Byodo-in Temple
Our next stop was in the Valley of the Temples, to see the replica of the 1000-year-old Byodo-in Temple in Uji, Japan. While the original is of course a wood timber structure, the Hawaiian replica — built in 1968 to commemorate the centennial of the first Japanese immigrants to Hawaii — is made of concrete. The surrounding gardens were designed by a Kyoto-based landscape architect named Kiichi Teoman-Sano, and may be the largest built outside of Japan. This was a quiet, peaceful place, and I was intrigued with the temple architecture. The shape of the temple resembles a bird alighting on a lake, and is one of the reasons that the original in Japan has often been known as the Phoenix Hall. According to Japanese Buddhist tradition, the mythical phoenix bird was the protector of Buddha.
Nuuanu Pali Lookout