Harriet Natsuyama said she can run her fingers along the Japa­nese characters etched into decades-old gravestones at the Moiliili Japa­nese Cemetery and know whether her grandfather’s hands worked to carve them.

"I use the finger, running it through the carving, the letters," she said. "It’s like, ‘Ah, I can feel my grandfather’s work here.’"

Natsuyama’s grandfather crafted dozens of headstones in the cemetery in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s — including his own, she said.

Natsuyama, a locally born and raised astrophysicist who has conducted archaeological and physics research in Japan, said her curiosity with the more-than-century-old cemetery on Kui­lei Street began when she started cataloging her grandfather’s work in a small picture book.

Now she has joined with local artist Laura Ruby to create an extensive written record of the thousands of people buried in the 3-acre cemetery. The two recently were awarded a $1,000 grant from the Oahu Awesome Foundation to begin a restoration and beautification project along the front end of the cemetery.

"This is a huge chunk of the (Moiliili) community," Ruby said. "It’s really a lot (of land), and the stones are absolutely beautiful."

Ruby and Natsuyama spent Saturday working alongside a group of about 20 or 30 volunteers, and the women came out again Sunday with a few more people to work on clearing debris and pouring concrete for a new 400-foot-long, 2-foot-tall bluestone wall.

"The people coming out here (are) people we’ve never met before, saying, ‘I want to help,’ so that’s what’s really nice," Natsu­yama said.

The new wall, which allows the community to see into the cemetery — packed with intricate headstones and large family burial plots — is replacing the previous chain-link fence, which had tattered, dingy white plastic strips woven between the links.

In addition to moving rocks for the new wall, Natsu­yama said, volunteers collected more than a large metal trash bin full of debris and garbage, including a Christmas tree and car seat.

"We hope that this will encourage people to take better care of this place," she said.

The women also want to add a wrought iron archway to the entrance with the words "Moiliili Japa­nese Cemetery" at the top and plant some donated plumeria trees for shade.

"It’s kind of giving it another lease on life," Natsu­yama said.

Laura Phillipson, an Awesome Foundation member who helped award Natsu­yama and Ruby the grant, volunteered her time Sunday.

"We just thought it was a great idea that the community came together to preserve this little spot," she said. "I mean, in the middle of all these high-rises … there’s just so much history here."

Phillipson said that the local chapter of the Awesome Foundation meets once a month to give away a $1,000 grant to a community group, and 10 women each donate $100 a month to fund the grant.

Ruby and Natsuyama hope to have the cemetery added to the state’s list of historical sites and eventually the National Register of Historic Places. Having federal funds available for maintenance and upkeep would be key, Ruby said.

"I didn’t know how expensive (the stones to construct the wall) were," Natsu­yama said. "So if people could help us, that would be wonderful."