Haw aii Kot oh ir a Jin sh a - Haw aii Dazaif u Ten m an gu
AUGUST 2020

Visiting dear friends of the shrine - Dr. James and Melba Kurashige in Hilo.
Mahalo Nui for your longtime support, encouragement and love!!!!

M AHALO

Pr ivat e Blessin gs

f or you r don at ion s
Damon Bilbao
Bill & Keiko Doughty
Seizo Imamura
Rodney & Sharon Isa
James & Melba Kurashige
Steve Miwa
Shinken & Marilyn Naitoh
Natalie Nakamura
Hatsuko Nakata
Craig & Diane Nishida
Akiko Sanai
Gary & Linda Shinsato
Alice Sugimoto
Chester SugimotoFlorence Sugimoto
Reid Yoshimura

The monthly Tsukinamisai service was performedon August 2.
Tsukinamisai will be
performed internallywithout any attendees
until September.
The first public Tsukinamisai service isscheduled for October 18.

A HouseBlessing wasperformedon August
14. May you
be blessedwith positiveenergies inyour newspace andlife.

Good Health Blessing wasperformed for a 90 year-old
Ujiko from the Palama area.
Ujiko is a patron of a shrine
who lives within the parish
boundaries or in the same
district as the shrine.
Ujiko originally referred toany member of a clanclaiming a commonancestral kami or ujigami.

Visit ou r w ebsit e: w w w.jin ja.u s

Pr ivat e Blessin gs
An annual House Blessing wasperformed on August 7, for theSugimoto ohana that has
patronized the shrine since theearly 1920s.
The Sugimoto ohana's patriarch
Teiichi was born on July 1, 1888 in
Otake-shi, Hiroshima and moved toLaupahoehoe in 1908. He married

Haruyo Okihiro in 1923 and moved
to Honolulu to establish theSugimoto Contracting Company on
Dillingham Boulevard.
In 1930, he established the Otaki
Jinja Hosan Kai and brought aGobunrei from Otaki Jinja in Otake
City, Hiroshima, for worship atHawaii Kotohira Jinsha.

Photo from 1960 of Teiichi Sugimoto and Soichiro Miurapresenting the shrine with a new curtain for the social hall.

He was active in the communityand served on the Boards ofHawaii Kotohira Jinsha, Honpa
Hongwanji, Goji Kai, Hawaii Shinto
Renmei, Hawaii Hiroshima Kenjin
Kai, Otake-shi Chiho Jin Kai, Meiji
Kai, Jyokunsha Club, Nippon
Bijutsu Aiko Kai, Hanayagi Kasho
Kai and Waki Sonjinkai.

Otaki Jinja Festival performed by Rev. Kunisuke Sakai at Hawaii Kotohira
Jinsha in 1959 with the kokua of priests from Hawaii Daijingu, Hawaii
Izumo Taisha and Hawaii Ishizuchi Jinja.

CALENDAR

Sh ich igosan
Oct ober 18 - Nov 22
ONLINE RESERVATIONS for
Shichigosan, Totose no Oiwai andJusan Mairi will be accepted from8:30 am on Sept em ber 1 (HawaiiTime)
In f or m at ion w ill be post ed t oou r w ebsit e on Au gu st 25.
Please visit our websitew w w.jin ja.u s for details asprocedures have changed. There
will also be a link to our ONLINERESERVATION Form and Donation
portal.
Please use the Online reservation
form as we no longer accept
reservations by phone or fax.
A confirmation email or text will
be sent to you within 3 days ofreceipt of your online reservation.

Blessings will be performed on
the dates and times below:

Sept em ber

10/18 Sun

11/7 Sat1

10/23 Fri

11/8 Sun

10/24 Sat

11/11 Wed

10/25 Sun

11/14 Sat

10/30 Fri

11/15 Sun

10/31 Sat

11/20 Fri

11/1 Sun

11/21 Sat

11/3 Tues

11/22 Sun

Maximum 10 slots per day
One (1) child per time slot
9:00 am
9:30 am
10:00 am
10:30 am
11:00 am

