Hawaii Kotohira Jinsha
Hawaii Dazaifu Tenmangu
VOLUME 4 ISSUE 8 AUGUST 2014

View event photos at www.flickr.com/photos/Kotohira-dazaifu

Back-To-School Education Blessing
A new school year is a newbeginning. New adventures await as
students and teachers prepare forschool. Excitement for new possibilities and fear of the unknown mingle intheir hearts.
Whether your children arestarting kindergarten, entering highschool, or leaving the nest for college,
we invite you to have them specially
blessed at our annual Back to School
Education Blessing, as they go out toface the world.
Our special Blessing is offered tobring 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 and the giftof joy and wonder in all things.
Sugawara no Michizane, the kami
of 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 andtoday is venerated as the deity oflearning and arts at the 11,000 or so
Tenmangu shrines dedicated to him
throughout Japan.
Dazaifu Tenmangu in Fukuoka isthe main shrine of all the Tenmangu

shrines in Japan and we are the only
branch shrine of Dazaifu Tenmangu
outside of Japan.
This year, our Back to School
Education Blessing was held on
August 3 from 10 am to 2 pm.
Joining us again was Rei Uetakeof Obu city, Aichi prefecture, who
has been coming to Hawaii with hismother for the past 10 years toattend our Back-To-School Education
Blessing.
A big Mahalo goes out to Hanayagi
Dancing Academy Hawaii Foundation and our the many volunteers whohelped to make this special blessing
available to the community.

MAHALO for yourgenerous donations
Thomas & Linda Agawa
Namiko Chandler
Preston Chibana
Doughty Ohana
Clark & Gayle Fujihara
Bob Harada
Kyoko Isa
Kazuya & Hiromi Kajita
Lance & Leslie Kurata
Milton & Kathy Kwock

Alexandra Carlyle
Alyssa Fujihara
Gayle Fujihara
Jeff Fujioka
Bryson Goda
Bob Harada
Kai Igarashi
Arthur Isa
Arthur Isa, Sr.
Tom Jannuzzio

Derrick Mertl
Christopher Miller
Shinken & Marilyn Naitoh
Craig & Diane Nishida
Hisae Okihiro
Akiko Sanai
Tamiko Spencer
Alice Sugimoto
Sugimoto Ohana
Joanne Watase-Yang

Lorraine Kadota
Kell Komatsubara
Mike Lee
Calvin Mai
Marilyn Naitoh
Milena Naitoh
Craig NishidaDiane Nishida
Rory Onishi
Stuart Pang

Kei Sakamoto
Jensen Toma
Val Tsutsumi
Dane Yamada
Chris Yoakum
Dorthea Yoakum
Katherine Yoakum
Daijiro Yuasa

MAHALO Volunteers

Dazaifu Tenmangu and Kirin BeerKirin Brewery Co. Ltd. was established on February 23, 1907, taking
over The Japan Brewery Co. which started marketing Kirin Beer in 1888.
In its history of more than 100 years, Kirin Brewery has gone
through a series of hard times, including recovery from a devastating
earthquake in 1923 and from the postwar chaos in the late 1940s.
Japan Brewery Co. Ltd., the forerunner of Kirin Brewery, was established on the site of the former Spring Valley Brewery in Yokohama in
July 1885.
The company was founded by W. H. Talbot, E. Abbott, and a few
other foreigners residing in Yokohama - all of whom held a conviction that beer would become popular with Japanese people.
At the advice of Thomas Blake Glover, a Scottish merchant andwho would later join the board of Japan Brewery, Yanosuke Iwasaki president of Mitsubishi - and eight other Japanese bought interests inthe company.
Japan Brewery began producing German-style lager beer on
February 23, 1888, using then state-of-the-art brewing machines andsteam engines, and assisted by a skilled German brewer.
Thomas Blake Glover came to Japan in 1859 to manage thenewly established Nagasaki office of a British trading house. He laterparticipated in establishing businesses that would became pillars of Mitsubishi's early growth and diversification.
Glover was born the son of a coast guard officer in 1838 and grew up in Aberdeen, Scotland. He
joined Jardine, Matheson & Co. after finishing school and worked in the company's Shanghai office
before taking up his assignment in Japan.
Glover contributed immensely to the industrialization and modernization of Japan. Emperor Meiji
recognized that contribution by awarding him with the Order of the Rising Sun - Gold and Silver Star.
Glover visited Dazaifu Tenmangu in Fukuoka numerous times
and fell in love with the kirin statue on the shrine grounds. It is
documented that he attempted to purchase the kirin statue on
several occasions and is thought to have redesigned the motif forthe original Kirin beer label to that which was similar to the kirin atDazaifu Tenmangu.
Urban legend has it that the moustache on the kirin is a tribute
to Glover, who sported a similar one.
Glover has also been linked with Giacomo Puccini's opera
Madame Butterfly, which is set in Nagasaki, but there is no historicalevidence that supports this claim.
The Glover-Madame Butterfly connection was possibly derived
from the American Occupation forces stationed at Sasebo, that nickna
named the former Glover House the "Madame Butterfly house"
purely on the basis of the panoramic view over Nagasaki Harbor.

Hassaku
Hassaku or the first day of theeight lunar month refers to a varietyof observances held to ask the kami
for a plentiful harvest.
Hassaku is said to be the 210th
day after the beginning of spring,
and a time when strong typhoons arestarting to brew around Japan andRice that was cultivated at the shrine was offered along with sakefarmers begin fearing for their crops.
In ancient Japan, the ceremonies held at
the seasonal changes were important for strengthening the bonds with the gods as well with the community.
In the old lunar calendar, the very first day of a month, when there was no moon, is called SAKU 朔
or tsuitachi. The first day of the eighths month is hachigatsu sakuhi 八月朔日, which was eventuallyshortened to Hassaku.

Shichigosan
Reservations accepted from Monday, September 1
Online Reservations at:
http://www.e-shrine.org/shichigosanjusanmairi.html
or email us at:
Kotohira@hawaiiantel.net

Upcoming Events Visit our website for details www.e-shrine.org
September 28
3:00 pm