Los Angeles Hompa Hongwanji Buddhist Temple Obon Festival 2026

“East 1st Street on a July night. Paper lanterns up.…”

Every summer, Little Tokyo comes back to life in the old way.

The Los Angeles Hompa Hongwanji Buddhist Temple Obon Festival runs July 8–9, 2026 at 815 East 1st Street — the ground floor of Little Tokyo, blocks from the Japanese Village Plaza, right at the center of the neighborhood's oldest streets. The temple has been marking Obon here for generations.

The festival runs both days from 2:00 PM to 10:00 PM (Saturday) and 2:00 PM to 8:30 PM (Sunday). Obon is a Buddhist observance of the dead — the tradition is to dance so the ancestors can find their way home. The odori circle forms around a yagura drum tower. Paper lanterns go up. The taiko anchors everything. It is one of the most Japanese-American things you can do in Los Angeles on a summer night.

Outside the odori, there's food, games, and the particular warmth of a temple courtyard during the one week of year when the whole community shows up. Families who haven't seen each other since last Obon. Kids who have never done the dance before getting folded into the circle. The kind of evening that doesn't happen anywhere else in the city.

Free admission. July 8–9, 2026 at the Los Angeles Hompa Hongwanji Buddhist Temple, 815 E 1st Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012.