Daijingu Temple Of Hawaii

A beautiful place to ring in the new year. I went here for the first time this year at the invite of friends who have gone for many years. Many people there, all so happy. Many new year well wishes from friends and strangers alike. A line for a traditional blessing, but everyone is so happy, you don’t mind being in line. Line progresses very quickly. Sweet blessing ceremony with sake and a small market afterwards. Blessings start at midnight and go into the early hours of daylight. Get there early if you are going for a traditional midnight blessing as line starts forming about an hour before, but like I said, the most pleasant line you’ll ever wait in, so no worries. You can get your fortune for the new year for a quarter, then take it with you or tie it to the tree before you go. Plan to be here 30 minutes to an hour, depending on line and your preference for the market. Go, you won’t regret it, a true blessing and a wonderful way to start your new year.

it’s way too small not a place for meditation and beauty-​It looks like someone’s house.

1.1.14.
Happy New Year Unilocal friends! I am FINALLY on my last review to complete my 2013 Unilocal 365 Challenge… and I realized what a fabulous year 2013 has been :) Check this Unilocal 365 Challenge off of my bucket list – whooo!
Ever since I was little, on the first day of the new year, my parents would take our family to the temple to be blessed, buy omamori (good luck charms), and pray for wonderful things in the new year. Over the past few years, we’ve kind of let go of this tradition for a number of bad reasons… thankfully, we made it back again this year!
This temple is located in Nuuanu valley, a bit out of the way for us, but it’s the one that we’ve always come to… and apparently a lot of people come to this one for the same reasons. I remember waking up super early to beat the crowd and get parking… this time we went later in the afternoon and it seemed like the crowd/​parking was better than going super early! I guess it’s up to you what you might prefer.
I believe that the temple is open daily; it’s a great place to come and experience a little bit of the Buddhist culture in Hawaii… and it’s never a bad thing to be in a spiritually sound place :)
Unilocal 365 Challenge: #365/​365

We went on New Years Morning at about 1:30 AM. It is packed but they improve their system every year so we didn’t wait longer than 30 min to get blessed, pick up omamori, and read our omikuji. I come back here every year and it is always an amazing experience.

Reverend Akihiro Okada blessed my new home, a condo, yesterday and it was an awesome experience! I am definitely more spiritual than religious but I’ve been going to this temple on New Year’s Day for over 15 years now and wanted to support the reverend and the temple by having them do my home blessing. You will be given a long list of food offerings for the dieties and a monetary donation is greatly appreciated as they are a non-​profit organization. Invite your family and closest friends to participate and everything gets blessed as well!

A wonderful temple built in 1929 next to the Queen Emma summer palace, in the corner of an incredibly beautiful park. Has probably hosted more weddings under the huge tree in it’s front yard than any church in Hawaii!
It also boasts a wonderfully active community program center and has one of the oldest martial art schools in Hawaii located there. Soon to come will be a healing center in the renovated buildings.

As we were driving out of Queen Emma’s Summer Palace, my bf pointed to this building with some Chinese characters. We were curious so we drove over and it appeared to be a temple of some sorts. When we walked in, I asked the attendant and she informed us that this was a Japanese Shinto Temple. Cool! So we looked around and paid a quarter each to get our omikuji (oracles). I’ve always heard of people tying wishes to trees, but I guess in this case they tied the oracles. The tree branches covered in oracles was a pretty sight. There were also other things which could be purchased to enhance one’s luck in studies or love. Overall, this was an interesting experience :)

I’ve started to go here every New Year’s, usually around 1:30 am. It’s a bit crowded, but the line moves. It’s a nice tradition, or cultural thing to do. You will usually wash/​purify your hands, then go up to bell and give it a good shake. Shortly after you give an offering to the temple and the priest will then bless you. After is when you wait in line for your omamoris (amulets), and omikuji (25 cents). Also if you are of age drink the blessed sake. ;)
Omamoris are amulets for luck or protection. Although, I purchase mine usually at New Years, and giving them my old ones. They are available year round. I usually get one for my car, and a personal one. I also get one for a happy home for my family: D Sometimes I will go there other times to get an omamori for a friend who is expecting a baby for safe delivery. :)
Omikujis are fortune papers. They range from excellent to very bad. Don’t worry if you get a bad or a «meh» one. If you don’t like it, then tie it on the tree. The priest will pray for your fortune to change. :D It’s just fun thing to get, and it’s 25 cents, it’s also interesting to read. It’s from Japan, and you can tell that the translations aren’t the best, but amusing!

A Shinto shrine located just past Queen Emma’s Summer Palace on the Pali Highway. It is modest, but appreciated. A place to offer respect and appreciation to all Kami… the natural forces of heaven and earth. It is considered a sacred place. Please be respectful if you visit.

I’ve come here all the time for New Year’s Day when I was a kid… more for tradition than for religious purposes. Being a Christian, my mom hates that we come here but for my dad’s sake, she puts up with it. We’ve been doing this since forever and well, she can’t say no because listening to my dad grumble is totally not worth it. This year was the least crowded I’d ever seen it whether it be because there’s more competition as my mom says or because we went earlier than we normally do. We actually were able to park in the temple parking lot which is helpful when you have a baby in tow! We got our oomomori, rang the gong, and got blessed. We forgot our old oomomori things but oh well. It seems that everything is going up in price. Also, I couldn’t get my fortune thing to be excellent until like 6 fortunes later. Bah! Oh well… they all got tied to the tree. My husband, dad, son, and mom all got very good or better. I got a very good the first time but I don’t settle. Until next year… happy 2011 :)

I’ve been going to this temple ever since small kid time. (^___^)/
This year, my family and I went a little late on New Years Day… around 3pm — 4pm… and it was crowded! It’s okay though… I washed my hands, prayed and got «Find a Partner» omamori ($ 8)! LoL. I hope it works…