Buddhism Comes to Seattle and King County

Ronald E. Magden


The temple bell resounds
boldly
striking new horizons

This is an excerpt from our history book "Mukashi Mukashi:  Long, Long Ago" and will be published in the Pacific Northwest Historian Guild's book "More Voices: New Stories" in commemoration of Washington State's sesquicentennial.

1. Introduction

The year 2001 marks the centennial of the founding of the Seattle Buddhist Mission. The creation of a missionary endeavor in the Pacific Northwest was but a brief interlude in the 2,500-year history of the religion founded by Gautama Siddhartha. Buddhism had spread eastward from its birthplace in India to China and Korea, reaching Japan 1,100 years after the Buddha's time. There Buddhism gradually became an integral part of Japanese culture. It would be another 800 years before Buddhism made the next great leap eastward across the vast Pacific Ocean. The first tiny stirrings came to Seattle in 1896 with the ministrations of a young Japanese immigrant who felt an obligation to do whatever he could in this new land to honor and observe the teachings of the Buddha.

2. The Founders

Twenty-three-year-old Jiro Iwamura stepped off the ship Annedale in Seattle on August 22, 1896. Iwamura was adventurous, physically strong, and inwardly spiritual. He had come to America to earn enough money to go back to Japan and buy farmland. Iwamura found work selling rice cakes to fellow countrymen working in Puget Sound logging camps.'

Since Seattle had no Buddhist minister, Iwamura took it upon himself to conduct memorial services for Japanese who died from sicknesses and accidents. After performing the tribute he would send a consoling letter and the burial photograph to the bereaved family in Japan. After two years the task of tending to the spiritual needs of Japanese immigrants threatened to overwhelm him. Iwamura wrote a plaintive letter to the Jodo Shinshu Nishi Hongwanji (True Pure Land Sect) headquarters in Kyoto, Japan, asking that a missionary be sent to Seattle. Instead the Pure Land Sect ministers at Nishi Hongwanji in Kyoto sent missionaries to San Francisco where immigrants had established a Young Men's Buddhist Association (YMBA) to provide a wholesome place for young Japanese to live.

During the summer of 1900 Nishi Hongwanji sent an unofficial minister to assess the situation in Western Washington. Reverend Shodo Hatano toiled alongside cannery workers in Blame, Washington, awaiting the end of the salmon processing season before moving to Seattle. One of Hatano's co-workers, Tatsujiro Akiyoshi, gave a first-hand account of Hatano's intent in his memoirs:

There were about fifty Japanese with me. One of them was a Mr. Hatano from Yokohama, and he was in reality an ordained priest of Buddhism. He was my roommate in the camp at the cannery. One night he told me, 'Akiyoshi-san, what do you think of the idea of starting a Buddhist Church in Seattle when we get back there?' I thought the idea was great, and I told him so.

During the fall of 1900, Akiyoshi and Hatano traveled to Seattle's Skid Road. Here they gathered signatures in support of a Buddhist mission. In their rounds throughout Japantown, Nihonmachi, Akiyoshi and Hatano met Jiro Iwamura. These three recruited six more willing helpers: Chojiro Fujii, Mataichi Kinomoto, Yasutaro Masuda, Konai Miyamoto, Ushitaro Ota, and Toyojiro Otani. These nine enterprising men, all businessmen in their early twenties, are recognized as the founders of the Seattle mission. They sent a petition with 48 names in February 1901 to Kyoto asking for a permanent minister as soon as possible.

On November 1, 1901, Reverend Kakuryo Nishijima, the co-founder of the San Francisco Buddhist Mission, came to Seattle to establish a Pacific Northwest (YMBA) branch. Nishijima began spending his evenings in a room above Tsukuno's Chinese noodle shop, conferring with the nine founders. They wasted little time. On November 15 this small group adopted a constitution, established bylaws, and elected officers. Toyojiro Otani was installed as acting YMBA president and Jiro Iwamura as secretary-treasurer. Chojiro Fujii, Mataichi Kinamoto, the Masuda brothers, and Konai Miyamoto comprised the board of directors. During the next four weeks Nishijima accompanied the founders to the shops of local merchants, soliciting financial pledges for the support of a mission house and dormitory.

