[ RELIGION ]
Hundreds expected
at Shinto celebrationDaijingu Temple will have
a special service to mark
its centennial
Some members of Oahu's oldest Shinto shrine have family histories that date to the founding of the temple 100 years ago.
They'll share personal memories at the Daijingu Temple of Hawaii centennial celebration tomorrow. The Thanksgiving Service at 3 p.m. will be followed by supper and a program of Japanese dance and music. It is open to the public.
Perhaps the most interesting history to be told is that of the most sacred object at the shrine, a small cypress box believed to hold the kamisama, the divine spirit of the temple.
Because it is a spirit, it cannot be seen. That was the answer a former bishop gave when FBI agents wanted to see inside. The question came just after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, a time when all Japan-based organizations were being scrutinized by the U.S. government.
Bishop Kazoe Kawasaki "explained it is like the Christian cross. You cannot see inside the cross. They are spiritual things," said the Rev. Akihiro Okada, Kawasaki's successor. "So the FBI let him go."
Kawasaki, son of temple founder Ritaro Kawasaki, was sent to a mainland detention camp. He carried the kamisama in a box the size of a telephone directory to the camp and after the war, back to Japan.
The military government forced the shrine to close its original site on Aala Lane in Palama. Services continued in a private home, Okada said.
Kawasaki returned to Hawaii with the divine spirit and enshrined it at a Young Street shrine. The picturesque temple has been at its current site, 61 Puiwa Road, beside Nuuanu Valley Park, since 1957.
Kawasaki's widow, Hideko, is among the members and their daughter Ellen is secretary of Daijingu mission.
Okada said there are 100 members who regularly attend the shrine, one of four on Oahu. But there are about 4,000 people registered. Although many in younger generations do not adhere to Shintoism, the indigenous faith of Japan, hundreds will return for special ceremonies such as New Year's Day, when they seek the omamori, or good luck talisman for the year.
"It is their Japanese culture" that leads people to return for weddings, funerals and yakudoshi blessings when they turn 41 years old, Okada said. Okada came to Hawaii in 1984 from an assignment in Okinawa and was initiated by Kawasaki into the island tradition of blessing houses -- and cars.
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