Daifukuji Soto Zen Mission, Sōtō Zen Buddhist temple in Honalo, Hawaii, United States.
Daifukuji Soto Zen Mission is a Buddhist temple in Honalo featuring traditional Japanese design with a distinctive metal roof and an elevated wooden structure that rises above the ground on sturdy posts. The building along Mamalahoa Highway contains religious artworks in its main hall, including statues and representations of important Zen Buddhist figures.
Reverend Kaiseki Kodama arrived in Kona in 1914 and held services at the former Hanato Store, walking around the island twice to collect donations. A first thatched temple went up in 1915; the present hall was begun in 1920 and a Buddha image was enshrined there on May 27, 1921. After Pearl Harbor the minister Hozui Nakayama was interned and the US Army occupied the site; it reopened in February 1946.
The temple became the centre of Japanese immigrant society in Kona during the 20th century. Its name, Hakuhozan Daifukuji, means "Temple of Great Happiness on White Mountain Peak", given by the abbots of Eihei-ji and Sōji-ji in Japan. A store built just south by the Teshima family in 1929 became a restaurant in the 1940s, still run by Shizuko Teshima when she turned 102 in 2009.
The temple stands at 79-7241 Mamalahoa Highway (Route 11) on the Kona Heritage Corridor, with a small cemetery uphill from the main hall. The Kannon Hall sits to the left of the main hall and the minister's house to the right, while a Jizō shrine stands on the entrance steps. Visitors should confirm opening times before travelling, as the grounds are used for services and private ceremonies.
The 1915 Buddha image and the acacia koa wood altar survived the interior remodels and remain in the main hall. A small Jizō shrine stands on the steps, dedicated on May 25, 1961. The temple was listed as site 10-47-7222 on the Hawaii register on March 9, 1991, and as site 94000382 on the National Register on April 21, 1994.
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