See the October 2025 Headquarters Update for the following articles: Message from Bishop Toshiyuki Umitani Tokudo Committee on Social Concerns Archives Workshop (Nov. 16, hybrid) Living Gratitude Grant (see informational document) Condolence Giseikai 2026 (Feb. 20-21) BWA State Membership Conference (Mar. 28-29, see flyer/registration) Choralfest 2025 Music Service Video Now on Youtube...
Our 6th annual Ring Your Bell for Peace Day Zoom event, held the morning of September 22, 2025, on Zoom and at sites around Hawaii and beyond, is now available as a recording. We joined from temples, schools, workplaces, and homes to hear messages and music and to let our...
By Francis Okano After seven years, the Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii Music Committee ended its long COVID pause to stage a choralfest at the Hawaii Betsuin on the weekend of September 20-21, 2025. Eager for music, one hundred brave singers from as far east as Denver, Colorado, and as...
See the September 2025 Headquarters Update for the following articles: Message from Bishop Toshiyuki Umitani 39th Ministers’ Spouses’ Association Seminar (report) Minister’s lay assistant retreat (10/25, registration form available) Committee on Social Concerns (report) CBE: Poster Contest & Dharma School Gathering Shining Spirit Award (11/15 nomination deadline) PBA Lighting Our...
The Hawaii State Lay Association (HSLA) is the successor to the Hawaii State Federation of Honpa Hongwanji Lay Associations. The organization held the 62nd annual Lay Convention from September 12 to 13 on Oahu. Delegates and observers from Hongwanji districts throughout Hawaii converged for business meetings, services, presentations, and fellowship....
Links in the article list below go right to posts formatted for online viewing. You can also view the full, print-style layout of the September 2025 edition of Ka Leo Kāhea (2 MB) as a PDF file. Contents: Lahaina: Anniversary of the Fires Resilience and Hope Lives On in Lahaina...
Photo courtesy of Carol Yamamura Gathered with compassion at Wailuku Hongwanji, from left: Rev. Kerry Kiyohara of Makawao Hongwanji, Maui Mayor Richard Bissen, Bishop Toshiyuki Umitani, Rev. Shinkai Murakami of Wailuku Hongwanji, Rev. Gensho Hara of Lahaina Jodo Mission, Lahainaluna High School principal Richard Carosso, State Senator Troy Hashimoto and...
Courtesy of Alan Kubota Ewa Fukushima Bon Dance Club members Ann Inouye, left, Gail Yabuki and Chihiro Okawa, right on taiko, perform at Waiʻanae Hongwanji’s final Obon. VOLUME 5 • ISSUE 3 • September 2025 ‘It’s So Sad to See This All End’ 121-year-old Waiʻanae Hongwanji holds its last Obon...
VOLUME 5 • ISSUE 3 • September 2025 Choralfest Returns to Hawaiʻi Betsuin Singers from Colorado to Kanazawa will perform at the biennial event for the first time since 2020 BY FRANCIS OKANO HONPA HONGWANJI MISSION MUSIC COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN With the pandemic shutdown of 2020 behind us, Choralfest will resume...
See the August 2025 Headquarters Update for the following articles: Bishop’s Aspiration at the End of World War II Commemoration Service + video & posters availability Ring Your Bell for Peace Day (9/22 Zoom | flyer | web page) Shining Spirit Award (nomination form – 11/15 deadline) Commission on Buddhist...