With smiles and hugs and more than a few misty eyes, present and former residents of Kahuku gathered last night 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 whom 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.

For Japanese and Okinawan Buddhists, obon season is a time to pay respects to loved ones who have passed on. In Japan, bon dances are typically staged by communities, with traditional folk dancing reflecting the observance's roots in the rural working class. In Hawai'i, the tradition has been maintained by religious institutions like Kahuku Hongwanji.

The original temple was built just after the turn of the century and served as a religious and cultural center for the first generations of Japanese plantation workers in Hawai'i. The hongwanji was forced to shut down temporarily during World War II, when its leaders were arrested and sent to internment camps, but thrived upon its reopening.

The current structure was built in 1952, on the same grounds, to accommodate a still-burgeoning Japanese population. And each year during obon season, the temple opened its gates to the Kahuku community at large, welcoming neighbors of all ethnicities and religious affiliations to join in the dancing or simply enjoy the abundant food offerings.

"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.

In recent years, the bon dance has survived largely because of the active involvement of Kahuku High School's classes of 1956, '57, and '58, whose alumni rallied six years ago to provide whatever assistance was necessary — from constructing the massive yagura to preparing the lau lau (cooked in oil barrels), Spam musubi, barbecue chicken, teriyaki sticks and other foods.

"They came just in the nick of time," Tatsuguchi said. "We were down to saimin and hot dogs."

Even with the help, Tatsuguchi said the annual dance is too much for the few remaining members of the temple to maintain.

Tatsuguchi and her husband, Isamu, have committed to keeping the temple open for at least four more years, but last night's bon dance marked the last time it would 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.

Thomas Onguay, who grew up just down the street from the temple, flew in from his adopted home of Draper, Utah, just to attend the final dance.

"This is just tremendous," said 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."

The day proceeded much as it always has. Pauline Taguma, 92, presided as head cook, instructing a group of volunteers from the nearby Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' Relief Society on the finer points of namasu preparation.

Roy Kimura, 70, a 1957 graduate of Kahuku High School, helped lead a group of nearly 100 Kahuku alumni in preparing the rest of the menu.

And as twilight gave way to night and the beat of the drums rallied the crowd to its feet, there was 95-year-old Torie Matsuda, a teenager when the temple hosted its first bon dance, casting a watchful eye on the gathering crowd.

Peggy Nihipali, 60, of Hau'ula, had been to a few of the bon dances in Kahuku, but she had never participated before last night.

"I just wanted to have the experience of what it's like," she said. "I just followed what everybody else did, and it was easy to do."

By the third hour, there were more people — from kimono-swathed toddlers to hapi-coated grandpas — twirling around the yagura then watching from the sidelines.

"This dance has always been about the community," Tatsuguchi said. "Most of the people here tonight are not Japanese or Buddhist. This has always been a way for the community to rally together. And that's why we're going to miss it."