tickets: adults ($10) - seniors 60 and over ($8) children

GOJI May 20132

The great practice is to say the Name of the Tathagata of unhindered light. This practice, com-prehensively encompassing all practices, is perfect and most rapid in bringing them to fullness. For this reason, it is called “great practice.” Saying the Name then breaks through all the ignorance of sentient be-ings and readily brings all their aspirations to ful-fillment. Saying the Name is in itself mindfulness; mindfulness is nembutsu; nembutsu is Namo-amida-butsu. - Shinran Shonin

1727 Pali HighwayHonolulu, Hawaii 96813

GOJIVol. 68, No. 5

May 2013

NEWSLETTERof the

Honpa HongwanjiHawaii Betsuin

[email protected] Mission

of HawaiiFive Year Theme:

“Path of Entrusting”2013 Slogan:

“Live the Teachings”

BETSUIN

MINISTERS

Chief Minister:Rev. Tatsuo Muneto

Ministerial StaffRev. Richard Tennes

Rev. Tomo HojoRev. Bert Sumikawa

HongwanjiRadio Programs

May 2013KZOO 1210 AM

Japanese LanguageSaturday at 7:30 AM

Betsuin ServicesAdult English Services

10am Services

Dharma SchoolService 9am

Nursing Home Services

19 9:30 am Gotan-E Combined Service Rev. Bruce Nakamura

“Virtually every mainstream religion began with immigrants who brought their tra-ditons to a new country we know as America today. The traditions of Japanese Buddhism were no exception as cultural and ethnic vestiges have slowly faded from conscious memory. In the 21st century the Pure Land traditions of Jodo Shin the Essential Pure Land Path or Shin has had to take a hard look of how to better promote and share its spiritual lineage as attrition among traditional membership continues to take a toll on human, program and financial resources. A recent publication of the Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii’s Shinran Shonin 750th Commemorative Memorial Observances -- the Jodo Shinshu Service Book -- stresses both, the early tradition of Shin in Hawaii and its evolution to serve an English-speaking audience. The former Bishop Kenryu Tsuji of the Buddhist Churches of Canada inspired a chantable Hymn or Gatha which conveys, this writer thinks, the heart and practice of Shin’s spiritual lineage. While primarily written for youth, ie., Sunday-Dharma School, it has quickly become a central part of weekly Dharma services. We will explore the core of Shin practice through this modern English chant on this annual occasion of its inspirational founder’s birthday, Shinran Shonin, at Honpa Hongwanji Hawaii Betsuin’s Gotan-E celebration services.”

Gotan-E scheduled for May 18 and 19 speaker, Rev. Bruce Nakamura, to explore core of Shin practice

Hawaii Betsuin Gotan-e Services

Saturday, May 18 at 7:00pm.Hawaii Betsuin’s Gotan-E (Shinran’s Birthday) Evening/Candle Light Service

May 19 at 8:00am.Gotan-E Japanese Sunday Service,

May 19 at 9:30am.Gotan-E Sunday English Combined Service, Speaker: Rev. Bruce NakamuraMay 19 at 1:00pm.Gotan-E Japanese Sunday Service, Speaker: Rev. Tomo Hojo

04 Rimban Tatsuo Muneto11 Rev. Tomo Hojo18 Rev. Mariko Nishiyama25 Rev. Ryoso Toshima

05 Rev. Bert Sumikawa12 Rimban Tatsuo Muneto 26 Rev. Shigenori Makino

05 Keiki Day at Kakaako Park - Alan Goto12 Rev. Bert Sumikawa19 9:30 am Gotan-E Combined Service Rev. Bruce Nakamura28 Dharma School Teacher TBA

02 Hale Nani – Rev. Muneto Hale Ho Aloha Rev. Sumikawa09 Maluhia – Alan Goto Liliha – Rev. Hojo10 Hale Pulama Mau Rev. Muneto23 Nuuanu Hale Rev. Sumikawa24 Leahi – Rev. Hojo

Graduates’ Luncheon on June 2ndTickets: Adults ($10) - Seniors 60 and over ($8)

Children ages 3 to 9 ($5)

2012 Memorial Service Schedule2013 is the memorial year for those who passed away in:

2012 – 1 year 2001 – 13 year 1981 – 33 year2011 – 3 year 1997 – 17 year 1964 – 50 year2007 – 7 year 1989 – 25 year 1914 – 100 year

GOJI May 2013 Page 11

Honpa Hongwanji Hawaii Betsuin Events Calendar The Goji provides this monthly Events Calendar to keep everyone informed about cultural activities at our temple.

