Honpa Hongwanji Mission
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- Established: 1898, Satomi Hôni
The Honpa Hongwanji Mission, originally established on Fort Street and now located alongside the Pali Highway, was the first Japanese Buddhist temple established in Hawaii. A temple of the Jôdo Shinshû sect, it was originally established in 1898 by Satomi Hôni, and taken over the following year by Imamura Emyô, both of whom were sent by the Honganji in Kyoto to remedy the fact that the Japanese in Hawaii, most of whom were adherents of Jôdo Shinshû, had no formal temple or officially ordained priests to turn to.
The current temple building, dating to 1918, was built by Imamura in an Indian-inspired architectural style, making it a particularly distinctive feature of the Honolulu urban environment.
References
- Franklin Odo and Kazuko Sinoto, A Pictorial History of the Japanese in Hawaii 1885-1924, Bishop Museum (1985), 106.