On December 15, 1901, Reverend Nishijima presided over the first general session of the Seattle YMBA. The Jodo Shinshu minister announced that Shodo Hatano would serve as the acting minister until the mother church in Kyoto, Nishi Hongwanji, sent a full-time missionary. At the conclusion of the meeting over 200 Issei, first generation Japanese, enthusiastically signed financial pledges to support the missionary house and a "social center." Akiyoshi caught the spirit of the inaugural meeting:

Needless to say, our first meeting was a tremendous success. Everyone was enthusiastic. It was decided we would meet regularly on the second floor above the noodle shop on the corner of Main and Maynard.

Hatano and Iwamura quickly rented a modest two-story frame house at 624 Main Street for $50 a month. They made a conscious decision to locate in the heart of Nihonmachi, even though the converted dwelling was very small for their pruposes. Upstairs, dormitory manager Iwamura strove to maintain "good conduct" in three rooms stuffed with 30 rack beds. Downstairs, Reverend Hatano delivered sermons in a small, bare living room used as the Hondo (the main worship hall). On three walls an artist-member painted lotuses. On the fourth wall Hatano hung a picture scroll inscribed with the six characters Namuamidabutsu (I take refuge in the Amida Buddha). The cramped facilities spurred the membership to expedite plans to build a new temple.

Reverend Shodo Liatano adopted the Christian Sunday as the religious observance day. He delivered the Bukkyo Kowa (sermon) at 8 p.m. on Sunday evenings for the convenience of the Issei merchants who closed their stores at 7:30 p.m. The Sangha (congregation) began each service with the chanting of the Shoshinge sutra. Hatano also instituted Doyo Kai, a Saturday Club, that met once a month at 8:30 p.m. Members discussed the principles of the Pure Land Sect, followed by a review of current events. Two members gave self-improvement speeches. Then the agenda turned to entertainment. Members told jokes to vigorous applause from their peers. Others recited poems or sang old songs. Throughout the proceedings the men helped themselves to tea and confections.

3. The First Buddhist Minister

Seattle's first Buddhist missionary, Reverend Gendo Nakai, arrived on July 2, 1902. A graduate of the Buddhist University in Tokyo the previous year, the 28-year-old Reverend Nakai possessed "the character of uprightness and enthusiasm," but suffered from frail health.9 Two years before Reverend Nakai arrived, 2,990 Japanese lived in Seattle. Four huge hotels on Jackson Street sheltered 2,430 Nikkei railroad and sawmill workers. Another 560 day-laborers and merchants were scattered over 31 blocks south of Yesler in the area known as Chinatown.'0 Between 1887 and 1902, the number of Japanese restaurants and hotels operating in Chinatown mushroomed from 2 to 162.11 Japanese immigrants shared the district with hundreds of Black, Chinese, Greek, Italian, Russian, and Finnish bachelors.'2 The diverse populace acquired a colorful reputation due in part to the inaction of the Seattle police, who let this section of the city remain "wide-open." Opium dens, rough-hewn taverns, and houses of prostitution operated brazenly day and night. For those in the Japanese community that meant gang leaders such as George Gonda had a free hand. During the first decade of the twentieth century, Gonda and his underlings extorted at will from the drug peddlers, prostitutes, and honest merchants alike.'

Gonda continued to operate boldly, but Tatsujiro Akiyoshi, a YMBA founder, mounted an opposition with equal audacity. Akiyoshi had become the secretary of the anti-crime Humane Society at its inception in 1907. Baptist, Buddhist, Methodist, Presbyterian, and YMCA congregations, as well as the newly formed Seattle Japanese IBusinessmen's] Association, Nihonjinkai, took to the streets in a then seemingly hopeless effort to dissuade lumber handlers and railroaders from "undesirable moral development," that is, from patronizing saloons and prostitution houses. The religious groups wanted to offer wholesome alternatives, but their dormitories accommodated only 300, leaving 2,000 men easy prey to the "dens of iniquity."