Please help us by submitting information by email to [email protected],

or by calling the Betsuin office at 536-7044.

GOJI The GOJI is a monthly publication of the Honpa Hongwanji Hawaii Betsuin, Tel. (808) 536-7044.. There is no newsletter published for the month of August.

DEADLINE:Articles must be submitted no later than the 10th of the month prior to publica-tion. Mail (1727 Pali Hwy, Honolulu, HI, 96813), fax (536-0919), or e-mail ([email protected]) all items to the GOJI. Please include your name and contact information. Original images should be labeled on the reverse side with caption and return information.

GOJI STAFF:Editorial: Jo desMarets; Dianne Ida, Randy Kawamoto, Ralston Nagata, Mary Tanouye;

Rev. Tomo Hojo, Japanese section editor, Production: Ron Suzuki, Stacy Bradshaw, Alice Omura, Setsu Takashige, Alice Tando,

Kimiyo MiyoseCirculation: Stacy Bradshaw

Contributing reporters from Hongwanji Mission School, Buddhist Women’s

Association, Dharma School & Parents, Project Dana, Wednesday Gang and Gals, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Pacific Buddhist

Academy, and the KyodanThe opinions expressed by individual con-tributors are their own and do not neces-sarily reflect those of the Honpa Hongwanji Hawaii Betsuin.

GOJI May 2013

The Hawai’i Betsuin extends its deepest sympathies to the families of the following members who passed away

recently. May the family members find solace and comfort in the Nembutsu. Namo Amida Butsu

In Memoriam March 2013

Rimban’s Column: Rev Tatsuo Muneto

continued on page 8

1 CHII, Teruo (86)2 YAMAMOTO, Keith Mamoru (82)

4 NOMURA, Janet Miyuki (91)6 SATO, Grace Kimiye (90)7 TANDO, Toshimasa (88)8 GOTO, Daisy Harumi (90)10 OKADA, Harry Hideo (88)12 KIMURA, Louise Hatsuyo (95)13 SUZUKI, Toyoko (101)13 TANOUYE, Misao (81)14 KUMURA, Molly Hatsue (93)

15 KANETA, Daikichi (85)15 SAKAI, Jane Sumiko (87)16 YOSHIMURA,Carol Ayame (85)

18 AKEMOTO, Janet Kikumi (72)18 ISHIHARA, Charles Giichi (83)

21 MORI, Mildred Miyoko (82)22 FUJITA, James Kazuo (89)24 KIMURA, Shoji (97)28 KAWAMURA, Toshio (74)30 NAITO, Elsie Tsurumi (92)31 DOBASHI, Satsuki (92)

Such death rites in Buddhism as Seventh Day Service and One Year Memorial Service are not merely for the de-ceased. It is for us who remain to

learn, in warm memory of the deceased, the power of the Dharma (teachings) that enables us to live this life fully, and to reach the bliss of Nirvana. As more members of today’s Buddhist community in Hawaii are living in the multi-cultural society, they are not well informed of the true intent of death rites in Buddhism. Many are influenced by

way of thinking of Christian traditions. Therefore, it is imperative that Buddhist temples provide correct information about meaning of death rites. May I focus on 49th Day Memorial Service?

Sachiya Hiro, a well-known Buddhist writer in Tokyo, wrote an article about meaning of observing the 49th Day Ser-vice. He made the following five points of the meaning of this age-old Buddhist custom.1. After one dies, the effect of his kar-ma remains. It takes 49 days for this person(or spirit of this person) to go to the next realm. This period is called the

Why a 49th Day Service? “period of suspension” in English, for the spirit is in limbo during this period.

