Hongwanji Day honors the Rev. Soryu Kagahi, the first Jodo Shinshu minister who came to Hawaii from Japan in March, 1889 to propagate the faith among the Japanese laborers on the sugar plantations.

Visiting them on the Big Island, Kauai and Maui, his aim was to comfort them and try to alleviate their extreme physical and spiritual hardships.

After only seven months, he returned to Japan to urge Honzan to send more ministers to Hawaii to continue his work.