From the day that he arrived in Seattle until he left Reverend Nakai was intensely active spiritually. His saddest duty was to preside over hundreds of Issei memorial services. Many were killed on the job, died from epidemics, or during childbirth. The Japanese deathrate in Seattle alone averaged 26 every year from 1903 through 1907.'~ Only one doctor, Masahige Matsuura, attended the townspeople.'6 And no matter where a Buddhist immigrant expired--Idaho, Montana, British Columbia, Oregon, or Washington--Reverend Nakaj went there to perform the services. Once a year the Seattle Buddhist minister and mission members made the rounds of Puget Sound cemeteries to perform memorial services and clean the gravesites.'

Reverend Nakai succeeded in whirlwind fashion in organizing Buddhists in Portland, Oregon. After listening to Nakai's sermon on August 10, 1903, the Oregonians vowed to form a Young Men's Buddhist Association the next day. That evening the Sangha transformed a rented store into the sixth Buddhist mission on the Pacific Coast. The first act of the Portland YMBA was to send a formal request to Bishop Hon for a full-time missionary. Three months later Reverend Shozui Wakabayashi was installed by Reverend Nakai as Portland's first Buddhist minister.'

In Seattle Reverend Nakai did what he liked most, teaching English to Japanese schoolboys in the afternoon and older immigrants in the night school. The education program was formally established on January 18, 1903, with the hiring of Selma Anderson. Fluent in six Asian and European languages, Anderson had taught English to Chinese and Japanese immigrants in a Portland Methodist Church. She had intended to convert her students to Christianity, but the peace of mind exhibited by her students caused Anderson to adopt Buddhism. When asked by a reporter how she would answer the question, "Which one is the right faith?" she answered:

When the question is put to me in that manner, I never say that one faith is superior to another. I would first teach them to be pure and clean. When they attain to that state they may select their own religion without danger of making an error.'

For his part Reverend Nakai emphasized in his monthly publication, The Teachings of Buddha, that history proved Christianity and Buddhism were compatible. For 2,000 years the two religions had exchanged ideas in ancient Persia as they traded with each other. The spirit of that religious exchange continued in full flower as an integral part of the Seattle-Japanese trade:

In recent years commerce and trade between the United States and our country have flourished. Seattle has made giant strides and is prospering as a center of trade. Especially now that the Orient has become peaceful, it is our national destiny that more and more people should emigrate and it is clearer than anything that this area is ideal as a colony for our countrymen.

The dream of Reverend Nakai and the founders of the mission to erect a Seattle mission and adjoining dormitory eluded them at every turn until December 20, 1903. On that auspicious day, Reverend Nakai met with the two most prosperous Issei merchants, Masajiro Furuya and Kuranosuke Hirade. Accompanying the Buddhist minister were YMBA founders Chojiro Fujii, Jiro Iwamura, Yasutaro Masuda, Ushitaro Ota, and Toyojiro Otani. Four new YMBA members, businessmen Tomejiro Kaneko, "Joe" Kawano, Shu Sakamoto, and Sensuke Shimamura attended as alternate committee members. Reverend Nakai conducted a short service. Then the group discussed how to raise enough money to purchase land and erect a Jodo Shinshu mission. All except Mr. Hirade agreed to serve on a soliciting committee to raise funds. Yasutaro Masuda consented to take Hirade's place. Committee members set a goal of $10,000 to pay for the land and to construct the mission.

Three months later the YMBA membership authorized the formation of a Construction Committee. Masajiro Furuya, Toyojiro Otani, and Ushitaro Ota explored land sites south of Yesler Avenue. However, the Russo-Japanese War began on February 8, 1904, ending any chance of a major financial campaign to build the mission. The merchants bought Imperial war bonds, donated cash to the Japanese Red Cross, and paid ship passage for young Issei called home to serve in the Imperial Army or Navy. The Imperial Army drafted Six YMBA members, including Jiro Iwamura. Following the Sunday sermon on October 9, there was a send-off party.

