John Clark spoke to my Downtown Exchange Club recently about the warning markers that Japanese fishermen placed around Oahu in the 1930s where others had been killed while fishing. It’s an interesting story and the subject of his seventh book, "Guardian of the Sea: Jizo in Hawaii."
Clark was a lifeguard at Sandy Beach from 1970 until 1972. The job inspired him to write his first book, "Beaches of Oahu," which was published by the University of Hawaii Press in 1977.
"Near Sandy Beach and the Halona Blowhole, there’s a point called Bamboo Ridge," Clark says. "It was named for the bamboo fishing poles the fishermen used. On top of the ridge there’s a large boulder about 5 feet tall. It sits on a granite pedestal and has a figure carved into it, a Buddhist deity called Jizo.
"I had never seen it before I was a lifeguard, so I decided to do some research to find out what the statue was all about and who put it there."
People told John that before the carved boulder, there had been a statue that had been brought from Japan to protect local fishermen. They said the statue had been vandalized so often that some fishermen finally removed it and put up the carving. Jizo is known in Japan primarily as a protector of travelers and a guardian of children.
"Jizo is the Buddhist deity you see statues of on Buddhist temple grounds, on streets, on the shoreline, in the mountains, anywhere you might travel that’s dangerous," Clark says.
"He’s always portrayed as a monk who’s dressed very simply. He has a shaved head, he’s either barefoot or wears sandals, and usually in his right hand he carries a ‘shakujo,’ a staff with six rings. In his left hand he holds a ‘mani,’ a jewel of enlightenment.
"In 1999 my friend Brian Funai, a fisherman, called me and said he had found the original statue. It had been moved to a Buddhist temple in Palolo Valley. The Rev. Irene Matsumoto of Palolo Kwannon Temple invited us to come and see it.
"The head and hands had been broken off. The fishermen had taken it away and replaced it with a carving in a heavy boulder. They hoped the hard rock would be harder to vandalize."
Clark learned the statue had been originally put there by first-generation Japanese immigrants, the issei, who came to Hawaii to work on pineapple and sugar plantations. They discovered fish were plentiful here, and many spent their free time catching them. They fished off rocks and beaches using homemade bamboo fishing poles.
Hundreds of Japanese fished, but many were unfamiliar with our dangerous surf conditions. Some were swept off the beaches and rocky shorelines, while others were caught in rip currents. Most were not good swimmers and many died.
Kaichi Kaya, who had founded his Kaya Fishing Supply store around 1911, organized the Honolulu Japanese Casting Club, and in 1931 members of the club launched a water safety community service project.
They started making wooden obelisks to serve as warning markers and placed them at every spot on Oahu where a fisherman had drowned.
The club members erected more than 50 of these warning signs — all on Oahu — by the time World War II started in 1941. Only two are still standing today, one at Blowhole and another at Hanauma Bay.
In November 1931 the casting club members went to Bamboo Ridge to erect a warning marker there. While they were walking on the rocky ledge to the site of a past drowning, a wave swept one of the members into the sea, where he too drowned.
"The incident devastated the club members," Clark continues. "They decided they needed to put up something stronger than a wooden obelisk. They pooled their money — $700 — and sent it to Hiroshima for a large granite statue of Jizo.
"It was shipped here and erected in September of 1932. However, from the day it was installed, it was vandalized. … The Honolulu Japanese Casting Club members finally took the statue away and decided to carve an image of Jizo in a large rock, thinking it would be harder to vandalize."
They put up the carved boulder in June 1939 on the original granite base, where it still stands today. Japanese characters on its side say "Umi Mamori Jizo," or "Ocean Protector Jizo."
Several statues of Jizo were placed in other dangerous areas on Oahu by different groups. Two were on the North Shore, one at Mokuleia near Dillingham Field and another near Turtle Beach at Laniakea. Today they stand on the grounds of the Wahiawa Ryusenji Soto Mission.
A statue of Jizo remains on the North Shore at the Haleiwa Jodo Mission. Three other statues were placed on rivers, one on Kapakahi Stream in Waipahu and two on Kaukonahua Stream in Wahiawa.
The Jodo Mission of Hawaii, along H-1 freeway near the Punahou offramp, has a Jizo in its yard. Clark said he talked to Bishop Dwight Nakamura, who was there in the 1950s. The bishop said there’s a curve in the road next to the temple, and when the freeway was built, there were many car crashes. With his own money, he ordered a Jizo and put it up in the front yard. Soon after, he says, the accidents all stopped.
So next time you drive by the Punahou offramp, don’t crash. Look for the Jizo statue. He wears a red cap and bib.
———
Bob Sigall, author of the “Companies We Keep” books, looks through old photos to tell stories each Friday of Hawaii people, places and companies. Email him at Sigall@yahoo.com.
