Lahaina Shingon Mission

Lahaina Shingon Mission
The town of Lahaina prospered as the capital of Hawaii in the 18th Century. After the capital was moved Lahaina declined, but after the ware due to resort development the old whaling town of Lahaina was revived.

Rev. Hogan Yujiri, from Yamaguchi Prefecture and who was a registered priest of the Daigo School of Shingon Buddhism, immigrated to Hawaii. While working on the sugar plantation, he slowly gathered believers in Odaishi-sama. In 1902, when the opportunity was right, he rented a 10 feet square house, and he and his followers started to worship Odaishi-sama. This is beginning of the Lahaina temple and is the oldest Shingon temple in Hawaii. The second head minister Rev. Horyu Fuchigami protected and guided the temple for twenty years. The third minister the Rev. Hogaku Koshiyama Built a temple Building ten meters in length and in 1926 the name 'Mauizan Hokoji' was bestowed on to the Temple.

The Lahaina Shingon Mission still remains in one corner of the town of Lahaina and the temple activities revolve around the Japanese community in Lahaina.