2. One week, Yama (or Enma in Jap-anese) that is considered to be a god (kami in Japanese) in this spiritual realm, checks the person’s karma in the human life. For example, if the person was a liar, his tongue is cut off by Yama. Six more judges check this person’s karma dring other six weeks. Thus, this person’s where about is determined during the seven weeks.3. There are six places for the spirit to go. Known as Six Realms of Existence, they are naraka (hellish existence); preta (realm of hungry ghosts); tiry-agyoni (beasts); asura (fighting spirits), manusya (humans) and deva (heav-

Hawaii Betsuin May 2013 Cultural Classes CalendarSunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

19 am Wednesday Grp9 am Japanese Language1 pm Flower Arrangement7 pm Meditation 7 pm Bon Dancercise

29 am Flower Arrangement11:30 am Sahm Bo Dahn5:30 pm Choir Practice6-8 pm Judo7 pm Ballroom Dancing

39 am Project Dana Dance

4

9-11 am Judo

10 am Hawaiiana

1 pm Taichi

58:00 – Rev. Hojo9:00 – Mr. Alan Goto10:00 – Rev. Sumikawa1:00 – Rev. Muneto

11 am Taiko

69 am – 1:30 pm Rhythm & Life


6-8 pm Judo

89 am Wednesday Grp9 am Japanese Language1 pm Flower Arrangement7pm Meditation7 pm Bon Dancercise



9 am Sumie Class

11

9-11 am Judo

1 pm Taichi

12Mothers’ Day8:00 – Rev. Toshima9:00 – Rev. Sumikawa10:00 – Rev. Muneto1:00 – Rev. Toshima



9:30 am Shodo Class

6-8 pm Judo

159 am Wednesday Grp9 am Japanese Language1 pm Flower Arrangement7 pm Meditation7 pm Bon Dancercise



189-11 am Judo

10 am Hawaiiana1 pm Taichi

7 pm – Gotan-e Service

19Gotan-e Services8:00 – Rev. Nakamura9:30 – Rev. Nakamura1:00 – Rev. Hojo

11 am Taiko


219 am – 1:30 pm Rhythm & Life (cancelled)

6-8 pm Judo

229 am Wednesday Grp9 am Japanese Language1 pm Flower Arrangement7 pm Meditation7 pm Bon Dancercise



259-11 am Judo

10 am Hawaiiana

1 pm Taichi

GOJI May 2013 GOJI May 2013Page 10

The Ministerial Training Fund traditionally grants scholarships to aspiring ministers desiring to serve in Hawaii. In order to attract more English-speaking aspirants in our changing demographics, it is necessary to support them in their career choices while attending seminaries or colleges either on the mainland at the Institute of Buddhist Studies or in Japan, traditionally at Ryukoku University or at Chuo Bukkyo Gakuin.

Please consider a donation to the Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii’s Ministerial Training Fund.

Donations are accepted throughout the year and checks can be made out to:

Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii 1727 Pali Hwy. Honolulu, HI, 96813

Please designate it for the Ministerial Training Fund.

In deep gratitude, HHMH Scholarship Committee

Ministerial Training Fund asks for your support

Rev. Arthur Kaufmann, currently serving as a resident minister at Aiea Hongwanji Mission, will be assigned to Honpa Hongwanji Hawaii Betsuin as its associate minister effective June 1, 2013.

Rev. Richard Tennes, currently serving as an associate minister at Honpa Hongwanji Hawaii Betsuin, will be assigned to Kahului Hongwanji Mission as its resident minister effective July 1, 2013.

Ministerial Assignments

“Dharma Bunny” visits Dharma School Keiki

Please join the Honolulu Hongwanji Dharma Schools for our annual Keiki Day Event. This year, we will gather at Kakaako Park from 9 am to 1 pm (specific location at the park TBA). We will be having a brief service con-ducted by Alan Goto, group activities and games.

Lunch will be served. Families are asked to bring their own drinks and desserts to share for potluck

The 9:00 am Dharma School Service at the Betsuin will be cancelled for that Sunday and will resume the following Sunday.

Keiki Day Scheduled for Sunday, May 5

Hawaiian HostCandies

News from the Buddhist Women’s Association Fujiko Motobu, President

New Bulletin Board For BWA

With deepest gratitude and apprecia-tion, the BWA has received a beauti-ful bulletin board from Benjamin and Merle Woo.

