Hawaii Shingon Mission or Shingon Shu Hawaii ( ja, 真言宗ハワイ別院, ''Shingonshu Hawai Betsuin'', formerly the Shingon Sect Mission of Hawaii) located at 915 Sheridan Street in

Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island o ...

, is one of the most elaborate displays of

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese

Buddhist temple A Buddhist temple or Buddhist monastery is the place of worship for Buddhists, the followers of Buddhism. They include the structures called vihara, chaitya, stupa, wat and pagoda in different regions and languages. Temples in Buddhism represen ...

architecture in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. It was first built in 1915-1918 by Nakagawa Katsutaro, a master builder of Japanese-style temples, then renovated in 1929 by Hego Fuchino, a self-taught man who was the first person of Japanese ancestry to become a licensed

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

in the Islands. The building underwent further changes in 1978, and was considerably augmented in 1992. However, its most distinctive features remain: the steep, hipped-gable roof (''

irimoya The East Asian hip-and-gable roof (''Xiēshān'' (歇山) in Chinese, ''Irimoya'' (入母屋) in Japanese, and ''Paljakjibung'' (팔작지붕) in Korean) also known as 'resting hill roof', consists of a hip roof that slopes down on all four sides ...

'') with rounded-gable projection, both with elaborate carvings on the ends, and the glittering altar and interior furnishings from Japan that signify its ties to esoteric

Shingon Buddhism Shingon monks at Mount Koya is one of the major schools of Buddhism in Japan and one of the few surviving Vajrayana lineages in East Asia, originally spread from India to China through traveling monks such as Vajrabodhi and Amoghavajra. K ...

. The temple was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

on 26 April 2002.

History

The round

tomoe , commonly translated as "comma", is a comma-like swirl symbol used in Japanese (roughly equivalent to a heraldic badge or charge in European heraldry). It closely resembles the usual form of a . The appears in many designs with various us ...

at the top of the entrance roof represents the cycle of life. It is also the traditional symbol of the Koyasan Shingon sect, though the temple has been independent of sectarian affiliations since 2004. The carved

phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

represents death and rebirth, and the carved dragons represent both power and good fortune. The

obelisk An obelisk (; from grc, ὀβελίσκος ; diminutive of ''obelos'', " spit, nail, pointed pillar") is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. Originally constructed by Anc ...

at the front edge of the property commemorates the first Shingon

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...

to Japan by immigrants in Hawaii in 1929. The more recently added statue in front depicts Kōbō Daishi (

Kūkai Kūkai (; 27 July 774 – 22 April 835Kūkai was born in 774, the 5th year of the Hōki era; his exact date of birth was designated as the fifteenth day of the sixth month of the Japanese lunar calendar, some 400 years later, by the Shingon sec ...

, 774-835 CE), the founder of Shingon. An oil painting of the Daishi by a member, Mrs. Helen Nakagawa Abe, of the local congregation also graces the altar inside the temple. The temple is congregational, and reflects the diversity of Hawaii in its membership. In 2009, the temple added a worship service in English, and planned on a slow transition to primarily English services. The Shingon Shu Hawaii temple commissioned the creation of a ceiling panel (tenjo-e) that depicts the Taizokai mandala which measures . Done in original pigments mixed by Japanese artisans and suspended in animal fat, the pigments were applied to individually lacquered (urushi) panels, then placed by hand into a grid suspended from the ceiling. In 2007 the arrival of Fujin (Wind God) and Raijin (Thunder God) statues, completed the second phase of the temple's artistic additions. The statues which can be seen at the immediate entrance of the main hall were chosen to depict the Hawaiian prevailing trade winds with Fujin, and an appreciation for the power and force of nature in Raijin. Each stand over ten feet in height, and weigh over 2800 pounds a piece. Constructed of Japanese Cypress, they are the largest depictions of the Wind and Thunder Gods outside Japan.

Gallery

Image:Shingon-Mission-Honolulu-sideview.JPG, Side view of main building Image:Shingon-Mission-Honolulu-statuary.JPG, Lanterns, deities Fujin (left) Raijin (right), and statue of founder Kobo Daishi Image:Shingon-Mission-Honolulu-outside-altar.JPG, Outside altar Image:Raijin.jpg, Raijin Image:Fujin - God of Wind.jpg, Fujin

References

External links

* {{NRHP Buddhism in Honolulu Buddhist temples in Hawaii Hawaiian architecture Japanese-American culture in Honolulu Religious buildings and structures in Honolulu Properties of religious function on the National Register of Historic Places in Hawaii Shingon Buddhism National Register of Historic Places in Honolulu 1918 establishments in Hawaii

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links