Volume 4 Issue 3

Sake Appreciation FestivalHawaii Kotohira Jinsha
Hawaii Dazaifu Tenmangu

WHERE ANCIENT TRADITIONS THRIVE

March 2014

The ancient name for Japan was Toyo ashihara no mizuho no kuni or the land ofrice.
In Japan, all parts of the rice plant is utilized - with over 70 pounds of stalks
being recycled into each tatami mat, hats, sandals, rain gear, facial scrubs, and rice
paste being used in bookbindings, as well as a resist-dye technique for fabrics.
A by product of rice - sake has long been a vital part of Japanese culture. Sake's
strongest connection with Japanese culture lays in its traditional indispensability atsocial gatherings.
Sake has an important place at festivals, ceremonies and rituals. Whether imbibedduring Sansan-kudo at a Shinto wedding ceremony or at a festival, sake has symbolized the miracle of nature.
The shrine’s Sake Appreciation Festival was initiated to acknowledge the gift that
alcoholic beverages made from rice like sake and shochu are to the world and ourlives.
Much mahalo to Dr Shinken Naitoh and Bob Harada for spearheading the ceremony, Allan Takeshita for the rice plant, Hanayagi Mitsujyuro and Hisamatsu Mariof Hanayagi Dancing Academy Hawaii Foundation for the offering of Sanbaso andthe many who donated bottles of sake and shochu.

View more shrine photos at www.flickr.com/photos/kotohira-dazaifu

MAHALO for your generous donations
Thomas & Linda Agawa
Miyoko Hanahara
Bob Harada
Hawaiian Shochu Company
Eiji & Yuka Kato
Cesili Kawakami-Wong
Milton & Kathy Kwock
Mike Lee
Carol Matsuwaki
Shinken & Marilyn Naitoh

Craig & Diane NishidaDiane Ogasawara
Toshiko Ogura
Marisa Rossetti
Fumiko Sakakibara
Allan Takeshita
Masa & Irene Takizawa
Sharon Tanigawa
Donna Lee Tengan
Naomi Teramoto

Miho Yamada

MAHALO
Bryson Goda Bob Harada
Shinken Naitoh Diane Nishida
Jill Nishida

Hawaiian Shochu Company
Nestled in Haleiwa is the first and only certified distilleryof shochu in Hawaii.
Namihana is the brainchild of Ken and Yumiko Hirata ofOsaka and only 5,000 bottles a year is produced of this extraordinary blend of rice cultivated by Koda Farms of San
Joaquim Valley, water from pristine Artesian springs on theNorth Shore and Okinawan purple potatoes from Molokai.
Ken Hirata apprenticed under a master distiller at Manzen
Shuzo in Kagoshima, a prefecture known for originating imo
shochu using sweet potatoes.

Traditional ceramic barrels imported from Kagoshima

The oldest written record in Japan referring to shochu was found at Koriyama Hachiman Shrine in Isa
city, Kagoshima.
It is a piece of graffiti carved by a carpenter on theroof ridge that says, “ the head of the shrine organization was so stingy that he didn’t offer any shochu”. Thisgraffiti was dated 1559 and shows that shochu wasalready being consumed in Kagoshima in the mid 16thcentury.
To maintain the high quality and genuine flavors ofshochu obtained by traditional methods, the Hiratas opt
to remain small, allowing them the time and space to beboth experimental and discriminating about every
Ken & Yumiko Hirata, Rev Takizawa at the Haleiwa brewery
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H A W A I I KO T O HI R A J I NS H A

Hanami - Cherry Blossom Viewing.

April heralds spring and theblossoming of the national flower ofJapan - the sakura.
The word sakura is thought byetymologists to be composed of twoparts: 'sa,' and 'kura.'
The word sa is short for 'sakami,'or 'sagami'- the kami of themountains andrice paddies in
Shintomythology.
The second
part of the word,kura, was theresting place forthe mountainkami. So, sakura originallymeant "the seatof the Mountain kami.”
The Sakura tree is thought to besacred with reproductive powers
because Princess Konohana-sakuya,
sprinkled the first cherry seeds fromatop Mt. Fuji.
Before the rice planting season,
the ancient Japanese went out into
the fields to perform a ritual to offer

food and sake to the kami of themountains in gratitude of the bounties they receive from nature,
After the offerings were made,the food and sake were shared withthe kami, under the blossoms.
One of the unique aspects of
Shinto is that all ceremonies andfestivals always involve food andsake. This practice is called Naorai
Naorai consists of the offerings
made at a festival and is considereda vital element of Shinto ceremonies.
The ancient Japanese thought thatthose who ate and drank with thekami, received strength and positiveenergies.
The ancient practice of revering
the kami of the mountain eventually
evolved into the Hanami that weknow of today.

Happy February & March Birthdays!!!

Nene Imai and Yuri Morita from the Shizuoka
University Faculty of Education HamamatsuJunior High School visited the shrine onFriday, February 28, to learn about Shinto inHawaii.
VOLUME 4 ISSUE 3

Front Row: Eugene Sukert, Jill Nishida, Kathy Hamada-Kwock,
Diane Nishida, Marilyn Naitoh
Back Row: Bryson Goda
Page 3

Wakamiya Inari Jinja
The Wakamiya Inari Jinja, also known as Moiliili Inari Jinja wasfounded by Rev. Yoshio Akizaki, a second generation Japanese American Shinto priest who studied in Tokyo in 1912.
Rev. Akizaki is the father of Clarence Akizaki, a former member of
the State House of Representatives, who represented Moiliili andMcCully from 1963-1972.
The original shrine was built in 1914 in Kakaʻako by a Japanesearchitect known only as Has-chun and relocated in 1918 to 2132 SouthKing Street in Moiliili.
During World War II, both Rev. Yoshio and his son Takeo wereinterned at Honouliuli and later at Camp McCoy in Wisconsin.
After the death of the founderin 1951, his son Takeo inherited
both the property and the priesthood.
After Takeo’s death in 1979,
the property was sold toMcCully Bicycle & Sporting
Goods, and the shrine was slated
for demolition.
Michael Molloy, a religion
professor at Kapiolani Community College, along with then Gov.
George Ariyoshi and labor
leader Hideo Okada formed agroup to save the shrine.
After several attempts to finda site in Honolulu, they succeeded in relocating it in 1979, to theWaipahu Cultural Garden Park eventual site of the Plantation
Village.

Visit www.e-shrine.org
for updated
information on events