Wakamiya Inari Shrine, Shinto shrine in Waipahu, Hawaiʻi

Wakamiya Inari Shrine is a 19-by-26-foot wood-frame building painted bright red, with wooden steps leading to a raised floor and a balustraded verandah that wraps around the sanctuary. Long eaves of its irimoya hip-and-gable roof extend over the steps and verandah. Sliding doors with latticework tops enclose the sanctuary, which holds an inner altar behind a bell rope and an offering box. The restored building still lacks the chigi forked finials above its ornamental ridgepole.

Reverend Yoshio Akizaki, a Shinto priest who had studied in Tokyo in 1912, founded the shrine. A Japanese architect known only as Haschun built the first sanctuary in 1914 in Honolulu's industrial Kakaʻako district. In 1918 it was moved to 2132 South King Street in Moʻiliʻili, the heart of the Japanese community. After the deaths of Akizaki (1951) and his son Takeo, the property was sold and the shrine was relocated in 1979 to Waipahu Cultural Garden to make way for a sporting goods store. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on 8 January 1980.

Inari shrines are painted bright red, unlike most unpainted Shinto shrines, because Inari is the god of the harvest. The shrine represents the religious heritage of Japanese immigrants who worked on sugarcane and pineapple plantations. A bell rope and an offering box stand before the inner altar.

The shrine is located within Hawaii's Plantation Village and is easy to explore due to its compact size and accessible layout. The peaceful setting makes it a good place for reflection and suits visitors who want to learn about Japanese religious practices without feeling rushed or overwhelmed.

The shrine still lacks the chigi, the forked finials that normally crown the ornamental ridgepole, so the roof ridge ends flat. Its 2014 centennial restoration, which included a new roof, earned a Historic Preservation Honor Award.