Volume 3 Issue 5

Hawaii Kotohira Jinsha
Hawaii Dazaifu Tenmangu

WHERE ANCIENT TRADITIONS THRIVE

August 2013

Back-To-School Education
Blessing てんじんさん学業成就
New adventures await as students
and teachers prepare for the newschool year. Excitement for new possibilities and fear of the unknown mingle in our children’s hearts.
Our annual Back-To-School Blessing is offered to bring positive blessings to students, teachers and support
staff as they begin this new school year
- so they are surrounded by love, hope,vision, and protection and the courage
to persevere in all they undertake andthe gift of joy and wonder in all things.
Sugawara no Michizane, the deityof Dazaifu Tenmangu, was a 9th century scholar and nobleman who wasfalsely accused of improprieties atcourt and sent into exile where he died
before being exonerated.

Later, his spirit was deified and today
is venerated as the deity of learning andscholarship at the 11,000 or so Tenmangu shrines throughout Japan.
Dazaifu Tenmangu in Saifu City, Fukuoka is the main shrine of all the Tenmangu shrines in Japan where millions ofstudents flock to the shrine each year toreceive blessings and omamori amulets.
This year, our Back to School
Education Blessing was held on Sunday,
August 4 from 10 am to 2 pm with thetraditional blessing and gifts of schoolsupplies.
A big Mahalo goes out to theHanayagi Dancing Academy Hawaii
Foundation and the many volunteers whohelped to make this special blessing
available to the community.

View more shrine photos: www.flickr.com/photos/kotohira-dazaifu
News Coverage Video: http://www.e-shrine.org/eventvideos.html

MAHALO for your generous donations
Thomas & Linda Agawa
Joshua Allen
Claire Ching
Doughty OhanaEconomy Plumbing &Sheet Metal
Audrey Endo

Clark & Gayle Fujihara
Kevin Fujita
Bob Harada
Hayashibara Ohana
Heijiro & Mayumi Ikeda
Kyoko Isa
Tatsunori Ishimoto

Masayuki Kobayashi
Cory & Andrea Kubota
Tomohiko Matsuyama
Shinken & Marilyn Naitoh
Craig & Diane Nishida
Ortega-Shibuya Ohana
Toshio Toyoda

Sharon Tsunoda
Kevin Tsutsui
Robert & Yoko Uyehara
Violet Yonenaka

MAHALO Volunteers
Mahalo for taking time of our your busy schedules to help at our annual Back-To-School Blessing

Keiko Doughty
Alyssa Fujihara
Gayle Fujihara
Bryson GodaMiyoko Hanahara
Bob Harada
Stacie Hata
Arthur Isa Jr
Tom Jannuzzio
Lorraine Kadota
Marilyn Naitoh
Shinken Naitoh
Craig Nakahara
Craig NishidaDiane NishidaDiane Ogasawara
Kei Sakamoto
Yuko Takahashi
Naomi Teramoto
Sharon Toma

Shichigosan Children’s Festival

Includes:$50 Blessing donation$10 Kimono Preservation Fund donation
Omamori, Chitose-ame, Goody Bag,
Complimentary kimono rental & dressing
Hair & makeup
Page 2

Reservations accepted from September 1
HA W A I I K O T O HI R A J I N S HA

Offering of the First Rice Harvest of the YearMahalo to Allan Takeshita for the offering of the first rice harvest of 2013. This isAllan’s first attempt at rice production, which he began to perpetuate the ancienttraditions of Niinamesai, or literally “the festival of new crops.”
Japan was historically known as Mizuho no Kuni, “the land of golden ears of rice“
and Niinamesai is still one of the most important rituals where the Emperor, on
behalf of the people makes the season’s first offering of rice to the kami.
Here in Hawaii, rice production was started by the Chinese immigrants in the1860s. Rice paddies and water buffalo used to occupy the area from Keeaumoku
to Waikiki, which yielded two crops a year.
At one time, Hawaii had over 10,000 acres of rice and Sheridan Street was
endearingly known as “Pake Patch” because of the numerous Chinese rice farms.
Rice production declined with the influx of Japanese immigrants. The techniques
used in Hawaii could not compete with the mechanized production technology
in California. Furthermore, the Japanese preferred short grain rice grown inCalifornia, to the long-grain Chinese variety.

Shrine Visitors
Tatsunori Ishimoto & Shinichi Takei of Ishimoto Shuzo, makers of the “Phantom Sake” Koshino Kanbai, visited the shrine on August 16.

16 residents of the Plaza Assisted Living Facility Punchbowl,
accompanied by Activities Director, Chaniel Willis visited theshrine on Tuesday, August 6, as part of The Plaza’s Japanese
Culture Appreciation month. The visitors were blessed in a
ceremony for good health.
The Plaza Assisted Living Facility has
three locations on Oahu and offers various
levels of care.
VOLUME 3 ISSUE 5Page 3

A Piece of History
Below is a photo of the Dai
Nippon Butoku Kai Hawaii
Chapter, taken at Hawaii Kotohira Jinsha on July 26, 1936, on theanniversary celebration of theirestablishment in the islands.
The main organization of theDai Nippon Butoku Kai was established in February 1895 in
Kyoto by Chiaki Watanabe andMotoosa Mibu.
The purpose of the Kai was topromote, educate and recognize
all Japanese martial arts and nurture the Yamato spirit of honor,
honesty and courage.
There was also an all-maleacademy within Butoku Kai
headquarters, that specialized in
Kokugaku or National studiesand Kanbun or classical Chinesewritings. Students were expected
to train in either Kendo or Judoas part of the curriculum.
The Butoku Kai wasdisbanded by the General

Headquarters of the Supreme
Commander for the Allied Powers(GHQ) on January 1, 1947 and all
assets confiscated by the Japanese
government.
The date of establishment ofthe Hawaii Chapter is unknown,
however, the photo was taken on
July 26, 1936 on the grounds ofHawaii Kotohira Jinsha, before
most of our land was taken for
H-1 Highway.
You can see the Hawaii Kotohira Jinsha Koma-inu lions and Maku curtains on the left.
The building on the right is thesocial hall, one of many buildingsthat were on the shrine property.
There are records that indicate
the existence of a martial arts hall,sumo ring, archery range, andpriest quarters on the same property that stretched across the freeway
to the Queen Liliuokalani Children’s Center.

www.e-shrine.org