June 1, 2024
Hilo Temple Installation
By Rev. Shougou Kini
On March 23, I was installed as the Resident Minister of the Hilo Nichiren Mission, on the island of Hawaii. It was a dream come true. I started training for the position in December 2018. At the time, Rev. Shokai Kanai had just been installed as the new Bishop of the Nichiren Mission of Hawaii, the main Nichiren Shu temple in Hawaii.
I talked to Bishop Kanai and indicated that I wanted to receive training to either become a lay leader or a fully ordained Nichiren Shu priest. Furthermore, at the end of my training, I wanted to move to the Big Island and practice at the Hilo Nichiren Mission. Moving to the Big Island is a priority for me because my mother lives there, and I want to live closer to her in my retirement years.
Additionally, I knew the Hilo temple and its members fairly well, as I was a frequent visitor of the temple since around 2010. I’m so happy that Bishop Kanai accepted me as his disciple. At my first training session, Bishop Kanai introduced me to Yohon, a compilation of some of the more important sections and chapters of the Lotus Sutra
for chanting. This stunned me. I had been a Nichiren Buddhist since 1984, but I only knew to chant Chapter Two and Chapter 16 from the Lotus Sutra.
At this time, I was still working a day job, so my training throughout the 2019
year was done on weekends and certain weekday evenings. In January 2020, I
retired from my job, and soon I was coming to the temple for training every
day, seven days a week. A month later, I had my Tokudo at the Betsuin, and I was formally ordained as a Nichiren Shu trainee priest, or Shami.
At the beginning of that ceremony, I was dressed in regular dress clothes, a
Hawaiian shirt, dress pants, and shoes. By the end of the ceremony, I had been physically transformed into a monk-like figure with a shaved head and dressed in robes and tabis.
After my Tokudo, Bishop Kanai and I traveled to Hilo where he
formally told the Hilo members that he was assigning me to the Hilo Nichiren Mission. After that, I began regularly flying to Hilo to serve the Hilo members on my own, about once every other month as my schedule permitted. Then COVID-19 hit, and several of the required overseas training activities for me were canceled or suspended. This delayed my training in some ways, but it also opened some opportunities.
In July 2022, restrictions on travel to Japan were eased, and I was able participate in the required Docho ceremony where I was officially registered as a Nichiren Shu Shami. I also participated in an International Shami Study Tour in Japan in November 2022. A Foreign Language (English) Shingyo Dojo was rescheduled for the Fall of 2023. Several other required training activities were rescheduled to allow English-
speaking Shamis to qualify for Shingyo Dojo.
The revised schedule provided a unique fast-track opportunities for me and several other English-speaking Shamis. So, in December 2022, I took my exams in English at the Nichiren Buddhist International Center in Hayward, California. Based on my exam scores, I was invited to participate in the required Sodorin in Japan in June. After that, I joined the 35-day-long Foreign Language Shingyo Dojo, which ended October 30, 2023. Shingyo Dojo was physically quite difficult for me, but I was able to complete it and became a fully ordained Nichiren Shu minister.
As I indicated, being installed as the Resident Minister of the Hilo Nichiren Mission in March was really a dream come true for me. From my initial training in December 2018 to formal installation as minister, this journey took a little over five years. At the installation ceremony in Hilo, I promised before the Gohonzon to lead and support the Hilo Nichiren Mission and to propagate the Wonderful Dharma on the Big Island to the best of my ability.
Namu Myoho Renge Kyo.
EDITORS NOTE: When Rev. Hosho Sugawara returned to Japan in 2016 after many years of serving as the resident minister for the Hilo Nichiren Mission on the big island of Hawaii, the Hilo temple was left without a resident minister. With no replacement, other ministers in Hawaii took turns taking care of the members’ needs and performing various special services as needed, such as Spring/Autumn O-Higan, Obon, funerals, and memorial services.
In December 2018, when Rev. Shokai Kanai was elevated to become the new Bishop of the Nichiren Mission of Hawaii, he had a new and inspired idea. Instead of seeking another priest from Japan, who would eventually end up having to return home or having visa issues, why not grow and cultivate someone locally in Hawaii to become the new resident minister? Thus began his search to find someone to fill this important role, which culminated with the installation of Rev. Shougou Kini in
March 2024. We congratulate Rev. Kini and wish him
and the sangha every success as he fills his new post as the new resident minister of the Hilo Nichiren Mission.