Eighty-six-year-old Charles Harada was the first person under the rope separating the bonfire from the crowd at the Shingon Shu Hawai'i temple in Kaka'ako.

He had already rolled up his pants. Harada wanted to be the first — after the dozen Shingon Buddhist ministers, of course — to walk across the burning coals of last night's Saito Goma Buddhist fire ritual.

Afterward, he sat to wipe his feet with cool water.

So, how was it?

"Nothing," he said with the wave of his hand. "It's concentration."

Shareen Asagi found the coals "just a little warm." But she wasn't really focusing on the hot coals.

"I was praying for the health of my family," she said. "When you walk across there, you become one with Buddha."

One man, however, was so overcome he couldn't give his name. "I was chanting my sutra," he said through his tears. "I'm sorry, I'm all choked up."

The hour-long Saito Goma fire ritual is rarely performed outside of Japan. This is only the second time this Shingon temple has performed it — and never before with a fire walk, said Reyn Yorio Tsuru, director of the temple, explaining that the dozen yamabushi monks were here from Kyoto to help celebrate Shingon Shu's 90th anniversary.

And yes, by all accounts, the Saito Goma ritual is hot stuff.

As the ceremony wound down, Tsuru invited the 150-plus crowd to take a stroll through the lapping flames of the fire, down a pathway of hot coals.

The first monk had bounced through with a yelping cry, and only Harada seemed willing to brave it, too. However, as the ministers took turns, a few from the crowd started to line up. Excitement was in the air, along with a pungent scent that resembled burnt marshmallows.

More and more lined up. Young. Old. People with canes. Mothers with children.

Lorraine Yokomichi walked her 2-year-old-son, Reyn, down the pathway.

"We come to all the Sunday services," she said. "I think it's nice to share with him the spiritualism I grew up with."

Before the crowd retired to the social hall for a sushi dinner, at least two-thirds had taken a turn.

Not just the temple members got into the spirit of the night, either. Tim Trout and his girlfriend were out for a walk, nearing the McDonald's on Sheridan Street, when "all the sparks in there made us wonder," he said.

The pair wandered over and stayed to watch in awe as a monk, during one part of the ceremony, used a branch to douse his face with boiling water over a steaming wok. Some in the crowd gasped and others couldn't help but "ooh" and "ahh." Several covered their face with their hands.

The purification ritual had several parts. First, during a service inside the temple, monks blew conch shells and chanted sutras, asking for blessings. Then, single-file, they moved out to the cordoned-off mound of palms that would be lit into flames, where they performed a series of rituals, from the Shuken Mondou (a verification of their authenticity) to the Ganmon (reading a prayer letter asking Buddha's intervention in individual requests).

Along the way the monks rattled shakujo to ward off bad karma, sheathed and unsheathed swords, raised bamboo poles and lit and tended fire. They performed scenes that looked like something from an Akira Kurosawa movie.

Shingon Buddhism is an esoteric form of Buddhism, and the sect follows the teachings of Kobo Daishi. A statue of the founder sits in front of the temple.

The purpose of the fire ritual is to burn away the negative karmic effects of human passions, which hinder man's realization of the enlightened state, Tsuru explained.

"This has been a horrible year, globally," he said. "This is not just for our members. We're hoping for a safe 2006. The fire burned away some negativity tonight."