Buddhist festival in Sebastopol a decadeslong tradition

Lines of paper electric lanterns hung over the parking lot, where a band was set up starring a taiko drummer and a honey-voiced singer. About 100 people holding fans danced with deliberate moves around them.

The song was, at least to ears that didn’t know Japanese, a wistful, longing melody. A backdrop of traffic rolled past on Gravenstein Highway. As many people as there were dancers watched the show. Now and then, some joined in.

Earlier Saturday afternoon, Loren Miyasaki sat in the big community hall at the Enmanji Buddhist Temple in Sebastopol and explained Obon, the annual festival of the lanterns.

“It’s mainly to pay homage to our ancestors. It’s a memorial event, but it’s a happy event,” said Miyasaki, 68, of Santa Rosa.

“It’s happy because it’s to thank our ancestors for everything they have done for us - there’s a deep respect,” he said.

The festival, in the temple’s 80th year, was busy and displayed the cross-cultural and inter-racial blends that today make up the Buddhist temple founded by a few pre-World War II Japanese families of Sonoma County.

In the kitchen, Julene Leach, 57, of Sebastopol, oversaw the assembly-line preparation of hundreds of bowls of egg noodles - which were cooked outside in three giant woks - topped with dashi, a fish broth, Chinese roast pork and pink-tinged fish cakes.

Leach’s grandparents were founding members of the temple. Her mother, Dorothy Shimizu, died not long ago. The day has many meanings to her.

“When I was young, I would spend part of each summer in my grandmother’s yard, singing and dancing, preparing for this day so I wouldn’t look silly,” she said.

At intermission, the kitchen crew would serve the dancers noodles. But that would come later.

As she waited for the dance to begin, Aja Hallin, in a gold kimono, recalled being taken to Obon festivals as a 3-year-old, and that she started dancing at the Enmanji Obon when she was 12. She is 52 now.

“It is definitely spiritual, no matter what religion you might be,” said the Petaluma resident, who does not belong to the temple, which has about 140 members, but comes every year for the family atmosphere

“It’s always done with fun and love,” she said.

James Winters of Cotati and his cousin Ty Shimizu of Windsor also waited for the dance to start. They said they would think of their grandmother Dorothy, Julene Leach’s mother, who died three years ago.

“Every year since then, Obon is even more special,” Winters said.

“It opened up our eyes,” Shimizu said.

Soon, the music began. The first dance moved counterclockwise. The second, clockwise. There were dancers not far from toddlerhood; others had creaking knees.

The daylight had faded just enough for the lights to be seen in a few of the lanterns.

You can reach Staff Writer Jeremy Hay at 521-5212 or jeremy.hay@pressdemocrat.com.