Reverend Nakai thanked the six draftees for going to war to serve their country and expressed his devout wish that they survive the struggle. One by one, the other YMBA members said goodbye to the draftees. Speaking on behalf of the conscripted, Iwamura said that they had served in the military before and would do it all over again for their country. Following Iwamura's speech everyone stood and sang the national anthem Kimigayo. Then J. Matsumi led banzaj cheers for the emperor, the army, the navy, and the draftees. Iwamura offered banzai cheers for the Buddhist Mission. The auspicious occasion ended in a thunderous applause for the six who were regarded as war heroes-to-be.

Jiro Iwamura was embarrassed being treated as a war hero before he had even boarded the ship to Japan. In Japan, Iwamura served as a reservist behind the lines. He wrote to the Seattle mission that he was "especially sorry" that he had not seen combat. There was no need to give him a hero's welcome on his return to Seattle. The courtship of his future wife caused Iwamura to miss the greatest Nihonmachi celebration in Seattle's history. Three thousand Seattle Japanese greeted Baron Jutaro Komura, the Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs, as he passed through Seattle on his triumphal way to the Portsmouth Peace Conference. Reverend Nakai predicted peace would increase trade between Japan and the United States.

As soon as the war was over, Reverend Nakai and the Soliciting Committee renewed their campaign to erect a mission. The head minister turned over the afternoon English language sessions to Selma Anderson so that he could spend more time calling on Japanese in the outlying areas. Auburn, Fife, and Tacoma responded with donations ranging from $10 to $100. In Dawson City, Northwest Territories, Canada, Hisataro Kobayashi collected and sent $100. Seitaro Nonaka canvassed the mill workers at Mukilteo and Shoichi Kawano solicited at Bellingham canneries. Small individual donations came from Startup, Skykomish, and Leavenworth. By May 1, 1906, over 400 subscriptions totalling $2,789 had been received for constructing a Seattle Buddhist mission.

During the campaign to raise funds, Reverend Nakai and Chojiro Fujil met in the Mutual Life Building with two trusted Caucasians, Selma Anderson and lawyer Charles P. Rowland. The purpose of the meeting was to incorporate the Seattle Buddhist Mission Society in order to "purchase, hold, mortgage, sell and convey real estate and personal property." Capital stock was set at $10,000. Since the Washington State Constitution forbade aliens from owning a majority of a corporation's stock, Rowland and Anderson held 120 shares worth $6,000 while Nakai and Fujii owned SO shares worth $4,000. The term of existence of the Society was set at 50 years. Reverend Nakai was elected president and treasurer, Selma Anderson vice-president and Chojiro Fujii secretary.

The week after incorporation papers had been filed, Toyojiro Otani, director of the Construction Committee, announced to the YMBA membership that his group had found a large vacant lot at 10th Avenue South and Main Street priced at $4,500.

The site was four blocks east of the center of Nihon machi. The owner, William Bolt, still owed $2,450 for the lot. After discussion, YMBA members agreed to assume Holt's mortgage and buy out his equity in the property.33 The Construction Committee hired Saunders & Lawton Architects for $280 to design a two-story 56-foot by 78-foot building to house the mission, which included a 4O-person dormitory and recreational space.

According to the master plan, the main floor would consist of the minister's office, the Hondo, the library, and classrooms. The second floor would house the dormitory, four bathrooms, additional classroom space, and meeting rooms. The daylight basement would be divided into a kitchen, dining room, auditorium-gymnasium, and classrooms. Over the front entrance to the building, Lawton & Saunders conceived a sweeping Oriental arch supported by two large columns. The architects estimated the construction cost at $9,760. Charles Rowland signed a contract with the Buddhist Mission Society to supervise the building of the mission for ten percent of the total cost of the labor, material, and fixtures.

During a series of ceremonies in the spring of 1907, the Soliciting Committee collected cash and pledges totaling $15,000. Benefactors received "special status" in future visits to the Hiunkaku and its interior in the Kyoto Nishihonwanji temple. Upon the assurance of the Solicitation Committee that they could raise an additional $5,000, the Construction Committee directed the architects to finish the daylight basement with plastered partitions and bathroom facilities to accommodate seventeen people. Tragically, Reverend Nakai's eyes suddenly became inflamed from an infection. Moreover, he had been suffering for months with a series of chest colds. Seattle's first Buddhist minister returned to Japan for medical treatment on October 29, 1907. Doctors saved Reverend Nakai's vision, but his chest troubles continued.