Ben is one of the Hawaii Betsuin’s board of directors and is also an ar-chitect by profession. He has contrib-uted many things for the benefit of our temple, and this time Ben and Merle donated the much needed bulletin boards to the BWA.

When you walk down to the social hall, you will notice the bulletin boards for the PBA and Hongwanji Mission School. Just walk down a few more steps and look over to the left, and

you will see the newly placed bulletin boards. The BWA boards are filled with the Taste of Hongwanji Bazaar pictures, and you may spot yourself in it. The pictures were taken by our historian and photographer, Ruth Tokumi.

Thank you Ben and Merle, we really appreciate your generosity.

Coming Events In May

Sat. May 4: Hosha

Sun. May 5: BWA executive board meeting 8:45-9:45 in dining room

Sun. May 19: Gotan E service

Sun. May 26-June 2: Family promise Betsuin’s project, BWA to assist with one meal

Graduation exercises for Mission School and PBA students

Thank You For All The Untir-ing Help That You Give

Thank you to all the BWA members who have helped with the Hosha on the first Saturday of each month. You have been doing this for many, many years. Thank you to all of you for taking care of the wilted flowers in the nookotsudo whenever you visit the place and notice the condition of the flowers. You all go unnoticed and give your full support in dana. We appreciate it very much.

In April , those of you who made the tray favors for all those in the nurs-ing homes for the celebration of Hanamatsuri, thank you. You also helped to decorate the Hanamido for the Buddha Day celebration on April 7th.

For the Eshinni Day service, it was wonderful to have the help of the Dharma School students and teach-ers. We appreciate any help that we can combine with the young mem-bers, for they are our future and it is important that the young people fully understand the significance of Eshinni sama and Kakushini sama. Thank you to all of you and we hope we will have many opportunities to work together.

For Those With The Internet, You May Have Read This; But For Those Without The Computer, Here’s Something For You.

A woman goes to the doctor, worried about her husband’s temper.The doctor asks: What’s the problem?The woman says: “Doctor, I don’t know what to do. Every day my husband seems to lose his temper for no reason. It scares me.”The doctor said: “I have a cure for that. When it seems that your husband is getting angry, just take a glass of water and start swishing it in your mouth. Just swish and swish but don’t swallow it until he either leaves the room or calms down.”Two weeks later the woman comes back to the doctor looking fresh and reborn.The woman says: ”Doctor that was a brilliant idea. Every time my husband started losing it, I swished with water. I swished and swished, and he calmed right down. How does a glass of water do that?”The doctor says: “The water itself does nothing. It’s keeping your mouth shut that does the trick…..”

Tickle your funny bone....

Keiki from the Betsuin Dharma School listen intently as the Dharma Bunny, Rev. Bert Sumikawa, “talks story” with them at a recent class.

The Hawaii Kyodan recently announced the following ministerial assignments:

Temple News and Activities Temple News and Activities

GOJI May 2013 GOJI May 2013 Page 9

As a minister, I have spent a good deal of my time answering questions about Buddhism. Many of these ques-tions express the worries and anxiet-ies of those who ask them. For exam-ple, the question, “where did my loved one go?” after death is a common question and very much expresses the fears than many have about the end of life. My answers to these types of questions have developed over the years, they have grown—as I have grown—through reflection on life and on the Dharma. These are never easy questions to answer because the real question may be one which the asker is yet unable to ask. It seems to me that the real question we are all ask-ing, whether we know it or not, is not “Where do we go after death?”, but “Who am I and what is the signifi-cance of my life?” This is the question we actually need to ask in order to realize happiness and meaning in life.

For thousands of years, in both the West and the East, the question of the afterlife has dominated the spiri-tual lives of most people. Although East and West have different takes on this subject, the fact is that human beings have long put an emphasis on life after death and denigrated our everyday life to a level of less importance, if not downright triviality. There are many reasons why this should be so. In the earliest time of human life on earth, people no doubt found death to be an imponderable mystery and that question “where do we go?” probably drove the develop-ment of religion in the first place. I imagine that death was originally simply a source of sadness at the loss of a member of the family. But it was natural for people to wonder what happened to their fathers and

mothers, brothers, sisters and friends who died. A person has lived, a father or mother, child or friend, and that life has been an inseparable part of the life of others. When death comes, an imponderable mystery faces those left behind: “where has this life gone?” Faced with this question, human creativity imagined worlds beyond this one—different though similar—where life continues after death. And as the sense of morality, of right and wrong, developed among people, so too did the awareness that right and wrong do not necessarily prevail in this world. The afterlife provided a way for the un-fulfilled rewards and punish-ments owed for actions in this life but unfulfilled at death, to be resolved and the balance of the world to be maintained. Unfortunately, when the afterlife became a place of potential punishment, the end of life became a time of great fear.

