Vol. 4 No. 1

January, 2013 Hilo Nichiren Mission News Letter

A Happy New Year!!

The message from Mr. Nakagawa President of Hilo Nichiren Mission

New Year’s Eve Kito Blessing

The possibilities for adventure are endless!

On Monday Dec 31, 2012, we

held a New Year’s Eve special blessing

service.

At midnight, � rst we rang

JOYA-NO-KANE in the New Year with

Odaimoku and sutra chanting for

2013 to � nd us happy and successful,

and then members who attended

received special blessing from the

Reverend. After that, we enjoyed

Toshikoshi soba noodles and good

conversation. Thank you for coming

and joining the service at midnight.

Happy New Year, everyone.

I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year.

It has been 3 years since Rev. & Mrs. Sugawara came to our temple. Since

their arrival here, the temple and its yard, sure looks beautiful and we have

seen some new friends at our service.

Last year, we had our 110th anniversary of Nichiren-shu in Hawaii.

Archbishop Nisso Uchino of the Minobusan Kuonji and over 60 followers

and priests visited here from Japan on that time. That was one of the most

impressive honors of all my life as a believer of Nichiren Busshism.

I was born into devoted Nichiren Buddhist family. My father was a

staunch believer of Nichiren-shu. His parents were also Nichiren belivers.

When I was young, they took me to the temple in Kapapala, too. Lately, I have

been devoted this temple as a president for long years.

However, I will be 81 years old

this January; I have decided that I

leave my o� ce. I would like to sin-

cerely pay my respects and appre-

ciation to those who devoted them-

selves for the sake of Hilo Nichiren

Mission. Thank you so much.

We can send the monthly OMAMORI to all over the world.

OHANA TIMES

Flower and Incense Donation

The Message from

Mr. Daniel Kelley New Year’s Party for 2013

Hilo N

ichiren Mission

Vice President

We will have a New Year’s Party the 20th of January at 11:00 AM after

the Service.

Please remember that we are all of one family when we chant the

Odaimoku and Lotus Sutra. The New Year is a good opportunity to get to

know people and start something new. Please mark your calendars.

SCHEDULE / DONATION

On Setsubun, we hold a traditional event to drive away evil spirits

and bring in good fortune.

Also it’s called “Hoshi-matsuri (Star Festival)”; it’s a very important

Buddhist ritual where we pray for the health and good luck for the whole

year starting from spring.

At the Hilo Nichiren Mission, the Reverend will pray for each mem-

ber’s well-being, good health, peace and safety. He will write your name

and wishes on a wooden amulet and put them on the protective deity of

Kishibojin and will pray for your wishes throughout the year.

On Sunday 8 September 2013, I would like to take our members to

Nichiren Mission of Hawaii in Oahu, and join

the Service there.

We have not yet decided upon the details of

trip to Oahu.

If you have time, I would like to discuss the

trip with everyone after the Service or another

day. Please remember it.

Incense is o! ered to the Buddha usually with " owers and candles. It

smells good when we o! er incense to the Buddha and our ancestors. We

quiet our mind.

Then what is the meaning of o! ering this incense to the Buddha and

our ancestors? Because of the smell of the incense, our minds settle

and thus keep this place as pure as the Buddha’s pure land. Moreover,

the smell of the incense is compared to the teaching of the Buddha: The

Lotus Sutra spreads throughout the world just as the smell extends eve-

rywhere.

If you could bring " owers or incense to our temple, Buddha and your

ancestors will be very glad. Also you can get popular Japanese incense

(Mainichi-Ko) from KTA or Longs Drugs.

What a joy # lled, challenging year this

has been! Hopefully, each one of us has

experienced numberless moments of

newness in our journey on the Buddha

Path. As our Temple has become more

beautiful, I feel like my ability to express

the promise of the Odaimoku has also

grown. In the face of the horrid and tragic

events going on in the world around us, I

have found the more immediate inspira-

tion of Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and

Desmond Tutu to be real examples of

how we can change our own hearts and

minds, so that even the simplest small

choice I make will proclaim my nirvana. I

must certainly note the leadership of our

clergy, but must also thank and encour-

age every person who comes to our mis-

sion, for sharing the wonderful Dharma.

It is my deepest hope for the new year

that we each # nd more and more clearly

the ways that we can become links in Lord

Buddha’s Golden Chain of perfect peace.

The Star Festival (Hoshi-Matusri)

Travel to Oahu

END OF THE CLEAN-UP

About the Clean-up

Have you noticed that the piles of tree branches around the

temple property are all gone and the grounds are clean again?

On Wednesday, December 26th, 7 members came to help clean-up

the church property.

There were many piles of tree cuttings carried to the green waste

facility thanks to the diligent combined e� orts of our members.

