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Members of the Maalaea Ebisu Kotohira Jinsha, keepers of a traditional
Shinto fishing shrine at Maalaea Harbor, celebrated the historic site’s 100th anniversary with a blessing and festivities earlier this month.
Its origins aren’t recorded in written documents, but the story passed down by word-of-mouth over several generations was that the shrine was erected by the villagers of Maalaea and local Japanese fishermen in 1914, said Allan Murayama, secretary of Maalaea Ebisu Kotohira Jinsha.
“History has it that the original shrine was built by a boat-builder-slash-carpenter named Matsunaga – we don’t even know his first name,” he said.
The Shinto religion was not widely practiced in Hawaii, and the Maalaea shrine was one of only three ever built in the islands, with the other two located in Hilo and on Oahu’s North Shore. Today, the Maalaea shrine, which has been relocated twice around the harbor due to construction, is the only remaining Shinto fishing shrine in the world that survives outside of Japan.
The Maalaea Ebisu Kotohira Jinsha held a gathering Sunday at Maalaea Small Boat Harbor, led by the Rev. Daiya Amano, bishop of Izumo Taishakyo Mission of Hawaii. The event included a blessing of boats; a ceremony and blessing at the shrine; the blessing of bottles of sake, which were provided to boat owners to sprinkle over their boats and gear; followed by a celebratory feast.
Murayama said the group has served the same menu for as long as he’s been a member, more than 40 years: kalua pig, nishime (stewed chicken and root vegetables), nitsuke (simmered fish bones, a traditional fisherman’s food), namasu (pickled cucumbers), musubi, sashimi, poke and sweet-sour pigs feet. “That turns the young people off, but it’s gourmet food for the older people,” Murayama said.
Although it was originally built for Japanese fishermen, today the shrine and the annual blessing draw people from many activities, including fishermen, divers, surfers, commercial and recreational boaters and swimmers.
“The common factor is activities in the ocean,” he said. At the feast, “we talk story about fishing, surfing, whale watching – whatever that activity is.”
The Rev. Amano took over as officiant three years ago, after the retirement of the Rev. Torako Arine, who died last year at the age of 100. Murayama said the first time Amano visited the group, “he was amazed by the diversity of cultures: Filipino, Japanese, Hawaiian, Caucasian, Portuguese, Korean, black, white, yellow, brown – everything in between.”
But, “he said once we entered the shrine, it was one people.”
Murayama’s involvement with the group began when he was 14 years old, and he got a summer job working on an aku boat. The boat’s captain was a strong member of the shrine society. “Whenever we had this ceremony, he would drag me along,” he recalled.
Although today Murayama, like many other members of the group, no longer works on the ocean – his time on the water is limited to the occasional recreational fishing trip – he believes the shrine is no less important.
“Maalaea Harbor transitioned big time from a little fishing village to a bustling commercial tourist whale-watch center,” he said. “But the shrine kind of retains the old Maalaea, the history of Maalaea.”
Plus, “to this date, no member has ever been lost or died at sea,” he said. “Everyone, knock on wood, made it home.”
* Ilima Loomis is a Maui-based writer and editor. Do you have an interesting neighbor? Tell us about them at neighbors.maui@gmail.com. Neighbors and “The State of Aloha,” written by Ben Lowenthal, alternate Fridays.