Assistant minister Ehan Fujieda took over the head minister's duties until the Nishi Hongwanji dispatched a replacement. Although he had labored to the point of physical exhaustion, Reverend Nakai had not accomplished his principal aims. The new mission building remained unfinished. And he was frustrated in his efforts to organize a women's club, the Fujinkai. When the first minister asked all of the wives to meet, only the elderly Ichi Deguchi, Mary Hasegawa, Chiyo Iwami, and Momo Kawamura had responded. The four women faithfully spent hours preparing the weekly decorations and offerings for the front of the altar.4° And they frequently accompanied Reverend Nakai to hospitals to visit the sick. Younger Issei wives were too busy raising children and helping spouses operate their businesses.

4. Reverend Hoshin Fujii

First Minister Nakai's replacement, Reverend Hoshin Fujii, arrived in Seattle on May 28, 1908. The 30-year-old missionary was strong and energetic, spoke and wrote English fluently, and enjoyed teaching and working with people.42 Reverend Fujii would need all of these attributes; he faced incredible challenges. Members of two missions, one just south of Seattle in Auburn and the other in Vancouver, British Columbia, called on Reverend Fujii during his first week to ask for immediate help in raising funds to construct temples. Orillia, Spokane, Pasco, and Yakima petitioners asked him to convey to the Nishi Hongwanji their urgent need for missionaries. Reverend Fujii also would have to teach the Dharma at a dozen Howakai located in isolated areas around the state.

Reverend Fujii's situation was made worse when assistant minister Ehan tj4eda ~IIX returned to Kyoto several days after Fujii arrived in Seattle. For the next four years Reverend Fujii was the only Buddhist clergyman to care for the religious welfare of 2,000 Buddhists in Washington State and British Columbia."

All of this spiritual activity was supported by the greatest Japanese immigration wave in American history. Nowhere in the Pacific Northwest was this population boom more evident than in Seattle. Since 1903, over 1,000 Issei had been settling annually in the Queen City, making it the population center of Buddhism in the Pacific Northwest. In the prosperous sections on Main and Jackson streets, the number of businesses had more than doubled in five years, from 223 in 1903 to 431 in 1908.~~ By mid-1910 the shops served 4,982 Japanese bachelors, 409 couples and 327 children. The presence of 12 doctors and 4 midwives signaled that the change of Nihonmachi from a society made up basically of migratory, single men to a stable community of families was well underway."

The massive immigration wave had subsided after February 1908, as a result of the infamous Gentlemen's Agreement. In an exchange of diplomatic notes with the United States, Japan agreed to voluntarily cease issuing passports to workers. Wives, students and ministers would, however, as in the past, be allowed to immigrate.

The Gentlemen's Agreement accelerated the number of "picture brides" disembarking at Washington State ports. During Reverend Nakai's five years in Seattle, only 190 Japanese brides had landed. During Reverend Fujii's 14-year ministry he officiated at the wedding of over 700 "boat brides."48 lie performed the greatest number of marriages during 1910. That year he united 195 couples.

Reverend Fujii's appointment books indicate he carefully balanced the amount of time spent on weddings with activities such as soliciting funds to complete the Seattle temple construction. In four months the new minister and "100 valiant" members of the Sangha collected $5,000 pledged, but still outstanding.

On October 1, 1908, Reverend Fujii informed contract supervisor Rowland that work on the first and second floors of the new Buddhist Temple building had been completed to his satisfaction. Schoolboys moved into the new dormitory on the second floor and Reverend Fujii occupied quarters on the first floor. The Japanese Language School also moved into the new classrooms with the understanding that it would eventually construct its own building.