The members who came to help were Mr. & Mrs. Kelley, their

son Joel, his wife Diana, their sweet daughter Arianna, along with

Maggie, her husband Tom and their good puppy Button. Thank you

so much for all your great help.

The reverend had felled by himself and cut up by chain-saw many

trees. All these piles had been on the ground for a long time.

Earlier that morning he had rented a big � at bed truck from Harper

rentals.

If we had the use of heavy machinery we might have moved them

easier in a shorter time. But our church cannot a� ord to contract the

work so we chose to do it by ourselves.

Today’s work was maybe not the most e� cient way to clean-up

the yard. Some tree branches were too heavy and long to carry by

hand and awkward to load on the truck. Had we organized better in

advance we could have done more.

However, nobody complained about that, but rather they kept at the work devotedly with talking, joking and

laughing.

We went to the dump twice with full loads.

Thanks to everybody’s great job, our property is now totally clean.

I felt strongly the unity of all members of this temple throughout today’s work. We can complete our wonderful

mission if we all can be uni� ed and work together. I think that it would be the same as the practice of Buddhism.

We would like to say thank you so much again to everyone who helped our cleaning this time.

We will try to organize better in advance for each church event, and I hope more members will come to help our

church’s works and events.

THE MESSAGE FROM MEMBERS / NEW PROJECT

Ms. Sandra Kelley

This is my 10 year in Hilo. When I � rst arrived I searched for the temple. There

was no one there. I checked several times. Eight years later an acquaintance of

mine was in di� cult times. She need greater guidance than I could provide. It is

then that together we found Rev. Hosho and Kamiko. My friend found guidance

and I found Hilo Nichiren mission. We were treated with amazing kindness and

respect. They have provided spiritual guidance to all who wish to participate.

Re! ecting back on 2012, it has been a busy time for the Mission. We started the

year with a New Year’s Eve special service and New Year’s Kito Blessing Service with

a party afterward. Then there was the Tsunami Memorial Walk in May in a pouring

rain. June 30 saw the visit of the Archbishop from Japan to celebrate the anniver-

sary of the Nichiren Missions in Hawaii. Working together, we began a project to

renew the cemetery at Kapapala, and some of us began a calligraphy class and later

a Japanese language class. It seems our membership is increasing, thanks to the

e" orts of the Rev. & Mrs. Sugawara. And special thanks must go to our President,

Kiyoshi Nakagawa, for all of his hard work and his artistic capabilities. All in all, I feel

Ms. Katie Veihl

Hilo Nichiren Mission Leader Project This year is the 111th Anniversary of the establishment of Nichiren-Shu

Buddhism in Hawaii. We have to con� rm the reason why Buddhism is existing

once again. We, believers must get together more and more.

Hilo Nichiren Mission will begin to instruct leaders who will pass our faith

onto the next generation. Why do we need Buddhism? Why do we devote

ourselves to Nichiren Buddhim? I hope that many people will try to become

leaders to learn the true meaning of these questions.

What will leaders do? First, the leaders will vow to keep the Five rules

that are basic in Buddhism. Secondly, the leaders will make Kesa (surplice) by

themselves. They will then attend the service wearing the Kesa, and lead other

lay members. The important role is to

make an impression on the average

members. It sounds easy, it will not be

easy. The practitioners have the duty to

keep the Buddha and Nichiren Shonin

always in their hearts and mind. They need to also follow the Five rules, and

try to help others.

I think that sometimes it might confuse you. However, you will be able

to help and support others by putting into practice what has been learned.

Please try to challenge yourself to become the leader that seeks the

wonderful world of Buddhism!

Osechi Ryori Let’s enjoy practicing Japanese culture in New Year’s !

Special dishes to eat with Ujigami gods (guardian god of a particular place) to celebrate the new-year and pray for the well-being for the year

Osechi used to be the dishes o� ered to gods and eaten by family at seasonal

festivals. The only occasion we have Osechi today is new-year holiday when Toshi-

gami (Toshigami means deities of the year), the god of the new-year visits us.

Traditional Osechi includes Zouni (soup with rice cakes and vegetables), Nishime

(cooked and � avored vegetables such as aroid, carrot, bamboo shoot and bur-

dock), Tazukuri (sugared and � avored dried sardine), Kuromame (black beans),

Kazunoko (herring roe), Konbumaki (tangle roll), Kuri-Kinton (boiled and mashed chestnut), Datemaki (sweet egg roll),

and prawns. Each food is associated with good luck. For example, the prawns mean longevity, Kazunoko symbolizes

a wish to be gifted with children. Kuromame is for becoming a “mame” (hardworking) person, and Yatsugashira is for

becoming a leader (gashira means head).

