Where ancient traditions thrive

Hawaii Kotohira Jinsha
Hawaii Dazaifu Tenmangu
Volume 4, Issue 8

Hatsumiya Mairi 初宮参り
Conception, pregnancy,
labor, delivery, and the postpartum
period are fraught with uncertainty,
fear, danger, deep relief, joy, a senseof wonder, and increased physicaland emotional vulnerability.
The unborn baby is a mystery - even with sophisticated technology one cannot be sure of ahealthy baby until after the birth.
Childbirth is a period of transition,
both socially and personally .
Bringing a new baby home isone of the most exciting universal
human experiences. For most parents,
it is a time of celebration -- whenfamilies and communities come together to honor and welcome the newchild.
Rituals and ceremonies thatmark a child's birth and survival arecommon worldwide. In the U.S.,
baptism and male circumcision are
two of the more familiar baby traditions, but there are many others thatare less visible.
These rituals not only celebrate and acknowledge the child, butalso serve as an important way forfamilies to solidify their connection
to community, heritage and culture.
Rituals are evidence that one
is authentic and belongs. They areabout knowing where you comefrom. For parents, birth rituals andceremonies provide an immediate
sense of connection as well as inclusion of the child into the clan, tribe
or community.
Although babies aren't yet
fully aware, these rituals are impor-tant for them as well. Along withbeing the first introduction to whothey are, they also serve as guideposts as they grow and develop theirown sense of identity. Even if theydrift away from or reject their heritage, their early experiences givethem a place to return to if they sochoose.
Parents re-tell the stories of
the rituals to the child as they getolder, giving them a path back toconnection. With these rituals, theparents give the child a road map
home.
In the Japanese culture,
Hatsumiya Mairi or Omiya mairi is a
special ritual that allows the new par-ents to convey appreciation to thekami for the birth of their childand to express heir wishes for thechild to become good natured,kind hearted, true of spirit, respectful of all around and lead totheir inner strengths to find theirown path in life.
Male infants usually visit
a shrine on the 31st day after birthand girls on the 33rd day afterbirth.
However, since an infant's immune system is delicate,
it is best to consult with your physician as to when your baby isable to venture outside of thehome.

Steven & Nobue Yoshida with their son, Nathan

MAHALO for your generous donations
Thomas & Linda Agawa
Richard & Teriann Akana
Raoul Allen & Tessa Travers
Donald & Terri Aweau
Raimond & Yuki Booker
David & Anri Bui
Makoto & Junko CameronCharles & Lisa Chiu
Harold & Kim Chock
Matthew & Sumiyo Corral
Toshiko Fujisaki
Kazuhisa & Hiromi Fujita
Yuri Fukuzawa
Brian & Tomoko Harris
Jim & Mana Hartman
Ryuji Hoshino
Kyoko Isa
Hiroyuki Ishikawa
Kristen Iwahiro
Carrell & Ryoko JacksonDavid Kaga
Sachiko Kele
Glenn Kaizuka
Naoko Kawasaki
Osamu Kawata
Rennie & Kimberly Kira
Burt & Wendy Kondo
Frank & Joy Lane
Shiho Lausterer
Cindy Ligsay

Joe & Yuki Lileikis
Akiko Linn
Richard & Dawn Lutz
Naomi Maeda
Larry & Donna Morinaga
Robert Martin & M. Nakagawa
Jean Matsuo
Roy Morioka
Louis MossmanJeffrey & Robin Mukae
Shinken & Marilyn Naitoh
Ken & Hatsumi Nanbu
Miho Oba & Neil Miyahira
Shuji & Mayuko Oda
Gregory & Emiko Perez
Angela Powers
David & Melani Shiraishi
Wendy Shiroma
Masaki Takai
David & Yuki Terada
Franci Terada
Troy & naoko Tomita
Bertha Tomiyasu
Kara Uchimura
Betty Yamasaki
Kyle Yamasaki
David & Sharon Yasukochi
Thomas & Makiko Yip
Steven & Nobue Yoshida

We express our heartfelt
condolences to the families ofRobert Shimoda
Tarokichi Hiramatsu
Esther Kimura
Sandy Kodama
MAHALO Give Five October Volunteers
Bryson Goda
Ryuji Hoshino Kathy Kwock
Melissa Hamada Arthur M Isa Diane Nishida
Lorraine Kadota Shinano Kawahara
Axel Obara
Diane Ogasawara

Shrine Calendar
November
1– 30

Shichigosan 七五三

December
7

Tsukinami-sai Monthly Service 月次祭

TBA

Mochi Pounding

TBA

Susubarai Clean-Up

餅つき
煤払い

Hawaii Kotohira Jinsha - Hawaii Dazaifu Tenmangu is a 501(C )(3) nonprofit church.
All contributions are tax deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law.

