Volume 3 Issue 4

Hawaii Kotohira Jinsha
Hawaii Dazaifu Tenmangu

WHERE ANCIENT TRADITIONS THRIVE

July 2013

100th Anniversary ofHawaii Ishizuchi Jinja
The 100th Anniversary of theestablishment of Hawaii Ishizuchi Jinja
was celebrated on Sunday, July 20.
Chief Priest Okimi Sogame, twopriests and members of Ishizuchi Jinja
Honkyo joined Chief Priest Naoya Shimura in a solemn ceremony to commemorate the anniversary.
The festivities continued with a fellowship dinner and entertainment.
Hawaii Ishizuchi Jinja was established on February 17, 1913 by Shina
Miyake, a renown psychic.
The small congregation was looked
upon as unconventional by the Japanesecommunity, but became the first Shinto
shrine to be acknowledged as a nonprofit entity on October 22, 1917.
The shrine began in the home ofRev. Miyake, and eventually moved toit’s present location on King Street on
November 24, 1917.
Rev. Miyake returned to Japan onJune 13, 1927 and Rev. Tomiji Kimura
was named the second Chief Priest.
Rev. Kimura apprenticed at Ishizuchi Jinja Honkyo, Ehime and Taga Taisha in Matsuyama and transmitted Jinja
Shinto or mainstream Shinto to Hawaii
Ishizuchi Jinja.
On December 7, 1941, the FBI andMilitary police arrested Rev Kimura
along with other priests and community

leaders of Japanese citizenship.
Rev. Kimura was interned on themainland on February 17, 1942 followed
by seizure of the shrine and its property
by the Federal government on May 3,1945.
In the early 1980s, Hawaii Ishizuchi
Jinja and Hawaii Kotohira Jinsha –Hawaii Dazaifu Tenmangu were servedby the same priest, Rev. Shigeo Fujino.
In September 1983, Rev. Shigeo
Fujino of Ishizuchi Jinja was installed asthe 6th Guji of Hawaii Kotohira Jinsha.
Members of Hawaii Kotohira Jinshaand Hawaii Ishizuchi Jinja agreed tocooperate as sister shrines under the leadership of Rev. Fujino.
Rev. Fujino was born on May 2, 1918
in Honolulu and moved to Japan upon his
father's death. He returned to Hawaii in
1935 with his uncle, Rev. Kameo Tahara
to serve at Hawaii Daijingu in Kauai.
In 1941, Rev. Fujino was interned at
Sand Island and transferred to the Tule
Lake Internment Camp with Rev. KameoTahara until their deportation in 1945.
Upon his return to Hawaii in 1961,Rev. Fujino continued to serve part-time
at Hawaii Daijingu and Hawaii Ishizuchi
Jinja until the death of Rev. Kimura in1980.
Continued on page 3

MAHALO for your generous donations
Thomas & Linda Agawa
Kiyoko Cole
Stephen & Saori Doi
Doughty Ohana
Sy Farinas
Yasumi Gojo
Gagnon Ohana

Bob Harada
Kyoko Isa
Dean Kagawa
Robert Kakalia & Jeron Sambrano
Noriaki Kunimasa
Kathy Hamada-Kwock
Katsuyoshi Maeda

Masumida Jinja, Japan
Shinken & Marilyn Naitoh
Craig & Diane Nishida
Yukiko Shishido
Takashi & Naomi Shogase
Neal & Leila Tamashiro
Chiyoko Tanaka
Uchida Ohana

Shrine Visitors
Board members of Masumida Jinja shrine in
Aichi prefecture led by Board Chair Kazundo
Ohmori, visited the shrine on June 16.
Masumida Jinja is said to have been established in 627 BCE, during the reign of Emperor
Jimmu, and was deemed Ichinomiya, or the firstshrine of the Owari province by the imperialcourt.
The city of Ichinomiya developed around
Masumida Jinja, which plays host to many of
the town’s colorful festivals.
If you knit or sew, then Ichinomiya is a must
visit on your Japanese travels. The side-streets
surrounding Masumida Jinja are a treasurehouse of locally-produced yarns

Congratulations toTakashi & Naomi
Shogase fromKanagawa.
May the years
ahead be filled withlasting joy.
Page 2

Front Row: Keiko Doughty, Shinken Naitoh, Tom Jannuzzio
Back Row: Craig Nishida, Rev Masa Takizawa
H A W A I I KO T O HI R A J I NS H A

Hawaii Ishizuchi Jinja (continued)
Continued from Page 1
Upon Rev Kimura’s death, Rev.
Fujino was installed as the third
Chief Priest and served both Hawaii
Ishizuchi Jinja and Hawaii Kotohira
Jinsha-Hawaii Dazaifu Tenmangu.
(From Hawaii no Jinjashi byRev. Takakazu Maeda)

ハワイ石鎚神社は1913年2月17日、三宅シナが神憑りして鎮斎したことに始まる。
オナガと赤飯を祭壇に供え「タカヤマノタカガミ」が憑依したことから、愛媛県の石槌神社の石土毘古神を祭神とした。
当初は自宅に祭壇を設けて彼女の霊力を信じる小集団で、日本語新聞に淫祀邪教と批判されるも1917年10月22日にはハワイの神社の中で初めてハワイ県政府が非営利法人として認められる。同年11月24日に現在地に遷座。
1927年6月13日、三宅シナが日本に帰国し、木村富次が愛媛の本社と松山の多賀神社で修業し、2代目宮司となり、呪術型神社から祭祀型神社に変革し、ホノルル神道連盟に加盟「神社」として認知された。
1945年11月13日の第2回配船で戻る。社殿は敵国財産管理局に没収されていた為、自宅での再開となる。
1945年5月3日、司法省から返還の書類が到着し、社殿での祭祀が再開される。
前田孝和『ハワイの神社史』参照

VOLUME 3 ISSUE 4Page 3

A Piece of History
Guarding the entrance of Hawaii
Kotohira Jinsha –Hawaii Dazaifu Tenmangu are two Koma-inu, literally,Korean dogs. The word Koma is anancient term for the Korean Peninsula
and inu is dog.
The Koma-inu were shipped fromJapan and assembled in Honolulu in1935, and is the largest set that exists
in the State.

The Koma-inu at the shrine is said
to be unique in design and thought
to have been crafted in the westernpart of Japan.
The Koma-inu are typically maleand female and includes one with anopen mouth (as pictured below onthe right) and one with a closed
mouth (pictured below left).
The open mouth is pronounc-ing
the word “ah”, and the closed
mouth is pronouncing the word“um” which symbolizes “OM” the"alpha" and "omega" of the Sanskrit
alphabet.
The origin of the Koma-inu isthought to be Egypt or India, but theones transmitted to Japan originatedduring China's Tang dynasty.
Koma-inu are believed to symbolize the eradication of evil and theprotection of the area around thekami.

The impressive Koma-inu are not glued or screwed together. The granite slabs andkomainu are just placed on top of each other, held together by gravity

Left to Right: Kichizo Muramoto, Shuji
Fujiwara, Yotaro Fujino, Seikichi Shinozuka, Hisashi Tagami, Kumata Egami,
Toraichi Yasutake, Goichi Miwa, Tsuruichi
Fukunaga, Enji Sugita, Soichi Morishige

Left to Right: Takejiro Nakazuka, JyutaroNomura, Kozo Kuromoto, Tsunejiro Murakami, Torao Kaji, Miyozo Komeya, Denzo& Shimo Sakumoto, Seiichi Nishihara,Kamejiro Hasuike, Soichi Ichiriu

www.flickr.com/photos/kotohira-dazaifu

www.e-shrine.org