On January 7, we eat Nanakusa-gayu, rice porridge with seven herbs. As well as its religious meaning, the porridge

also helps the stomach to rest after the rich and heavy holiday meals.

THE MESSAGE FROM MEMBERS / OSECHI RYORI

New Year, 2013 has begun.

I posted an article about the

re-start of the Fujinkai (Woman’s

association) in the newsletter at

the beginning of last year. But

I’m ashamed to say I could not do

anything last year. Therefore I’m

thinking about planting the seed

for the activities of the Fujinkai little

by little from this year on. Fujinkai

is the association which is mainly

the women’s support in the temple.

(Fujin means lady, Kai means asso-

ciation)

The Hilo Nichiren Mission had

its 110th anniversary in 2012. I hope

that you will support the Reverend

again this year so that the temple

will last 10, 20, or 100 more years.

The Hilo Nichiren Mission is very

small, but truly a peaceful and tran-

quil place. But as you remember, the

church had no resident minister for

a long time, and it was sort of a soli-

tary place. We are very grateful to

the longtime local Japanese mem-

bers for taking such good care of the

temple during the time when there

was no resident minister. Thanks to

them we can continue to practice

our faith at this sweet temple.

It is very important that the

members continue to support the

Hilo Nichiren Mission so that it will

never return to the lonely church like

it was before. We must make sure

that the followers of the Odaimoku

on the Big Island continue to have

a place to practice their faith and to

strive for true global peace.

Under the Paci! c Ocean thou-

sands of souls of the war dead are

sleeping. To o� er our prayers of rev-

erence and gratitude to those war

Ms. Kumiko Sugawara dead, we should keep and chant

the Odaimoku always.

It is very important that we

must unite our hearts to keep our

Nichiren temple here in Hawaii.

To keep the Hilo Nichiren Mis-

sion, please support the Reverend

and this temple this year, too.

Thank you.

Ms. Clara Koga

I would like to wish you all a

very Happy New Year. We have

seen many new faces at our serv-

ices, and I’m hopeful that this will

continue in 2013.

Namu Myoho Renge Kyo.

THE MESSAGE FROM MEMBERS / SHOYOKU CHISOKU

Ms. Mary Alice McRae A friend, who had practiced Nichiren Buddhism for many years, suggested

that I attend a Sunday service with her at the Hilo temple. I thought it would

be an interesting experience, but had no idea that the service would have such

a life changing impact on me. I was moved to tears during my � rst service

and knew that I had found my spiritual home. I have attended services at the

temple for the past year and have enjoyed learning about the Japanese culture

by participating in the Calligraphy and Japanese language classes. However,

the best part about being a member at the Hilo Nichiren Mission is that I get to

spend time with and learn from the Reverend and Kumiko. They are two of the

most loving and giving people I have ever met. The Reverend and Kumiko wel-

comed me as a new member and have made me feel appreciated and loved.

Arigatou!!

Shoyoku ChisokuDesire Little and Know Contentment

The translation of the phrase “Shoyoku Chisoku” is “desire little and know contentment”.

Eight key phrases to be enlightened are explained in “The Eight Lessons to be a Great

Man”, the last preaching of the Buddha. The phrases in “the Eight Lessons to be a Great Man”

are as follows.

Desiring little. Knowing contentment. Enjoying silence and loneliness. Devoting your-

self. Keeping awareness. Acquiring dhyaana (concentrating on objects and searching for

the truth). Cultivating wisdom. Not being wordy.

“Desire little and know contentment” is a combination of “desiring little ” and “knowing contentment”, these two

phrases concerning desire rank at the top of the eight phrases. Even for modern people, desire can be the cause of

agony. We should remember this phrases which means “your mind will be rich if you control your desire and learn to

feel contentment.”

I am a member of this Buddhism temple because it is kind, interested in us

as individuals, and I feel comfortable with the people at this Nichiren temple.

I have been looking for a spiritual place since moving to hawaii so my friends

told me about this little treasure in hilo - how right they were! I could not be

more comfortable with the two people who are representing this faith. Rev.

Sugawara and Kumiko are true living examples of kindness and compassion!

Thank you! Myoka

Ms. Camilla Du Lac

Miss. MOMOHello. I’m MOMO, 2 months old doggie girl. Japanese word of “MOMO” means

peach blossom which is Japanese traditional spring " ower and represent girls’ cel-

ebration. I will be here January 4th, 2013. “I can’t wait for it!”

THE MESSAGE FROM MEMBERS / SETSUBUN

Originally, setubun meant the day one season turned to another,

and there were four setsubun in a year. The day which we call setsubun

today, February3 (4 in some years), is the one when winter turns to

spring. It is the day before risshun, the day on which spring begins

according to the calendar.