Robert Yoshio Shimoda, President Emeritus of the shrine passed away
on October 19 at the age of 91.
A graduate of Iolani School, Mr.
Shimoda always spoke of his “hanabata”
days with his childhood buddies Stephen
Kotake and Maurice Karamatsu. The threemusketeers were inseparable until thedeath of Stephen in 2001 and Maurice in1992.
Even in his 90s, Mr. Shimoda traveled to Japan every
year, visiting his daughter and 3 grandchildren while getting insome gateball with his buddies throughout the country.
Mr. Shimoda is survived by his wife, Miyono, son
Gary, daughter, Laverne Miyamoto and three grandchildren.
Mr. Shimoda, otsukare sama deshita - I’m sure you’rehaving a sake with Stephen and Maurice - the sanbagarasu are
together once again. We will truly miss you.

Richard and Dawn Lutz, formally of Hawaii and now
residing in Portland, Oregon visited the shrine for theHatsu Tanjo or one-year old blessing of their daughter,
Juliet Dorothy Emi.

Traditional Japanese Children’s Rites
Oshichiya / Meimei
The newborn’s name will
be formally announced on the seventh day from his or her birth.
A scroll or piece of paperinscribed with the baby’s name in
traditional calligraphy is hung on
the kamidana to formally welcome the child.

Hatsu-zekku
Hatsu zekku, or the firstsekku of the child’s life is either
Tango no sekku on May 5th for boys
or Momo no sekku on March 3rd forgirls. Dolls are usually sent to thechild and a little feast is prepared tocelebrate the auspicious occasion.

Hatsu-tanjo
Hatsu tanjo is the first birthday of a child. In many regions ofJapan, mochi is pounded into a large
round shape, wrapped in furoshiki
and tied to the back of the child as asymbol that the child will be strong
and healthy.

Hatsumiya Mairi
Hatsumiya Mairi or first
visit to a shrine is introduced on
the front page of this newsletter.
Okuizome
Okuizome is a ritual thatbegan in the Heian period which isalso referred to as hagatame, momoka, mana hajime and is usually
performed on the 100th day.
This ritual is performed sothat the child will never go hungry
for the rest of his or her life.

first-graders with a special entrance
ceremony, or nyugaku-shiki.
Given the importance of thestep up to first grade, parents and children dress up for the school entrance
ceremony.
Nyu-en shiki is a ceremony
for those entering Pre-school or Kindergarten.

Jusan Mairi
Jusan Mairi or literally“Thirteen year-old Blessing” is a special blessing to affirm the emotional,
psychological and physical changes
challenging 13 year-olds.

SotsugyoSotsugyo or graduation fromhigh school promotes reflection on thesignificance of completing compulsory education and those who havemade it possible, and motivations forbeginning the journey into adulthood.

Sejin shiki
Seijin skihi or Coming of Age
Ceremony is a ceremony to empower
one through the many significant
changes and transitions of becoming
an adult and celebrating new beginnings of discovering your life path.

Shichigosan
Shichigosan is a traditional
event celebrated by 3 and 5 year oldboys and 3 and 7 year old girls.
On November 15, children
dressed in kimono visit a shrine toreport their healthy development andto receive divine blessings.
Shichigosan is said to haveoriginated from the ancient rites of
passage for children such as Kamioki
or growing of hair, Hakamagi or
wearing of hakama for boys and Obitoki or the use of Obi for girls.

2007 Top Ten Children’s
Names in JapanBoyGirl

大翔 Hiroto

葵 Aoi

蓮 Ren

さくらSakura

大輝 Daiki

優奈 Yuna

翔太 Shota

結衣 Yui悠斗 Haruto

陽菜 Yohna

陸 Riku

七海 Nanami

優太 Yuhta

美咲 Misaki

Nyu-en / Nyu-gaku

優斗 Yuhto

美優 MiyuThe new school year in Japan begins in April, when schools
across Japan welcome incoming

大和 Yamato

ひなた Hinata

健太 Kenta

美羽 Mi-uSuitengu Shrine 水天宮
Deity of Water and the Protector of Children,
Motherhood, Fertility, Easy Delivery
There are seven shrines at Hawaii Kotohira Jinsha- Hawaii Dazaifu Tenmangu.
One of the seven shrines is a branch of the famed
Suitengu shrine of Kurume, Fukuoka. The Hawaii shrine
still maintains close ties with Suitengu in Fukuoka, whichis the head shrine of the hundreds of other Suitengu
shrines throughout Japan.
The actual date and circumstances involved in theestablishment of Hawaii Suitengu is unknown. All documents and photos were destroyed during World War II by
the founders of the Suitengu shrine in Hawaii in fear of
being falsely accused of subversive activity.
Hawaii Suitengu was eventually closed by the federal government, sometime in 1941. After the war, Hawaii Suitengu was not able to resume activities andbrought the goshintai and all shrine related paraphernalia
to Hawaii Kotohira Jinsha to perpetuate the Suitengu traditions on their behalf.

