Cross Cultural Blessings

Upon the arrival of Hōkūle‘a and Kama Hele to Yokohama, the final stop of our 2007 voyage, we first met Hitoshi Miyashita of Haiyama, Japan. He greeted us, blowing the largest pū (triton's trumpet conch shell horn) any of us had ever seen and in the most beautiful virtuoso performance we had ever heard.  It reminded me of the way Jake Shimbukuro plays the ‘ukulele compared to everyone else.  We learned that Hitoshi-san is a Japanese Shinto-Bhuddist monk who trained in remote high mountains and was named "Dragon" by his monastery master.  His pū playing is a form of prayer.

I was delighted to hear from Dragon when he asked me to help him pray, with pū and chants, at meaningful spots during a visit to O‘ahu.  He wanted to honor and bless the gods of ancient Hawai‘i, the Hawaiian Royal Family, Hōkūle‘a and PVS.  We prayed at the statue of Kamehameha the Great and ‘Iolani Palace to honor the Royal Family.  We prayed at Waimea Bay to honor Eddie Aikau and drove up to Pu'u O Mahuka heiau to pray to the ancient Hawaiian gods.  When we walked over to the edge of the ridge looking down into Waimea Valley and onto Waimea Bay and beach, Hitoshi was overwhelmed by the beauty and significance of the area and began to pray with his pū again.  We both got chicken-skin when someone far down below and well up into the valley responded with an answering pū call.  Hitoshi and the pū in the valley communicated back and forth with many responses to each other.  When I asked Hitoshi if he thought the answering pū was humans or spirits, Dragon answered, "I think both."

Our last stop was at Hōkūle‘a where we ran into the Global Youth Congress Group.  I'm so glad that we were able to capture Hitoshi's artistic mastery and heartfelt prayer for the future safety and success of Hōkōle‘a, all of Hawaiiʻs voyaging ‘ohana, PVS and her supporters.  After a short visit with Nainoa on the canoe, as we walked to the car to take Dragon to the airport for the flight home to Japan, he was overcome by emotion at the end of a truly wonderful day.  It was a great honor and privilege to witness this powerful exchange of mana between Hawai‘i and a truly wonderful man.

- Mike Taylor