In the old days, people thought that devils came at the changing

of seasons to bring disasters and make people sick. Bean throwing or

mame-maki is a custom to get the devils out of their house and bring

in good luck. This custom comes from an old Chinese ceremony, which

was introduced to Japan in the Nara period. Some people say that mame is used because it sounds like ma-metsu, the

Japanese word which means beating the devil.

Men with the same zodiac sign as that year or men who are in the yaku-doshi, which is considered an unlucky year,

throw the beans. When there is not such a person in the family, the head of the household throws them. After open-

ing all the windows and the front door, they throw beans out of the house saying, “Oniwasoto” (Devils out) and into the

How did I get interested in Buddhism?

I was almost 50 years old when I was ! rst exposed to Buddhist thought. My

journey began with an attraction to Kuan Yin, Bodhisattva of Compassion. I now

know she is called Kannon or Kanzeon in Japan. I read several books of stories

about her and her deeds. I was intrigued by such a truly benevolent being and I

understood why she was so adored. I had not encountered this sort of compas-

sion before in my life. As a child I attended Protestant Sunday schools. I had no

thoughts or curiosity regarding religion in general. The only lasting impression I have always felt is that God had

reached out and snatched my young mother away to death. I have felt no desire to look deeper into that impres-

sion; I might still have it. I have recently found at last some connection to my ancestors through the rituals of this

church.

What made me come to this Nichiren church?

A local friend found this church even before I moved to Big Island. She knew I had been chanting for a while

with another Nichiren group on Maui. She also knew I felt that I was not bene! ting from my experience there and

would not seek to join the group in Hilo. She suggested I try this church one Friday evening. I was amazed at how

happy my heart felt in this beautiful space with the priest forcefully drumming the beat for our chanting. It was

such a sweet and welcome feeling. I am very happy to have the opportunity to join this sanga.

My impression or wish of this Hilo Nichiren church and of Reverend Sugawara.

My wish is to ! nd my inner life home in this practice with the guidance and knowledge of Reverend Sugawara.

The Reverend and Mrs. Sugawara are such kind and compassionate listeners and teachers. They help me feel most

comfortable as I extend my experiences in this Japanese religious tradition.

Ms. Maggie Elliot

Setsubun The Changing of Seasons

TEA CLASS

TUE.

CLARAS RESIDENS

THURS.

LILIUOKALANI PARK

SAT. LILIUOKALANI PARK

CLARA KOGA

(808) 959-2718

Please join us!!

strat

10AM

Calligraphy Class 24 Makalika St. Hilo, Hawaii 96720 808- 959-

The 2nd & 4th Mon 10am-Calligraphy is an important step in the

understanding of Japanese culture.

The message from Rev. Sugawara Resident Minister of Hilo Nichiren Mission

A Happy New Year!

Last year, we had our 110th Anniversary of the

Hawaii Nichiren Missionary work in Hawaii without

any problems. Thank you for all your help and sup-

port.

The important thing is whether we do our best

from now on. It has been 110 years since our " rst

minster came to Hawaii. The Odaimoku and teach-

ings of the Lotus Sutra have spread thanks to the former Reverends and

our ancestors’ untiring e# orts. However, the number of members has been

decreasing due to the changing of the generations, and therefore running

the temple has become di$ cult.

We should take action this year as the 111th anniversary approaches.

Our membership is very small, but we must not forget the spirit of any chal-

lenge. And we don’t need to be afraid to make mistakes. Even if we are in

a dismal society, similar to muddy water, we must bloom like the beautiful

lotus % ower. Lotus % owers never blossom beautifully without muddy water.

If you have any di$ culty, please remember the Buddha and Nichiren

Shonin. They were persecuted many times, but they were never discour-

aged. We who advocate Odaimoku must keep going forward for world

peace.

We are going to Kona to spread the Odaimoku beginning this year.

Don’t defeat the bad situation.

Be brave to " ght o# despair.

If you are a believer of the Buddha and Nichiren Shonin.

You can do it.

Thank you.

Shodai-Gyoby Maggie Elliot

This Friday evening practice has

allowed me an intimate and focused

space to be completely with my heart

and in the Buddha nature I am growing

inside. The drumming keeps me out of

my head and, instead, helps all of me

vibrate with the sound of my voice. I

am open to possibilities and to change

and the meditations help my breath and concentration. I am very new at

this practice and wonder what I will say about it in a few years.

Hilo Nichiren Mis-OPEN 7:30 am CLOSE 6:30 pm

Daily Service

Morning Service 8:30 am-

Special Service

Kito Blessing Service First Sunday 10am-Ancestors Service Third Sunday 10am-

24 Makalika St. Hilo Hawaii 96720808-959-8894 hawaii@ hilo-nichiren.com

www.hilo-nichiren.com

Evening Service 6:00 pm-