Home

“Being Cared For”

By Rev. Kodo Umezu, Bishop

In January of last year, I lost two people who were very special to me. One was Mr. Haruo Seguchi of Fukuoka, Japan and the other was Mrs. Yuka Matoba of Sonoma County. They were both from my hometown and members of my home temple.

When I was 18 years old, I decided not to go to college. Instead, I planned to work at an automobile company in Tokyo. The reason was simple. Since I was the second son of the temple family, the members did not have any obligation to send me to Kyoto to study. My family wasn’t affluent and didn’t have money to send me to college. At the time, my father was hospitalized with tuberculosis and my mother was running around taking care of temple affairs and raising three children. I didn’t want to burden my family. It was then that Mr. Seguchi came to see me and scolded me. He was a local general contractor and a strong supporter of my temple. He said, “You must go to Ryukoku University in Kyoto and study the dharma.” He gave my parents a large sum of money to pay for the first year’s tuition. But he added one condition, and he said it with a smile: “Son, I want you to officiate at my funeral service.” That was in 1968. Mr. Seguchi passed into the Pure Land in January 16, 2011 at the age of 88. I was able to go home and take part in his funeral service, and express my appreciation.

The other person, Mrs. Yuka Matoba, was a member of Enmanji Buddhist Temple in Sebastopol. I met Mrs. Matoba in the 1960s, when she came to visit her relatives in my hometown. When I came to this country in 1973, she was the only person I knew in the U.S. Before I left Japan, my mother contacted Mrs. Matoba and asked her to look after me. According to Mrs. Matoba’s daughter Vickie, shortly after I was assigned to the Fresno Betsuin she had to drive her mother from Sebastopol to Fresno and back – almost 250 miles each way – just to check up on me. Mrs. Matoba was always thinking about me and praying for me. Though I very rarely visited her, she always had a big smile whenever she saw me, and always gave me jars of pickled plums to take home. She completed her life on January 12, 2011, two weeks before her 107th birthday. I was able to attend her funeral service held at the Enmanji Temple.

Throughout my life in Japan and the U.S., I have been very fortunate. Both my hometown and the Buddhist Churches of America have helped me to grow and receive nourishment from the nembutsu. For a plant to germinate, sprout, and grow, it requires innumerable favorable conditions. As it is for me, I want the BCA to be fertile ground for people to grow in the Nembutsu, today and tomorrow.

As I take on this new responsibility, I would like to ask each and every one of you to join me as a team to help create a caring sangha so that more people will receive the benefit of the dharma.

Gassho,

May 2012