Hawaii Kotohira Jinsha - Hawaii Dazaifu Tenmangu
APRIL 2019

Sak am ot o Hach im an gu in Dazaif u Cit y - sit e of Ot om o Tabit o's f am ou s Plu m Blossom Ban qu etan d or igin of t h e poem w h ich t h e n ew Gen go er a n am e, Reiw a w as t ak en f r om

M AHALOf or you r don at ion sCALENDARAPRILJUNE

13

1 pm
Clean u p an d Fest ival pr ep

11 pm
Clean u p & Pr ep

143 pmSpr in g Th an k sgivin g Fest ival

2

9 am - 1 pm
Ch in ow a f or People & Pet s

282 pmAdvan ce Dir ect ives Sem in arJULY

Thomas & Linda Agawa
Bill & Keiko Doughty
Miyoko Hanahara
Seizo Imamura
Andy Khee
James & Melba Kurashige
Kenji & Mara Kwock
Milton & Kathy Kwock
Steve Miwa
Shinken & Marilyn Naitoh
Adele Nakamura
Craig & Diane Nishida

M AY
53 pm
Tsu k in am isai M on t h ly
Ser vice

26

8 am
Hon olu lu Sh in t o Ren m eiM em or ial Day Ser vice

Akiko SanaiSherrie Santiago
Gary & Linda ShinsatoAlice Sugimoto
Sugimoto Ohana
Adam & Mimi Tilley

1- 7

Tanzaku strips for Tanabata
wishes available in shrine

73 pm
Tsu k in am isai M on t h ly
Ser vice & Tan abat aPr ivat e Blessin gs

Congratulations to the Tilley's on thebirth of their sweet baby boy.

A Yakudoshi blessing was performedfor Mara on March 29

An annual home blessing wasperformed for a longtime friend of
the shrine in front of theirkamidana.

A long distance blessing for healing wasperformed for Joshie on March 29.
Joshie has been in Pet ER for the past 2weeks suffering from pneumonia andcomplications from Pancreatitis.
When a medical emergency befalls ourfury friends and you would like a private
blessing, a long-distance ceremony canbe performed in-absentia. Please email
us for details. The shrine has also done
long-distance Baby and Health blessingsfor many throughout the globe.

An annual Blessing was performed for theshrine's friends from Osaka

Advan ce Dir ect ives Sem in ar
Plan Ah ead To M ak e You r
En d Of Lif e Wish es Kn ow n
Date: April 28 (Sun)Time: 2:00 pmPlace: Shrine Meeting Room
Just as we prepare for themany milestones throughout
our life, it is important to planin advance for the end of ourlife with Advance Directives.
Advanced care planning may
not be an easy conversation,
but a necessary one.
By thinking ahead andcommunicating yourtreatment preferences early
on, you can spare those close
to you the anxiety of having toguess your wishes.
Advance directives are legal
documents completed byindividuals to specify how theywould like health caredelivered should they not beable to speak for themselves.
Attend this educationalseminar presented by theshrine's president - Dr .
Sh in k en Nait oh , who has
focused his practiceexclusively in Healthcare law.
The seminar is part of ourcommunity service to the
public and will be offered at
no charge.
The seminar will review thebenefits of planning ahead,discuss end-of-life decisions
and help you to complete
your advance directive at theseminar.
Email your RSVP to the shrine:
k ot oh ir a@h aw aiian t el.n et
or text Irene at 284-1040 toreserve a space.

CONGRATULATIONS to Rev. Nobu h ir o Nish it ak at su ji as he is ordained as the 40th Chief
Priest of Dazaifu Tenmangu.
Chief Priest Nishitakatsuji is a graduate ofTokyo University,majoring in Art History.
He received his priest's
license, majoring in
Shinto studies atKokugakuin University.
In 2010, he received hismasters in JapaneseStudies at theReischauer Institute ofHarvard University.

Sh r in e Visit or s
Journalist and cameracrew of EI Publishing
Company of Tokyo
visited the shrine on
March 21 to introduce
the shrine and its
omamori on the 2020
edition of "Hawaii- bon"a popular Japanese
travel magazine.

