Higashi Honganji Buddhist Temple

Came here this weekend for the annual Obon festival with my BF. I’ve been coming here for years, for various events. Obon was one of my favorite activities they have here. What a beautiful and great community of people. The festivities were nice and geared towards children, but we both enjoyed it very much. They had teriyaki, somen, shaved ice, all kinds of goodies. We watched the Taiko performance which was cool but we couldnt stay for the traditional Bön-​odori (dancing). Next time! Definitely a nice temple to check out, the people are so very nice.

I went here for my brother in law’s dad’s funeral, Shojo Oi. He was a Buddhist priest himself and 12 other priests showed up to officiate at the ceremony and pay tribute to him.
This Japanese Buddhist temple in Little Tokyo is a very special place and we are lucky to have something like this in Los Angeles. It is beyond ornate and the murals on the walls are something to see. One has a topless lady hanging out with the Buddha that instantly makes you wonder why people anywhere would consider that scandalous.
The reverends are super friendly and they make you want to find out more about Buddhism just to see what makes them so cool. I am not Japanese but they made me and the rest of my family feel very welcome. If you ever get a chance to go, take it. You won’t believe what goes on around L.A. right under our noses. I’m not sure when it’s open and when you can drop in but it has a huge parking lot and I think people are in the offices during regular hours so if you have any time at all, just stop in and take a peek like you would in any church on vacation.