The temple board of directors asked Reverend Fujii to schedule the formal dedication of the new building for Sunday, November 15, 1908. Their request expressed the hope that in this way the Seattle YMBA founders would be remembered forever. The new minister readily agreed to hold the dedication on founders' day. He announced that when he was leaving Japan in 1908, his friend and fellow minister, Shaku Daishin, had entrusted him with a very old statue of the baby Buddha, The little Buddha was a gift to be placed on the shrine of the temple. In his letter of conveyance, Daishin wrote:

I hear that Buddhism has first spread on the West Coast of the United States. Seattle has the strongest mission, and it is flourishing very vigorously. This reflects the trend of Buddhism to advance Eastward filling up America and then crossing the Atlantic Ocean.

When the long awaited dedication day dawned, Buddhist ministers Hoshin Fujii, Senju S. Sasaki of Vancouver, British Columbia, and Shozui Wakabayashi of Portland, Oregon, carried the gift of Shaku Daishin from the old mission to the new temple. After the a.L~tt Amida statue was placed on the shrine, the Sangha sang praises of the Buddha. Jiro Iwamura spoke for the seven founders who saw their dream come true. There was ample evidence in the dedication proceedings of the Japanese community's eagerness to cement its connection to its adopted home. In his congratulatory address, Reverend Fujii praised the local Japanese for their success in building a new community that was acceptable by the vast majority of Caucasians. Consul General Tokichi Tanaka, spoke of enhancing economic cooperation between Japan and America.

5. Conclusion

The dedication of the Seattle Temple marked the end of the missionary era. On that November 15th, the official name of the church was changed from the Seattle Buddhist Mission to the Seattle Temple of the Hompa Hongwanji. During the next 32 years the Sangha grew to over 1,000 members. The Buddhist women organized into an association, the Fujinkai, and the Nisei, that is, the second generation, established their own organization, the Lotus Seinenkai. Together the three groups contributed mightily to the spiritual needs of Nihonmachj. And in the Great Depression they met the social welfare needs of the community. When the City of Seattle bought the church property in 1940 to use as a part of the Yesler Terrace Housing Project, the Sangha built a new structure that was barely opened before the Buddhists were exiled to concentration camps in Idaho.

To Be Finished...




1. 'The main source for early Buddhist history in America is Kakuryo Nishijima, editor, The Light of Dharma A Religious Magazine Devoted to the TEACHINGS OF BUDDHA Published Bimonthly Buddha Year 2444 Buddhist Mission, 807 Polk Street, San Francisco, California, U. S. A. April 1901-August 1906. Hereafter cited as Nishijima. For Puget Sound area early Buddhist history see The Teachings of Buddha. Issued Monthly by the Y.MB.A. 1020 Main Street, Seattle Washington, Gendo Nakai, editor, January 1906-September 1927 Translated by John Hodge, Ph. D. Hereafter cited as Nakai. A standard secondary account for American Buddhist history is Rick Fields, How the Swans Came to the Lake A Narrative History of Buddhism in America, Third Edition, Revised and Updated, Shambhala, Boston & London, 1992. Hereafter cited as Fields. For the life of Jiro Iwamura see Interview by Ellen Hale of Katsuzo Iwamura, February 4, 1991. Hereafter cited as K. Iwamura. Katsuzo was the son of Jiro Iwamura. Also see Interview by Ronald Magden of Yoshiye Iwamura, January 10, 2000. Yoshiye Iwamura was the wife of Katsuzo.