off Yamaguchi-ken
on April 25, 1185.
The Minamoto clan fleet, led
by Minamoto no Yoshitsune, defeated the Taira or
Heike clan fleet, during a half-day engagement.
The 8-year old child Emperor Antoku was
aboard one of the boats with his mother and grandmother, Ni no Ama.
When the Taira was defeated, Ni no Ama, Emperor Antoku and his mother, Kenreimon-in threw themselves overboard along with their vassals and attendants.

Suitengu Shrine
The main Suitengu shrine was established in Kurume, Fukuoka about 700 years ago.
It began with the Genpei War, a culmination of adecades-long conflict between the Taira and Minamotoclans over dominance of the Imperial court.
Consequently, the Taira clan was destroyed, andthe Minamoto victory was followed by the establishmentof the Kamakura shogunate.
The battle of Dan-no-ura, was the decisive sea
battle occurring at Dan-no-ura, in the Shimonoseki StraitEmperor Antoku’s wet nurse, Azechi noTsubone was ordered by Ni no Ama, to build a shrine topray for the souls of the Taira clansmen who perished asa result of the Gempei wars.
Azechi no Tsubone fled the Minamoto soldiers,
crossed the sea to Kyushu and found safe haven in Kurume, Fukuoka.
There, she built a small shrine alongside theChikugo river and spent the remainder of her days praying for the souls of the deceased Taira clansmen. This issaid to be the start of the Suitengu shrine.
In the late 1500s, a larger Suitengu shrine wasbuilt by Tadayori Arima, the domain lord of Kurume at
the present site in Senoshita, Kurume.
During the mid 1600s, Suitengu’s reputation as
the deity of the water and protector of children, motherhood, fertility and easy delivery spread throughout thecountry.
Today, thousands of expectant mothers line up
to receive a blessing at Suitengu shrines throughout Japan on the day of the Dog.

Iwata-obi (Japanese maternity lumbosacralsupport)
There is an ancient Japanese custom called
Iwata-obi, a long strip of cotton cloth that is wrappedaround the expectant mother’s abdomen, upon receiving
blessings from Suitengu shrine.
Iwata-obi is also meant to stabilize the positionof the child and prevent the child from over-growth.
The most auspicious day for the special blessing
is usually performed on the first day of the Dog (Inu noHi) during the mother’s 5th month of pregnancy.
Iwata-obi was usually presented to the expectant
mother from her parents, who had it blessed at a shrine.
However, it is now more popular for the expectant
mother to purchase it at a shrine or a department store.
It is believed in many cultures that dogs havevery easy deliveries of their puppies. So, the energies of
day of the Dog is said to help the expectant mother deliver a healthy baby as easily as possible.

Japanese Child Birth Superstitions
Various cultures around the world hold vastlydifferent views on childbirth -- particularly how a pregnant woman should be treated and how she should
behave as the time of delivery approaches. Here are a
few superstitions from Japan:• If the stomach is cone-shaped, the child is a boy• The child will be a boy if the mother’s morning
sickness is light• The child will be a boy if the mother eats salty foods
during pregnancy• The child will be a girl if the mother’s face becomes
soft and gentle• If an expectant mother eats crab during pregnancy,
the child will become hairy• If an expectant mother sees a fire, the baby will beborn with a birthmark• Calamity will befall the expectant mother that
attends a funeral during her pregnancy• If an expectant mother eats persimmons during thefirst 100 days of her pregnancy, she will not haveenough milk to feed her baby
• Pregnant women must keep their bathroom(s) clean
if they want a healthy baby

Many times the priest or the obstetrician will
write the word “sachi” or happiness on the iwata-obi
sash.
A prominent example for the celebration of theday of the Dog was Princess Masako. In the presence ofher husband, the Crown Prince Naruhito, and attended
by her court ladies, she wore an iwata-obi in the Togu
Palace on the day of the dogs in the fifth month of her
pregnancy.
Unlike the ordinary Iwata-obi, Princess Masako’s sash was made of silk, 4 meters long and presented to her by Emperor Akihito.

• If the expectant mother eats meat regularly, the baby
will be a boy. If the expectant mother prefers fruits andvegetables, the baby will be a girlDays of the Dog in Fall/Winter 2008
November 11月
6日（木）18日（火）

December 12月
12日（金）

24日（水）

30日（日）The Suitengu Hyotan (Gourd) omamori has protectedchildren and swimmers from the dangers of the rivers and oceans
for centuries.
The small gourd-shaped omamori is made of wood andusually hung from the neck or wrapped around the wrist. This omamori will be available at the shrine during Hatsumode 2009.

