Salt Lake Buddhist Temple held its 90th annual Obon Festival on 11 July, bringing members of Utah’s Japanese American community and the wider public together in downtown Salt Lake City to remember deceased relatives, celebrate ancestral traditions, and reaffirm the temple’s place in the city’s historic Japantown district.

The festival included temple tours, food stalls, Japanese cultural goods, taiko drumming, and 16 traditional dances beneath memorial lanterns bearing the names of deceased family members and friends.

“Reaching 90 years of Obon in Salt Lake is a humbling milestone,” said festival chair and temple board member Trey Imamura. “I feel a deep sense of gratitude for the entire Japanese American community in Utah that has carried our collective legacy forward.” (KSL)

Salt Lake Buddhist Temple was established in 1912 in a Japantown neighborhood that once included restaurants, markets, a Japanese-language school, and the Japanese Church of Christ. The temple held its first Obon Festival in 1936.

Much of the surrounding neighborhood was later demolished through urban redevelopment to make way for the Salt Palace Convention Center. Today, the Buddhist temple and the Japanese Church of Christ anchor the remaining block of historic Japantown along 100 South.

The Buddhist congregation moved to its present location at 211 West 100 South in 1962. Temple president Troy Watanabe said the building was financed by second-generation Japanese Americans, known as Nisei.

“The first members fundraised for this building while we were still in our old location. And they did a great job. We call it the second generations, the Nisei,” Watanabe said. (KUTV)

The congregation once numbered approximately 300 members, although about 80 people now regularly attend services. Temple leaders said that the Jodo Shinshu community had increasingly welcomed people without Japanese ancestry who were interested in learning about Buddhism.

“This is a Japanese sect of Buddhism but is Buddhism. And I think people seeking the teachings of the Buddha have found this a convenient place and a welcoming, warm place to actually learn the teachings of the Buddha,” Watanabe said. (KUTV)

The anniversary was celebrated as Salt Lake City considered a proposed entertainment district that could substantially change the area surrounding Japantown. Community members have expressed concern about preserving the temple and the neighborhood’s remaining Japanese American heritage.

“They have said they are not going to move us out. No eminent domain, so that’s a wonderful thing,” Watanabe said. (KUTV)

Obon is a Japanese Buddhist observance associated with remembrance, gratitude, and the bonds between living people and their ancestors. Its traditional narrative concerns Mokuren, a disciple of the Buddha who made offerings to the monastic community to relieve his deceased mother’s suffering. According to the tradition, Mokuren danced with joy after she was liberated, providing the basis for the Bon Odori dances performed during Obon.

The Salt Lake festival has also developed as a celebration of Japanese American culture and the resilience of immigrant communities in Utah.

“We are very proud to be a part of the community in celebrating this important event,” Watanabe said. “Having our celebration in historic Japantown highlights its importance to Salt Lake City. This is where our parents and grandparents held the festival. Seeing this tradition reach 90 years fills me with immense pride, and we want to carry on that tradition to honor them.” (KSL)

Rev. Jerry Kyosei Hirano, who attended the temple as a child and has led the congregation for more than 30 years, described Obon as an occasion for joy as well as remembrance.

“I have long believed that every genuine religious experience should be accompanied by at least one moment of profound joy,” Rev. Hirano said. “While we remember those who have passed before us, we do not gather merely to mourn. We gather to awaken to the immeasurable gifts we have received through them.” (KSL)

Temple dance instructor Sandy Iwasaki said the observance allowed her to continue the work of her mother, Maxine Furubayashi, who served as an Obon instructor and adviser from 1947 until her death.

“Obon time for me is a time to remember my mother and all of my other family members and friends that have come before me,” Iwasaki said. (KSL)

Watanabe said preserving the temple would help ensure that the history of Japanese Americans in Salt Lake City remained accessible to future generations.

“It’s a Japanese American culture and has a rich history here in this area that needs to be told, and hopefully we can keep those stories going from generation to generation,” he said. “Even if, let’s say, 100 years from now they don’t look Japanese, at least the stories can still be told. That’s what I want. That’s my hope for the future.” (KUTV)

See more

KSL 5 TV Obon Coverage (Facebook)
Salt Lake Buddhist Temple to host 90th annual Obon festival in Japantown (KSL)
Salt Lake Buddhist temple continues to maintain presence amid urban growth (KUTV)
Salt Lake Buddhist Temple celebrates 90th Obon Festival despite triple-digit heat (Fox13)

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