Kaua'i Buddhist Holy Site to be Rebuilt

March 4, 2002

Source: The Honululu Advertiser

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2002/Mar/04/ln/ln06a.html

On March 4, 2002, The Honululu Advertiser featured an article on the "miniature temples, established a century ago by Japanese immigrants of the 1,300-year-old Shingon sect of Buddhism... in Lawa'i, Kaua'i... To many people it is a place of special power, a place of healing... It is also badly run-down — its shrines collapsing and its temple long since demolished. A group of Kaua'i residents that bought the 32 acres around the shrines is planning to restore them and build a center for healing for the world... Lynn Muramoto [is] president of the Lawai International Center, which is raising money to restore all 88 shrines. The center plans to establish a visitor center and build a traditional pagoda to replace a temple that once occupied the site. Most of the members of the Lawa'i center are Christian, a tribute to the nonsectarian attraction of the [site]... 'When the first immigrants built this place, a lot of the people were not from the Shingon sect,' Muramoto said. 'They walked from all parts of the island to be healed and for miracles.'"