Other references include:
2. K Iwamura.
3. Rihei Akiyoshi, "My Life Story," Interview by Takaye Tsurui, Asian Resources, vol I, No. 2 1974, 27. Hereafter cited as Akiyoshi.
4. lbid. pp. 27-28. Interview by the Seattle Buddhist Church Archive Committee of Peggy M. Kinomoto Mitchell, July 9, 1990.
5. Nishijima, February 1902, p. 28. Anonymous, Brief History of the Seattle Buddhist Church 1901-1951, pp. 1-2. Fields, pp. 143-145
6. Akiyoshi, p. 28. Nishijima, June 1902, p. 73.
7. Anonymous, An Outline of the Development of the Church, Seattle: Translated by John Hodge, 2001
8. Nakai, January 1906
9. Nishijima, August 1902, p. 108.
10. Twelfth Census of the United States Part of Seattle City, April 1910. Hereafter cited as 1910 Federal Census.
11. Seattle City Directory, 1887. Seattle City Directory, 1902. Kazuo Ito, Issei A History of Japanese Immigrants to the United States, Section on Maps of Old Japanese Districts. Seattle, Washington Translated by Shinichiro Nakamura and Jean S. Gerard. Hereafter cited as Ito. Yoshito Fujii, "Study of the Early Japanese Immigrants of the Seattle Area, Their Organizations and Businesses, 1890-1930." Subtitled Section on Successful, Outstanding Leaders in Seattle before 1905. Hereafter cited as Y. Fujii.
12. Twelfth Census of the United States Part of Seattle City, April 1910.
13. Seattle Times, September 9, 14, 17, 27,30, 1902; May 30 and September 11, 1903; and March 9, 1904. All newspaper citations are courtesy of John R. Litz.
14. Ibid., December 5, 1907.
15. John R. Litz, "Japanese Deaths Reported to King County Washington Health Department 1889-1907."
16. Fujii.
17. Seattle Betsuin 75th Anniversary 1901-1976, p. 21.
18. A History of Eighty Years of the Oregon Buddhist Church 1903-1 983, p. 19. Courtesy of Albert Abe.
19. Seattle Post_Intelligencer, March 29, 1908.
20. Nakai, January 1906. Reverend Nakai revised the January 1 sermon. He delivered a revised version of the speech, "The Christianized Life of the Buddha," on August 11, 1906, to the Saturday Club.
21. Old Buddhist Mission Society Corporation RecordBook, December 20, 1903. Hereafter cited as BMS Record Book. Also see Seattle Post-Intelligencer, November 9, 1905.
22. BMS Record Book, December 20, 1903.
23. Nakai May 1904.
24. Nakai, November 1904.
25. Ibid
26. Jiro Iwamura, "Letter from Japan after the Japanese-Russian War" in Nakai, March
1906.
27. Seattle Times, July 9, 1905
28. Nakai, August 1905.
29. Ibid., March 1906
30. Ihid.
31. Ibid. June 1906.
32. BMS Record Book, January 27, 1900.
33. Ibid., Warranty Deed #379213.
34. Ibid., February 10, 1908, Trustee Meeting Minutes
35. Saunders & Lawton, Architects, "Specification for A Two-Story and Basement Frame
Building to be Erected at 1018 Main Street, Seattle, Washington, for the Buddhist
Mission Society." Undated.
36. BMS Record Book. Contract between the Buddhist Mission Society and Charles P.
Rowland, October 1, 1907.
37. Nakai, May 1906
38. Hokubei Kaikyo Enka Koshi. Translated by John Hodge, p. 6. Hereafter cited as
Hokubei.
39. Seattle Betsuin 75th Anniversary 1901-1976, p. 23.
40. Nakai, May 1906.
41. Ibid., July 1906.
42. Seattle Post-Inteiigencer, June 13, 1909.
43. Hoshin Fujii 1908 Appointment Book.
44. Hokubei, p. 7.
45. Japanese Association of the Pacific Northwest, Japanese Immigration. An Exposition
of Its Real Status, pp. 5-9.
46. Twelfth Census of the United States Part of Seattle City, April 1910.
47. U S. Foreign Relations, 2 (1924): 338-373.
48. JohnR. Litz, "Index to King County Marriage License Register, Volume 1-7, March 4,
1889, to June 30, 1920. Japanese Names."
49. Ibid.
50. Hoshin Fujii 1908 Appointment Book.
51. Hokubei, p. 5.
52. BMS Record Book, October 1, 1908.
53. Hoshin Fujii 1908 Appointment Book.
54. Statement of Donation. Year of 1907. To Seattle Buddhist Temple One Bronze Statue
by Shaku Daishin.
55. Seattle Times, November 19, 1908.
56. Ellen Hale, compiler, Buddhist Church Minister Files. Hoshin Fujii.