Top Twenty Surnames in JapanTop Twenty Surnames in Japanas of 12/31/2007
In Japan, surnames were allowed only to the aristocracy(Ranking, Name, Approximate number ofand samurai families until the 1870s. At the time of the Meiji
people with the surname in Japan)
revolution in 1868, only 3.6% of the population had legal
surnames. Many merchants and artisans used the name of their
1 Sato, Satoh, Satou 佐藤 1,928,000
business (yago) like a surname. So, they were referred to as:
2 Suzuki
鈴木 1,707,000 .
Charley of Zippy’s or Richard of Macy’s. This, however was
3 Takahashi
高橋 1,416,000 .
not official and all commoners were mandated to adopt a legal
surname in the 1870s.
4 Tanaka
田中 1,336,000
Presently, there are over 100,000 different surnames in
5 Watanabe
渡辺 1,135,000
use today in Japan, which is due to the origin of family names
6 Ito, Itoh, Itou
伊藤 1,080,000 .
allowed to commoners after the Meiji Revolution.
7 Yamamoto
山本 1,077,000
Commoners chose names from their occupation, famous aristocratic or samurai clans or geographical features
8 Nakamura
中村 1,058,000
around their home. It was also quite common for village chiefs 9 Kobayashi
小林 1,019,000
to choose surnames for members of the village.
980,000
10 Saito, Saitoh
斎藤
Up until the 7th century, Kabane (姓) or hereditary ti860,000
11 Kato, Katoh, Katou 加藤
tles to denote rank and political standing were used instead of
12 Yoshida吉田surnames for the aristocracy. There were more than thirty ka835,000
bane. Some of the more common kabane were omi, muraji,
816,000
13 Yamada山田
miyatsuko, kimi, fubito, agatanushi, and suguri. The kabane
14 Sasaki
佐々木 716,000
system was abolished in 645.
641,000
15 Yamaguchi
山口
According to the Shinsen Shojiroku written in 815 CE,
16 Matsumoto
松本
634,000
there were 1182 registered surnames in Kyoto and the surrounding areas of Nara and Osaka. It is documented that over
610,000
17 Inoue, Inouye
井上
thirty percent of the registered surnames were those of Chinese 18 Kimura
584,000
木村or Korean immigrants with Japanese surnames that reflected541,000
19 Hayashi
林
their origins.
20 Shimizu
清水524,000
Japanese surnames were divided into three categories 皇別 Kohbetsu, 神別 Shinbetsu,and 諸蕃 Shohan.
In the Shinsen Shojiroku, there are 335 Kohbetsu surnames,
404 Shinbestu surnames and 326 Shohan surnames.
Kohbetsu were clans that are said to be descended from the imperial family (i.e. Shimada, Sonobe, Matsuura, Tamba, Miyake, Mano, Kiyohara, Tachibana, Kume, Ono, Ogura, Kashima, Abe, Iga, Kuwahara, Kusakabe, Namba, Waki, Abo, Asuka, Shouji, Oka, Kubota, etc ).
Shinbetsu were clans that are said to be descended from the kami or the deities (i.e. O-nakatomi, Azumi,Yugeshi, Kamo, Yuasa, Hozumi, Sekiya, Suwa, Sakurai, Fushimi, etc.).
Shohan were clans that were descendants of Chinese or Korean immigrants. Registered in the Shinsen
Shojiroku were 163 clans from China (i.e. Hata, Nagaoka, Takao, Sakurada, Takeo, Sakurano, Koshi, Kitsu,Tani, Shiga, Hitohara etc.).
104 clans were from Paekche, Korea (i.e. Kudara, Wa, Ishino, Kanno, Kuzui, Miyahara, Miyoshi,Fuwa, Koshi, etc.), 41 from Goguryeo, Korea (Korai, Koma, Idemizu, Sakai, etc.), 6 from Shilla, Korea (i.e. Miyake, Itoi, Toyohara, etc.) and 3 from Gaya, Korea (i.e. Michida, Oichi, Shimizu, Tatara, Ohtomo, etc.) .
The Chinese and Koreans that immigrated to Japan were usually nobles, artisans and scholars. In themid-460 CE, King Muryeong’s mother escaped the invading Goguryeo forces in Korea and fled to Japan. She
went into labor as their ship entered Japanese waters and gave birth to him on a small Japanese island.
King Muryeong eventually returned to Korea with his mother, and later became the 25th King of Paekche (Baekje). Years later, King Muryeong sent his son, Prince Junda to Japan. A descendant of Prince Junda,Takano no Niigasa became the concubine of Emperor Konin and eventually the mother of Emperor Kammu.