Pagoda added to historic register
By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer
The scenic pullout on the Pali Highway overlooking the Japanese pagoda that rises above a Nu'uanu cemetery has been a popular destination for tourists and residents for decades.
But the building that everyone stops to see is more than a mere copy of a Buddhist temple — it has become a historic site in its own right after being added to the Hawai'i Register of Historic Places.
The designation last week by the Hawai'i Historic Places Review Board also includes the cemetery's Kinkaku-ji Temple and the Mirror Gardens, collectively called the Kyoto Gardens, and dictates that any major renovations to the buildings are subject to state review.
That all but guarantees the pagoda's survival for a group of families that owns niches and plots at the financially troubled cemetery and have been locked in a fight to save the landmark structure.
"Once the pagoda is on the register it is a building that cannot be destroyed," said Friends of Honolulu Memorial Park member Ann Ono. "Now we can apply for national grants as being a historical place. If we get the funding through the grants, it will help restore the pagoda."
Meanwhile, the Friends' efforts to restore operations at the cemetery are proceeding swiftly since the group acquired majority ownership. The group is still reorganizing the management of the cemetery and hopes to resume interments and other activities by the end of the year.
The future of the pagoda looked dim when the Richards family, then owners of Honolulu Memorial Park, which includes the Kyoto Gardens, filed for bankruptcy last year. They announced a plan to tear down the pagoda at a cost of $200,000 rather than spending an estimated $1 million to repair the
37-year-old structure.
Saving the pagoda became a rallying cry for those who own niches — burial places in essence — inside. Being interred in or near a pagoda holds tremendous significance for those of the Buddhist faith, and the battle has held great personal, cultural and religious significance for the Friends.
More than a year of protests and legal maneuvering followed.
After the bankruptcy case was dismissed by the court in September, the Richards family turned over its interest in the cemetery to the nonprofit Friends group, a collection of mostly retirees who have loved ones buried or inurned at the cemetery.
Attorney Nils Katahara, whose family owns 10 percent of the business, has not donated his shares to the new nonprofit, saying he first wants membership rules redefined and a vote taken by the members on the future of the pagoda.
But the Friends say they are moving forward with or without Katahara's shares.
The water and electricity are back on after being turned off in September when the Richards family ceased formal operations and stopped paying the bills, but there is still no money to pay maintenance crews. Families are taking care of their own grave sites, and volunteers clean up common areas on weekends.
The 116-foot pagoda, erected in 1966 as a replica of the Sanju Pagoda in Nara, Japan, houses niches for urns and has been in disrepair for more than 20 years.
David Scott, executive director of the Historic Hawai'i Foundation, testified in support of the nomination and said although the site is not 50 years old, a usual benchmark for historic recognition, the pagoda and the entire Kyoto Gardens section of the memorial park deserve the designation.
"Fifty years old is sort of the standard rule of thumb threshold," Scott said. "But structures of exceptional worth, even ones that are threatened, are taken into consideration. It has a lot of reasons for being exceptional."
The pagoda is significant because of its setting, its unique construction and its connection to the Japanese-American population of Hawai'i that became a vital economic force in the state after World War II, according to historic nomination papers.
The pagoda is modeled after a pagoda on the grounds of the Minami Hoke-ji Temple in Nara built in the Momoyama Periot (1571-1602).
Architect Lorraine Palumbo, who specializes in Japanese temples and pagodas, recently said she inspected the pagoda and found that the damage is mostly to the roof and concrete rafters. Palumbo said it is the largest of three pagodas in the United States and the only concrete pagoda in existence.
Palumbo said wood molds were made in Japan and brought to Hawai'i and the pagoda was built here. All the pieces are authentically done using traditional craftsmanship, she said.
The pagoda has suffered from a general lack of long-term maintenance for years, according to the nomination papers, the roof has leaked, damaging the concrete structure and causing the supporting steel structure to rust in some areas.
The scenic stop area was built along the Pali Highway to take advantage of the view of the pagoda soon after construction was completed in 1966.
Scott said placing the structure on the historic register will help with fund-raising activities, including federal transportation money that has been used in other states to preserve buildings such as old railway depots.
"I would argue that the pagoda, with its scenic pull-off to look at it, would be a highway enhancement and some federal money could be used to restore it," Scott said. "The pagoda tells the story of our multicultural Hawai'i. It is just wonderful."
Reach James Gonser at jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2431.
