko drumming.
Yayoi Hara said the festival allows the community to honor ancestors, connect with heritage and share the tradition with others, per the Maui Now report. Daryl Fujiwara, executive director of Festivals of Aloha, which supports the event, said the three temples still need aloha and support three years after the fires. Festival organizers are encouraging both experienced dancers and first-timers to join the bon-dancing circle, and the event says it welcomes residents and visitors of all backgrounds.
All Three Temples Still Rebuilding
The scale of what was lost is significant: all three Lahaina temples were built more than a century ago with support from Japanese plantation workers, according to the Hawaii Association of International Buddhists — Lahaina Shingon Mission dates to 1902, Lahaina Hongwanji Mission to 1904, and Lahaina Jodo Mission to 1912. The August 8, 2023 fire, driven by hurricane-force winds and severe drought, killed at least 102 people and destroyed roughly 2,200 structures, ranking as the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century, per USFA FEMA.
At Lahaina Hongwanji Mission, the main hondo, minister's residence and social hall all burned, though the temple's columbarium containing ancestral ashes survived intact, according to the Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii. At Jodo Mission, the Great Buddha statue and its 3,000-pound bell — installed when the temple was rebuilt after a 1968 fire with help from Japanese philanthropist Masao Omori — were spared, even as the temple's main building and 90-foot pagoda were destroyed, according to Hawaii Public Radio.
A Return to Sacred Ground
This marks the second consecutive year the festival has been held on temple grounds since the fire. In 2024, the three congregations gathered at Lahaina Cannery Mall, a commercial venue, before a community-led cleanup allowed the event to return to the Ala Moana Street site in 2025, Maui Now reported at the time. Holding the bon dance back on temple grounds, rather than at the mall, offers the community a space to grieve and honor ancestors on the same land where the temples once stood.
Friday's lineup includes performances from Maui Taiko and Yumi Takedayasu, along with a combined bon dance led by the Lahaina Buddhist temple congregations. The Japanese Cultural Society of Maui and Hui No'eau will offer hands-on crafts and memorial-lantern activities, while Lahainaluna High School clubs will host games. Food vendors include Aloha Mixed Plate serving chow fun, Aloha Made Shave Ice Co., Coco Deck offering poke bowls, fried saimin and root beer floats, Made By Baachan selling happi coats, and Aunty Sally with Chinese pretzels.
The festival is sponsored by the County of Maui, Hawai'i Tourism Authority, Festivals of Aloha, Akamai Broadcasting, Pacific Media Group, Kilohana by the Hawaiian Council and KPOA 93.5 FM. The Lahaina Buddhist temples are among Maui's oldest nonprofit organizations, according to the Maui Now report.
Same Week as Other Anniversary Milestones
The O-Bon gathering falls in the same week as several other markers of Lahaina's recovery. Front Street in historic downtown Lahaina officially reopened to vehicular traffic on Aug. 1 after three years of debris removal, seawall repairs and infrastructure work by the County of Maui Office of Recovery, following a closure that had lasted since the 2023 disaster. And on Aug. 8, the county hosted “Kuhinia Maui” at Lahaina United Methodist Church, a full day of music, lei-making, complimentary meals and a moment of silence marking the fire's third anniversary, bringing together survivors and faith leaders from Christian, Buddhist and Hawaiian traditions, as Hoodline reported in its coverage of the county's memorial plans.
Other local cultural efforts have marked the anniversary period as well. Earlier this month, the UH Mānoa theatrical production Lele Wale, written and directed by Maui native Ikaika Mendez, returned to Maui for four performances exploring wildfire recovery through hula, live music and storytelling, presented in partnership with Festivals of Aloha, as Hoodline detailed in its report on the production's Maui run. Together, these gatherings reflect a community still working through both physical rebuilding and collective healing, three years after the fire reshaped West Maui.