Gen go - Japan ese er a n am es
The current period in Japan is
known as Heisei and began on
January 8, 1989, the day after thedeath of Emperor Hirohito. His son,the 125th Emperor Akihito
ascended the throne on January 9,1989.
Emperor Akihito, 85 planned his
date of abdication as April 30, 2019
due to stress-related illnesses. His
eldest son, Emperor Naruhito, 59
will be ascending the throne on
May 1, 2019 as the 126th Emperor.

emperor 's official posthumousname. Emperor Akihito's father,Emperor Hirohito is now named
after his era name "Showa" and isreferred to as Emperor Showa.
The Gengo is only for domestic use
but is used on currency, drivers'licenses, official paperwork as wellas in counting years.
Elderly people often use Gengo to
identify their generations, while
younger people prefer the Westerncalendar.

The system for era names or Gengo
began in China more than 2,000years ago. Many monarchs
throughout Asia followed thesystem but Japan remains the only
country to retain the ancientpractice.

The Gengo Era Name Act stipulatesthat a name must be written with
two Kanji characters, it must have apositive meaning and be easy toread and write. Beyond that, theselection process is confidential.

The Gengo era name becomes an

The first Gengo was "Taika" in the
7th century and meant "to lead

Prime Minister Abe delivering a press
conference to explain the meaning ofReiwa

people with great virtue." Since,
there have been 247 Gengo era
names.
This is the first time a Gengo era
name originated from a 1200-year
old classic Japanese poem, rather
than a Chinese text.
New Gengo names carry with ithopes and expectations for thefuture of Japan.

Reiw a - t h e n ew Gen go er a n am e
On April 1, 2019, the new era nameReiwa was announced with greatfanfare.
The city of Dazaifu immediately
became the center of attention as
the new Gengo era name finds its
roots in a poem written in 731 in
Dazaifu, Fukuoka.
Otomo no Tabito (665 - 731) a Nara
Period court noble who served asGovernor-General of Dazaifu isbest known for his many poems onsake but mostly this poem from theManyoshu - "I wish I could stopbeing a human and become a jug
so I can remain immersed in sakeforever."The Manyoshu has 20 volumes ofabout 4,500 poems written
between 600 and 759.
This eclectic aristocrat hosted aSpring Plum Blossom banquet in
the year 731 with 31 people at his

official residence in Dazaifu . All
the participants recited their own
poems admiring the magnificenceof the ume plum blossoms
blooming in Tabito's garden.

Reiwa, the new era name means"achieving peace" and is derived
from two kanji characters in Tabito's
opening remarks. REI in reigetsu
and WA in yawaragi.
The original site of Tabito's PlumBlossom banquet was torn down
centuries ago and is now SakamotoHachimangu shrine, at the foot ofthe Shiojiyama mountains.
Rev. Yosh it om o M it a of Dazaifu
Tenmangu also serves as the Chiefpriest of Sakamoto Hachimangu.

Hakata Ningyo dolls depicting Otomo Tabito's
famous Plum Blossom Banquet

In his opening remarks at thebanquet, Tabito said "Hatsuharu noreigetsu nishite kiyoku kazeyawaragi" or in this auspicious early
spring month, the air is clean andthe breeze is gentle.

M ain t en an ce
Totan galvanized metal
was a popular building
material until the 1960s.
The Japanese word Totan
comes from the Portugese word Tutanaga whichmeans "metal containing
crude zinc and bronze."

The most famous of thebuilding supply company
owners was Frank Fasi,
who after moving here towork for the Army Corpsof Engineers, ran hissalvage business until
1966 when he ran for
Honolulu Mayor.

Kamaboko houses orQuonset huts made oftotan were imported toHawaii by the military in
the 1940s and used tohouse troops. After thewar, Honolulu faced ahousing shortage and theNavy had an excess ofQuonset Huts.
Building supply firms
such as Kilgo?s, Tajiri's andFrank Fasi?s Supplies
obtained the government
contract to salvage huts
for resale.

dire need of replacement.

Mahalo Nui to Ru dy
San t iago, the shrine's
neighbor for completing
Phase 1 of the Garage
Roof project. The totanroof that was used to roof
the garage from 1983 wasfinally removed on 3/24.
The shrine's totan orgalvanized metal roof
over the garage was in

On 3/29, Rev. Tak izaw asliced the totan panels

into 4 ft long pieces tocomply with City &County Bulky Items
collection rules. Mahalo
Nui to M ik e Lee for useof his circular saw.