But even the hope of reward in the next life has a downside. History has demonstrated that this idea has provided a rational for untold exploita-tion and oppression of the poor and helpless by the rich and powerful. The poor and dispossessed are always told, “Don’t worry about what happens to you in this life, just be good and obedient and—if you do—you will re-ceive your reward in the next world.” Because of this belief, injustice and inequality is perpetuated and allowed to become institutionalized. Worst of all, this emphasis on the afterlife robs us of something fundamental, so fundamental that we are often com-pletely unaware of it.

What is this fundamental thing? It is simply the importance of the life we are living, right now! To truly live is to

be able to appreciate life, to have the awareness that each moment mat-ters! Our real life does not begin at death, when we go to the Pure Land or a “better birth”, or to some kind of heaven. We are often told that life is all about struggle and work. Hap-piness and fulfillment is for the next life, for when you get to this Heaven or Pure Land. Happiness is a reward, not a natural state. Even in America, where people have been extremely successful in a materialistic way, true happiness is hard to find. The rich and powerful are certainly not happy. According to some statistics, suicide is the eighth leading cause of death in the U.S., and the third leading cause of death for people aged 15 to 24. We must admit that there is a profound absence of happiness in our society when very young people despair of their precious lives and wish to end them.

Buddhism calls us to return to the present, to the moment of life we are actually living, to wake up to life as it

Dharma Message: Rev. Richard TennesWho Am I? Collage and photos by Ruth Tokumi

continued on page 5

In April Buddhists joined in the celebration of Hanamatsuri or the Buddha’s Birthday. The birthday of Shinran Shonin is commemo-rated on May 21st by followers of Jodo Shin Shu throughout the world. This occasion is called Fu-jimatsuri or Wisteria Festival Day at some of the temples or Gotan E or Shinran Shonin Day by other temples. For followers of the Jodo Shin Shu teaching, this day is most important as it was Shinran, who systematically developed the Nembutsu teaching by compiling the commentaries of the seven teachers that he chose to call the Seven Patriarchs. The essence of the Jodo Shin Shu teaching is contained in his Kyo Gyo Shin Sho compiled and written during his last years in the Kanto area before his return to Kyoto. Even though Shinran Shonin was born some 800 years ago, by developing the Nembutsu teaching into the teach-ing that we follow today, we are able to attain salvation or Birth into the Pure Land. The teaching that he founded is most applicable to us in this modern Space Age

(from The Buddhist Holidays by Rev. George E. Shibata

GOJI May 2013

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GOJI May 2013Page 8

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enly beings). Mogallana’s mother, who had been greedy in her life, suffered in the realm of hungry ghost after death, where she lived in insatiable hunger.

4. Wishing that the deceased loved one would not fall into any of these realms of unenlightened beings, the families and friends of the deceased went to the tem-ples for 7th day service up to 49 days. This Buddhist practice has been held among the Japanese people for about 500 years.

5. Members of Jodo School and Jodo Shin School may not have to observe the 49th Day Service. The reason is, if they had correct understanding of the compassion of Amida Buddha, they would attain birth in Amida’s Pure Land at the very moment of their deaths. They do not go through the 49 days period of suspension.

Such figures as devils, hungry ghosts, beasts and fighting spirits do not exist outside of human mind. They all stand for blind desire of “myself” who is in anger, hungry and stupidity in the ever changing circumstances.

In Japanese Buddhist culture, espe-cially in Jodo Shin life, this theory of Six Realms has been taken humorously or comically. The nature of Amida Bud-dha’s Primal Vow is to fundamentally affirm the beings in the Six Realms of

Existence.

