The town of Lahaina prospered as the capital of
Hawaii in the 18th Century. After the capital was moved Lahaina declined,
but after the ware due to resort development the old whaling town of Lahaina
was revived.
Rev. Hogan Yujiri, from Yamaguchi Prefecture and
who was a registered priest of the Daigo School of Shingon Buddhism, immigrated
to Hawaii. While working on the sugar plantation, he slowly gathered believers
in Odaishi-sama. In 1902, when the opportunity was right, he rented a 10
feet square house, and he and his followers started to worship Odaishi-sama.
This is beginning of the Lahaina temple and is the oldest Shingon temple
in Hawaii. The second head minister Rev. Horyu Fuchigami protected and
guided the temple for twenty years. The third minister the Rev. Hogaku
Koshiyama Built a temple Building ten meters in length and in 1926 the
name "Mauizan Hokoji" was bestowed on to the Temple.
The Lahaina Shingon Mission still remains in one
corner of the town of Lahaina and the temple activities revolve around
the Japanese community in Lahaina.
