A son saved, a temple lost: Reverend returns after fire | News, Sports, Jobs

Lahaina Hongwanji Mission Resident Minister Ai Hironaka takes his first closeup look of the burned Buddhist temple Monday morning. It was his first time back since the Aug. 8 wildfire incinerated the church and the adjacent residence where his family of six lived. — The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo

LAHAINA — Conversation in the car drifts to a stop as Rev. Ai Hironaka makes the turn onto Prison Street.

Houses flattened into white squares of ash, charred trees, burned-out cars and trucks, each with an X spray-painted on the side to let searchers know it has been checked for bodies. This is the first time Hironaka and his passengers have been back to the heart of Lahaina town since the fires of Aug. 8. As with most returnees, the devastation hits like a punch to the soul.

On the corner of Wainee Street, several houses inexplicably stand, passed over by the flames. Around them, nearly every ruin has people in white hazmat suits picking through debris. This is the first morning residents have been allowed in this zone and they are wasting no time.

Hironaka waves to a neighbor, then turns into the parking lot of Lahaina Hongwanji Mission. For the past 13 years, he has served as resident minister of the Shin Buddhist temple founded in 1904 and built in 1933. It is also the property where he and his family of six lived until they escaped the racing wildfire with little more than a car and the clothes on their backs.

Hironaka said Monday’s return to the beloved temple stirred many emotions.

Rev. Ai Hironaka tries to remain “calm and strong” as he drives through his destroyed Lahaina neighborhood Monday morning. — The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo

“I was trying to, as I see other houses, I was trying to make myself ready to see the Hongwanji,” Hironaka said. “I didn’t want to be too much emotional. Just trying to stay calm and strong.”

When he and wife, Megumi, loaded their four children and family dog into the car to escape the smoke, he did not think the fire would reach this part of town. That quickly changed when his kids shouted that the neighbors’ houses were on fire and he could see flames in his rearview mirror. The realization that the temple was in grave danger gnawed at him until he cleared town and pulled over at Puamana Park.

“I wanted to save the Buddha statue, our main object of worship,” Hironaka said. “If I lost only myself, I may have turned around, but I had to think of my family first. I thought Puamana was safe enough. I asked my wife, can I try once?”

His wife begged him to stay and he begged for her forgiveness. If possible, he had to save the wooden Buddha. Leaving his car keys and cellphone behind, Hironaka set off through the dust and smoke on the 1.3-mile trek back to the Hongwanji. Reaching the intersection of Wainee and Shaw streets, he saw the Waiola Church Hall was already ablaze. There would be no reaching the Hongwanji, which was farther away and shrouded in dark smoke.

Turning back toward Puamana, Hironaka walked until he was able to hitchhike a ride most of the way to his family. Finally reaching the car, he was stunned to learn his son Hoken, 17, had set off after him.

With the Waiola Church Hall burning in the foreground, the Lahaina Hongwanji Mission explodes into flames that shoot at least 100 feet into the air on Aug. 8. This photo was taken at about 7 p.m. — The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo

“He thought I needed help, so he chased me. I was hoping, don’t jump into the fire. Do not jump into the smoke. Your papa is not there.”

Hoken made it to the same intersection where his father turned around.

“He asked people at the corner of Shaw Street, ‘Did you see my dad? Did you see my dad?'”

Hoken said neighbor Tama Kaleleiki yelled, “Hey, do not go there! Your papa is not there!”

Hironaka credits Kaleleiki for saving his son’s life. He says he knows Hoken would have rushed the flames if he thought his father was in danger. The slim Buddhist priest thanked the Hawaiian church elder again Monday when their paths crossed on Wainee Street. Kaleleiki was part of a crew picking through the debris of Waiola Church’s buildings. He was riding by in a truck and stopped when he spotted Hironaka chatting with neighbors.

Church members join dignitaries to pose for a group photo in 2004 to mark the 100-year anniversary of the founding of Lahaina Hongwanji Mission. The temple was built in 1933. — The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo

Kaleleiki says he merely did what anyone would do. Hironaka insists there is more to the story.

“How important is it that the neighbor knows me and that he knows Hoken is my son?” he asked. “For Tama san it is a small thing, but for me it is a lifetime happening. To me, he saved my son’s life, and then he saved my whole family. Without my son, you cannot smile.”

Hironaka said he was rushing back to the Hongwanji when he glimpsed the wonderful sight of two familiar feet.

“As I run, from the smoke, I notice his Crocs. Oh, that might be Hoken! As the smoke gradually cleared, I confirmed it was Hoken.”

