Your surprising face comes to my mind. You might utter, "Aren't you in Hawaii?" This is Byodoin Hoo-oh-do, which had been built in 1968 in Hawaii on the 100th anniversary of the 1st Japanese immigrants' arrival. The magnitude was regrettably a third or fourth of the original one, but its atmosphere was as great as that of Japan. The original Byodoin Hoo-oh-do is a Buddhist temple which doesn't belong to any Buddhism sect. That on Oahu island, what's more, doesn't take any specific religious dogma, getting out of Buddhism. Byodoin Hoo-oh-do was designed and built so that all the Japanese on Oahu island could think of their original land of Japan by seeing it, no matter what religion they believe. There was the Shinji-ike pond in the grounds, in which gorgeous carps were kept. The ponds called Shinji-ike are found in several places in Japan. "Shinji" is a kanji character which stands for heart or soul and "ike" means pond. The shape of this pond was modelled after the kanji character, Shinji. I think that this pond might be for calming yourselves before the Temple.
Just before the arrival at Byodoin, I found several graveyards separated by their religion. Among them, there was a small graveyard, in which Japanese style tombstones were arranged. All of them were made of black granite and directed toward Japan. I couldn't help thinking of Japanese people who had been born in Japan, moved to Hawaii, and became the soil of Oahu island. What lives had they spent? Anyway, I chatted with other foreign tourists in an adjacent gift shop. I was asked if Byodoin was famous in Japan. I thought it a silly question, but politely answered as follows: It has 1000 years of history and is listed on the World Heritage Sites. They told me that they're interested in Japanese history, and so I added that the first-ever Seppuku - committing suicide by cutting open the abdomen - was done in Byodoin. I hoped that it was not wrong.
(Vocabulary)
granite 花崗(かこう)岩, 御影(みかげ)石
平等院鳳凰堂
写真を見て『あれ、ハワイを旅行中ではなかったの？』とびっくりされる方もいらっしゃるでしょう。これはハワイにある平等院鳳凰堂。明治維新の年に渡航した第一次日本人移民の１００年記念として、１９６８年に建てられた。規模はさすがに実物の数分の一だが、美しさは実物に劣らない。鳳凰堂は仏教の特定の宗派には属していないが、この考えをさらに拡げて、ハワイに住む日本人が、信仰する宗教の垣根を越えて故国日本に思いを馳せることが出来るよう、無宗教を旨として創られている。庭には立派な鯉が泳ぐ心字池も。
ここへ到達する直前には黒い石で作られた日本式のお墓が並ぶ一角があった。全てのお墓は同じ方向を向いており、その先は日本だという。奥津城タイプもあった。日本に生まれ、ハワイに移住し、ハワイの土となる、、、どんな感じなのだろうと考えずにはいられなかった。売店の叔母さんや他の外国人旅行者との雑談で、鳳凰堂は日本でも有名かと馬鹿な質問をしてくるので、１０００年の歴史を持つ世界遺産だと教えた。日本の文化や歴史に興味があるというので、切腹が初めて行われたのが平等院鳳凰堂だと教えてあげると横にいた日本人も驚いていた。間違っていなければ良いが、、、、(^_^;)
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