Over 200 People Attend Special Event
The Buddhist Temple of Salinas celebrated its centennial with a major service on Oct. 12 followed by a luncheon banquet in the gym.
BCA Bishop Rev. Marvin Harada and Supervising Minister Rev. Yushi Mukojima of the Mountain View Buddhist Temple led the special service.
Also participating in the ceremony were Rinban Rev. Gerald Sakamoto of the San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin; Rev. Etsuko Mikame of the San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin; Rev. Dennis Shinseki, recently retired Resident Minister of Salinas: Rev. Yugo Fujita from Japan and former Resident Minister; Rev. Kodo Umezu, the former Bishop; and Rev. Naomi Nakano, Resident Minister of the San Luis Obispo Buddhist Temple and the Guadalupe Buddhist Church.
Representatives from each of the Coast District temples and BCA President Steven Terusaki also attended. Other invited guests included Rev. Brian Nagata of Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai (BDK) America. and Mrs. Mieko Shindo, wife of the late Rev. Hosho Shindo, who served as Resident Minister of the Salinas temple.
The service was an elaborate affair, with the ministers making a procession into the Onajin to gagaku music. The attendees were treated to a rare spectacle held only for a special occasion. The ceremony concluded with 10 people receiving their Buddhist names in a Kieshiki ceremony conducted by Bishop Rev. Harada.
Approximately 200 people attended the luncheon. The banquet was beautifully decorated and it started with a rousing taiko performance by the Shinsho Mugen Daiko group of Monterey.
Traditional ceremonial sake cask breaking (Kagami-wari) was done and a sake toast was made.
Representatives from the City of Salinas and Monterey County read the proclamations that had been prepared for the event.
Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas and state Senator Anna Caballero sent representatives who read the proclamations prepared for the occasion.
U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren also sent a representative to read the Congressional resolution prepared for the Salinas centennial.
The attendees were treated to a catered lunch prepared by Aromas Grill, and a wine bar was set up to serve local wines.
A short slide show depicting the brief history of the Salinas temple was presented in English and Japanese. For the centennial, the temple honored its past ministers and all the members of the Buddhist Women’s Association (BWA) with a plaque to be placed in the gym conference room.
The Salinas temple was established on March 9, 1924, when a group of Issei men met at a temporary church to form the Buddhist Church of Salinas and selected its officers.
On Oct. 12, 1924, the church acquired the land that the temple currently occupies. Groundbreaking for the new temple began in November 1925, and dedication of the new temple took place in November 1926.
Salinas had a large congregation from the beginning. It quickly grew to over 300 families, with satellite churches in Monterey, Chualar and Castroville.
At its peak before World War II, the temple had three ministers, a thriving Japanese school and many children in the congregation.
Everything came to a stop during World War II because of the U.S. government’s mass removal of Japanese Americans from the West Coast into incarceration camps beginning in 1942, and few families returned immediately after the war.
The Salinas temple slowly recovered, and by the mid-1960s, there was a large infusion of Issei families that had moved to Salinas to establish a number of flower nurseries. More than 70 new families joined the temple at that time and a new Hondo building was built in 1976, followed by the new gym in 1995.
For the centennial anniversary, the temple had its Onaijin refurbished in Japan beginning in 2018, and it took a year to complete. The interior and exterior of the Hondo were repainted, and many repairs were made to the building. Considerable expense was incurred, but the temple received significant donations from the Tanimura Family Foundation and generous donations from its membership to defray most of the cost of the refurbishing work.
The Salinas temple thanks the BCA for its support for the anniversary by making President Terusaki available, and we also thank Rev. Harada for his participation. We also thank the Coast District temples — Monterey, Watsonville, San Jose, Mountain View, San Luis Obispo and Guadalupe — for participating and supporting the event.
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