It does not take 49 days for the nem-butsu followers to go to Amida’s Pure Land. It takes place right at the moment of death.

Our task is to study wisdom and com-passion of Amida Buddha while we are young and active. The power of Amida’s Primal Vow to take the person karmic evil and to lead him from the dreadful realm of Samsara to the Buddha land of peace becomes ever reliable and dependable in life. This compassion-ate vow to save me reverberates in my heart and appears as a saying of “Namo Amida Butsu.”

It is for this reason that Sachiya Hiro said that members of Jodo and Jodo Shin who have understood and prac-ticed the teachings correctly do not go through the 49 days of period of suspen-sion. They attain birth in the Pure Land at the moment of death.

It was in this sense that Shinran Shonin said in the Kyo Gyo Shin Sho, “Sentient beings of the nembutsu…transcend and realize great, complete nirvana on the eve of the moment of death.”

The late Rev. Shonen Tamekuni knew that he was approaching death. When

he remembered that he would not go through the 49 days of period of suspen-sion, he was happy about his birth in the Pure Land, and left the following poem for this family:

What, then, is the meaning of observing 49th Days Service in Jodo Shin Bud-dhism? That is not for the deceased. That is for those who remain to have precious opportunities to listen to the Dharma that enables one to live this life fully and to go to the Pure Land at the moment of death. That is for us to thank the deceased for telling us that there is Amida’s land embracing our human ex-istence. It is the same with the obser-vance of Obon service.

If you think that you get bachi (pun-ishment) if you do not attend the me-morial service, that is superstition. In case you have forgotten the memorial service, say “Sorry” and Namo amida butsu.

Let us observe the death rites with sincere respect to the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha.

With fragrant breeze, return to the home of homes, in one step

Why a 49th Day Service? continued from page 2

actually is. Although people mistakenly believe that Buddhism is concerned with the afterlife, the Buddha’s teaching is really about the wholeness of life as it is experienced and lived. If you reflect deeply on your life, on its source and all the interconnections that link your living with all of life, you can realize Boundless Life in this present moment. Every moment of life is a treasure of immeasurable value; it is rooted in the infinite past and it is supported by everyone and every-thing that ever existed and continues to exist. This is the answer to the question we should be “Who am I and what is the significance of my life?”

But there is one more thing to consider. If we live our present life hoping for re-ward in the afterlife, we have given ourselves a free pass out of responsibility for the state of the beautiful world we all share. We don’t have to care about the en-vironment, we don’t have to consider the unfairness and inequalities of present day society. We don’t have to change our way of living or work for the well-being of others. We can just say that everything will be sorted out in the fulfillment to come. Unfortunately, the emphasis on the afterlife has been the source of this excuse, in both the east and the west, for countless centuries. Even Buddhism, which is truly a teaching of the oneness of life, has compromised its teaching to accommodate the desire of people to focus their faith on the other—rather than this—world.

But it is our duty, as Buddhists, to question the myths and comforts of afterlife beliefs and bring our focus back to the reality of life, to the question “who am I and why am I living?” Within this question we can find, with reflection, not only the significance of our life, but also we can begin to discover both true happi-ness in living, and a sense of true responsibility for all of life, for all the beings with whom our existence is shared.Namo Amida Butsu

Dharma Message continued from page 4 About Gotan-E

GOJI May 2013 GOJI May 2013 Page 7

BOY SCOUT TROOP

Another Rainy Bellows Camp Douglas Yanagihara, Troop 49 Boy Scout

Occasional passing showers rained throughout the entire weekend of the Boy Scout Bellows Air Force Station Camp from Friday, March 22 to Sunday, March 24, 2013. The boys managed to keep busy with skill-building activities like knot tying, fire safety to earn the Firem’n Chit card, knife safety to earn the Totin’Chip card, physical fitness, and orienteering. Scouts also sharpened their cooking skills by making cin-namon bread French toast, grilled cheese sand-wiches, and hamburger curry using donations received from the Hongwanji Bazaar. Some boys were able to go to the beach where the water was very cold. At night, when the weather was fairly clear, the boys were able to enjoy the traditional campfire. While the newest Badger Scouts could care less about the rain, most of

the older Scouts still held bad memories of the November 2007 Bellows camp when the campsite was completely flooded out by the heavy thunder and lightning storm. Luckily, the weather during this Spring 2013 camp paled in comparison to that treacherous downpour of the Fall 2007 camp.