Fast-forward seven weeks to War Memorial Stadium. Hoken is dressed in the red and white of the Lahainaluna High School football team and taking a handoff to score a fourth-quarter touchdown against Baldwin High. It is the Lunas’ first game of the season and his displaced family is in the stands cheering and slapping high-fives.

Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii Bishop Toshiyuki Umitani (from left), Rev. Ai Hironaka and mission Business Manager Derrick Inouye chant the sutra of Sanbutsuge shortly after arriving to the ruins of the Lahaina Hongwanji temple Monday morning. — The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo

Monday’s visit included Bishop Toshiyuki Umitani of the Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii, mission Business Manager Derrick Inouye and two bureau staffers from Japan’s Kyodo News. After a brief patrol of the grounds, Hironaka, Umitani and Inouye climbed to the top of the temple’s front stairs to overlook the debris-filled foundation and chant the sutra of Sanbutsuge. Once that important ritual was completed, they donned hazmat gear from head to toe and climbed down into the rectangular hole that was once the Lahaina Hongwanji temple.

From the top of the stairs they could be seen combing through white-gray ash, paying particular attention to the areas beneath where the altars were located. It was slim pickings. Off in the neighborhood, several people shouted for joy. Word spread down Wainee Street that somebody found their wedding ring.

The temple’s ruins yielded a small pile of battered artifacts, including a bent incense holder, a blackened ewer and cracked pieces of pottery. A highlight was a small metal statue of baby Buddha. Hironaka said he used it every April 8 in the ceremony marking Shakyamuni Buddha’s birthday.

“I thought it would be hard to find such a small statue,” he said. “When I found it, I was so happy. The fire was much strong enough to destroy everything.

“To me, it all seemed wrapped in white. All the colorful tea cups are white. The temple residence became ashes. That meant to me that the temple building was protecting Lahaina people’s special home until he became ashes.”

Rev. Ai Hironaka holds the baby Buddha statue he unearthed from the ashes and debris of Lahaina Hongwanji Mission Monday. — The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo

Nearly all contents of the family residence, from notes and keepsakes to wardrobes and computers, were lost.

“Mostly, that day was important for me to recover, to set my mind for the next phase mentally in my personal life as a Rev. Hironaka. Not a step going forward, but to move to a different phase,” he said.

Several neighbors stopped to say hello while Hironaka sifted through the temple building’s remains. “Where are you staying? How is your family?” On the way out of town, he parked the car to get out and talk to folks he recognized. He admits the aftermath of the fires has been hard on him and his family. Their lives have been turned upside down. He said it was cathartic to converse with people who shared the same experiences.

“I think in my life condition, when I see the people who survived, it makes me happy or excited or energetic,” he said. “To witness neighbors working hard, it helps. Oh, he is doing it already? If he can do it, I can too. As father, minister and husband, there is responsibility to be strong. With these neighbors, we can talk without pretending. Talk to heal each other.”

One friend was a distraught young man returning to the home he built for his family on rented land. The distant look in his eyes was familiar to Hironaka.

“His eyes are like mine,” Hironaka said. “I see only a small light on inside his eyes. However, it wasn’t dark. This small tiny light, how can we make a brighter and stronger light? I think, we need to encourage each other. He says to me, ‘we need to keep our heads up.’ I was helped by him.

“The fire on the town is contained, but the fire remains in the victims’ hearts and minds. We are all spread out from Lahaina, but I think it is a time we are all together.”

After the fire, he says he found himself wondering if it all was a bad dream.

“When I was informed that I could go into the site, I wondered if it was not real,” he said. “But it happened to everybody. Everybody lost everything. I now truly understand we should not take it for granted. The fire made me transform into more the reality of this impermanent world. Nothing is permanent. Everything is impermanent.”

When the Lahaina Hongwanji temple was built 90 years ago it was financed by the congregation and community. Hironaka says he expects the same to happen as it rises from the ashes. Assistance, he says, will come not just from local congregants, but from “Japan, the Mainland, all over.”

“I think, regardless of any religion, the temple is built by the people’s donations,” he said. “I think it is going to be a wonderful temple when it is finished. That will be, I think, a wonderful service. I cannot wait for that.”

* Staff Writer Matthew Thayer can be reached at thayer@maui.net.

Lahainaluna junior running back Hoken Hironaka slashes through the line on a fourth-quarter touchdown run against Baldwin High at War Memorial Stadium on Sept. 30. — The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo

Rev. Ai Hironaka (left) shakes hands with Waiola Church elder Tama Kaleleiki on Wainee Street Monday. Hironaka credits Kaleleiki for saving his son’s life on the day wildfire claimed both their churches. — The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo

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