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[[File:Makiki-church.jpg|right|thumb|400px|The Makiki Christian Church, established by [[Okumura Takie]] in [[1904]]. This building, inspired by [[Azuchi-Momoyama Period|late Sengoku]] or [[Edo period]] [[castle]] architecture, dates to 1932.]]

[[File:Makiki-church.jpg|right|thumb|400px|The Makiki Christian Church, established by [[Okumura Takie]] in [[1904]]. This building, inspired by [[Azuchi-Momoyama Period|late Sengoku]] or [[Edo period]] [[castle]] architecture, dates to 1932; its appearance is based largely on that of [[Kochi castle|Kôchi castle]].]]

Though [[Japanese immigration to Hawaii|Japanese immigrants to Hawaii]] were almost exclusively followers of [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] and [[Shinto]] beliefs and practices, the earliest Buddhist temples to be established by or for the Japanese community in Hawaii came only after the establishment of a number of Christian churches meant to serve that community.

Though [[Japanese immigration to Hawaii|Japanese immigrants to Hawaii]] were almost exclusively followers of [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] and [[Shinto]] beliefs and practices, the earliest Buddhist temples to be established by or for the Japanese community in Hawaii came only after the establishment of a number of Christian churches meant to serve that community.

The first formal attempts to convert members of the Japanese community were made by a Dr. C.M. Hyde, of the Hawaiian Mission Board, who led English-language lessons and Bible classes for Japanese on the plantations, but found little success in converting anyone. The first Japanese minister to establish a church in the islands was Rev. [[Miyama Kanichi]], who returned to Hawaii in [[1887]] from a Methodist Church Conference held in San Francisco that year, and who attempted to appeal to plantation workers' national pride as Japanese, and to their individual personal pride, to turn them away from drinking and gambling. Japanese Consul General in Hawaii from [[1886]] to [[1888]], [[Ando Taro|Andô Tarô]], was also a converted Christian, and played a prominent if brief role in the temperance movement in the islands. A Rev. Shimizu Taizô arrived in Honolulu from San Francisco in 1888 to aid Dr. Hyde, and a Rev. Okabe Jirô arrived the same year in Hilo, remaining there until [[1892]], when he too moved to Honolulu. Finally, in [[1894]], Rev. Okumura Takie, a recent graduate of [[Doshisha University|Dôshisha University]], arrived in the islands. These were the first prominent Japanese Christian leaders of missionizing efforts aimed at the Japanese community there.

The first formal attempts to convert members of the Japanese community were made by a Dr. C.M. Hyde, of the Hawaiian Mission Board, who led English-language lessons and Bible classes for Japanese on the plantations, but found little success in converting anyone. The first Japanese minister to establish a church in the islands was Rev. [[Miyama Kanichi]], who returned to Hawaii in [[1887]] from a Methodist Church Conference held in San Francisco that year, and who attempted to appeal to plantation workers' national pride as Japanese, and to their individual personal pride, to turn them away from drinking and gambling. Japanese Consul General in Hawaii from [[1886]] to [[1888]], [[Ando Taro|Andô Tarô]], was also a converted Christian, and played a prominent if brief role in the temperance movement in the islands. A Rev. Shimizu Taizô arrived in Honolulu from San Francisco in 1888 to aid Dr. Hyde, and a Rev. Okabe Jirô arrived the same year in Hilo, remaining there until [[1892]], when he too moved to Honolulu. Finally, in [[1894]], Rev. Okumura Takie, a recent graduate of [[Doshisha University|Dôshisha University]], arrived in the islands. These were the first prominent Japanese Christian leaders of missionizing efforts aimed at the Japanese community there.

Okumura became head of the Japanese Christian Church based in Nu'uanu in [[1904]], and established a second mission in the Makiki neighborhood of Honolulu that same year, but was also influential in establishing the islands' first Japanese language school, in [[1896]].

A Japanese Christian Church was established on Kukui Street in Nu'uanu on June 6, [[1897]], with the land and the building being paid for by $8000 collected from donors in both Japan and Hawaii. Okumura became head of that church in [[1904]], and established a second mission in the Makiki neighborhood of Honolulu that same year, but was also influential in establishing the islands' first Japanese language school, in [[1896]]. Another graduate of Dôshisha, the [[Hokkaido]]-born Rev. Shigefusa Kanda, came to Hawaii in [[1893]] and founded the Kohala Church on the island of Hawaii.

 

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==References==

==References==

*Franklin Odo and Kazuko Sinoto, ''A Pictorial History of the Japanese in Hawaii'' 1885-1924, Bishop Museum (1985), 77.

*Franklin Odo and Kazuko Sinoto, ''A Pictorial History of the Japanese in Hawaii'' 1885-1924, Bishop Museum (1985), 77-78.

[[Category:Meiji Period]]

[[Category:Meiji Period]]

[[Category:Religion]]

[[Category:Religion]]