Despite the heavy downpour of rain, the Taste of Hongwanji and Bazaar was held on Sunday March 10, 2013. It was business as usual serv-ing hungry customers with the Boy Scouts man-aging to sell more than 500 beef stew and Oki-nawan spare rib with daikon soup and rice. The boys worked hard, cooking about 500 trays of fried noodles and grilled about 200 teri burgers. Promptly after the announcement for the closing of the bazaar, the Scouts dismantled the tents which they had erected on Saturday morning, folded and returned tables, disconnected equip-ment, hauled benches back, removed wooden pallets, and carried out trash bags to the dump-sters. Although drenched and tired from working long shifts, the boys returned the Temple grounds back to the original condition. After a hard day’s work, it felt good to wearily return home to a hot shower followed by homework and a tasty dinner of Stanley’s chicken from the bazaar.

On Saturday, March 30, 2013, 12 Troop 49 Eagle Scouts were recognized at an Eagle Court of Honor ceremony. Eagle Scout is the highest Boy Scout rank. To become an Eagle Scout, a Boy Scout must progress through ranks of Tenderfoot, Second Class, First Class, Star, Life, and Eagle. He must earn 21 merit badges including 12 Eagle-required badges and serve six months in a troop leadership position. The Boy Scout must plan, develop, and lead a service project for a religious organization, school, or community. Finally, he must participate in a Scoutmas-ter conference and successfully complete an Eagle Scout board of review. More than 2 million Scouts have earned the Eagle Scout award from 1912 to 2011. Only about 5 percent of Boy Scouts become Eagle Scouts each year. The Eagle Scout title is held for life, so “Once an Eagle, always an Eagle.”

The 12 Eagle Scouts earned their awards on the following dates:

Trenton Omuro (12/17/10)Bryce Tsuruma (8/26/11)Javen Nakamoto (12/9/11)Kapena Lum (1/27/12)Spencer Wakahiro (3/30/12), Samuel Saito (6/15/12)Calen Leonoras (8/24/12)Christopher Gum (8/24/12)Christopher Nakagawa (12/7/12)Evan Uehara (1/4/13)Justen Nakamoto (2/13/13)Ryan Ando (3/13/13).

Front row (L to R): Bryce Tsuruma, Christopher Nakagawa, Samuel Saito, Javen Nakamoto, Blaise Kapena Lum, Calen Leon-oras. Back row (L to R): Evan Uehara, Trenton Omuro, Chris-topher Gum, Justen Nakamoto, Spencer Wakahiro, Ryan Ando, Scoutmaster Mark Merriam

The Eagle Scouts planned and lead a variety of community service projects:

Trenton Omuro: Good Samaritan Episcopal Church renovationBryce Tsuruma: Beautification of St. Louis School pavilion areaJaven Nakamoto: Punchbowl Home Apartment paintingBlaise Kapena Lum: Susannah Wesley Community Center Retention Basin and LandscapingSpencer Wakahiro: Organizing VEX Robotics Tournament at Iolani SchoolSamuel Saito: Painting sensory room and improving garden at Leahi HospitalCalen Leonoras: Alika Rabbits

Garden creation at Urban Garden CenterChristopher Gum: Eradication of Avrainvilla Amadelpha with Malama Maunaloa

Christopher Nakagawa: Hongwanji Mission School-Honpa Hongwanji Betsuin underground tunnel painting, safety restriping, and concrete patching Evan Uehara: Cleaning up hiking trail with Papahana KuaolaJusten Nakamoto: St. Stephen’s Church paintingRyan Ando: Painting the Honolulu Ki Society DojoCongratulations, Eagle Scouts, on achieving Scouting’s highest award! Continue to live your life guided by the Scout Oath and Scout Law.

Taste of Hongwanji and Bazaar

Eagle Court of Honor for 12 Eagle Scouts By Elaine Nakamoto

Temple News and ActivitiesTemple News and Activities

tickets: adults ($10) - seniors 60 and over ($8) children

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