12:30 pm
1:00 pm
1:30 pm
2:00 pm
2:30 pm

8:30 am
On lin e Reser vat ion s accept ed f or
Sh ich igosan , Tot ose n o Oiw ai,
Ju san M air i an d Seijin Sh ik i
Please visit www.jinja.us and viewthe new procedures before bookinga reservation27

3 pm (In t er n al)
100t h An n iver sar y Au t u m n
Th an k sgivin g Fest ival

Oct ober
17

9 am
Clean u p & Pr epar at ion s189 am - 1 pm
Sh ich igosan
3 pm
Tsu k in am isai M on t h ly Ser viceHou se of M it su k osh i
The first Japanese-style
Department store opened its
doors on December 21,1940 at thecorner of King and Bethel.
It was designed by architects fromShimizu Gumi Tokyo and Fred
Yoshimi Fujioka, a local Architect.
The owner of the House ofMitsukoshi was a local firm called
International Enterprises, headedby Masayuki Tokioka, whofounded the National Mortgage &Finance Company, City Bank,
Island Insurance, Newfair Dairies
and International Savings & Loan.
International Enterprises wascapitalized for $340,000 in the late1930's. Prior to 1939, it purchased
the land on the corner of Betheland King Streets with plans tobuild a retail outlet.
The House of Mitsukoshi wasThe escalator was imported from
Tokyo and installed by the Von
Hamm Young Company

modeled after the Mitsukoshi
Department store in Tokyo andhad an escalator between the firstand second floors. Many
shoppers are said to have visited
the store just to ride on the first
escalator in the Islands.

There was a food department In
the basement and a children's
play area on the rooftop. Twoelevators serviced the 4-story
building that imported all of its
merchandise from MitsukoshiTokyo.
A ground breaking ceremony wasperformed in Spring 1939 by theHonolulu Shinto Renmei, anorganization formed by priests
from Hawaii Kotohira Jinsha,
Hawaii Daijingu, Hawaii Izumo
Taisha, Hawaii Ishizuchi Jinha andHawaii Kato Jinja.

of Mitsukoshi.
The House of Mitsukoshi ceased
operations in December 1941, lessthan a year from its opening.

In early 1942, the building wasconverted to a USO facility named
the Victory Club by the Federal
Government and remained open
until 1945. The building wasreturned to International
Enterprises in 1948.

Mayor Crane participating in the Ground
Breaking ceremony in 1939

Politicians and civic leaders
attended the opening gala onDecember 21, 1940 that beganwith a ceremony by the Honolulu
Shinto Renmei followed by a day
filled with food, discounted
merchandise and entertainment.
The Japanese attack on Pearl
Harbor on December 7, 1941
brought chaos to the islands andan uncertain future for the House

Opening ceremony of the House of
Mitsukoshi on December 21, 1940

Geishas from local Tea Houses serving
food and drinks

House of Mitsukoshi building converted
to the USO Victory ClubThe Honorable Walter Kirimitsu
was featured on the August
edition of KIKU TV's The Wisdomof Hawaii's Elders.
Judge Kirimitsu shares his fondmemories of participatingin sumo tournaments at
Hawaii Kotohira Jinsha inthe late 1940s.
Judge Kirimitsu served aspresident of St. Louis Schooland practiced law for 25years in private civil practice.
There were peaceful protests on July 21 - 24 in front of1234 N. King Street, the proposed site of the IHS Transferand Triage Center.
Neighboring businesses and residents held signs claimingthat they were never informed by the Institute of Human
Services or the City of the proposed sale and plans.
Neighborhood businesses and leaders say they believe in
the IHS mission, however will not support any facilities
geared toward serving the homeless in this community.

Kapalam a's ch an gin g lan dscape
Graffiti is often called "art"but it is legally known as felony
property damage. Tagging is a
public nuisance.
If you are also having thisproblem, HPD operates aGraffiti Hotline to enable thepublic to report graffiti on bothpublic and private properties.
Call the Hotline at 723-3475.
Hawaii currently has thehighest rate of homelessness
per capita in the nation.
Homelessness is a complex
social problem with a varietyof underlying economic andsocial factors. This summer
has seen the rise in thehomeless population which
seems to be migrating towards
Kapalama from Downtown.

Follow u s on In st agr am : kot oh ir adazaif u