By REV. NORIAKI ITO
At the end of September this year, I will be retiring from active service as a minister at the Higashi Honganji Buddhist Temple here in Los Angeles.
I was born in Kumamoto, Japan in September 1948. At that point, as the oldest son, I was destined to follow in my father’s footsteps and become the resident minister at our Ito temple, Jinsoku-ji, in the Nakano area of Tokyo.
He was actually born in Fukuoka as the second son of a small temple there, but eventually married my mother, who was at that temple in Tokyo, and he eventually took over as the resident minister. His last name was Takafuji, but when he became the minister at Jinsoku-ji in Tokyo, he became Hōryū Ito and married my mother, Kazuko.
Two sisters were born before me, and I was the first son. At that point, I was destined to follow him and eventually become the resident minister at that temple. But in 1954, my father was asked to go to Los Angeles to take over for a few years at the Higashi Honganji temple there. He left our family — my mother, my two older sisters, and I — in Tokyo and we were to wait for him to come home in a few years.
He became the rinban at the Los Angeles Higashi Honganji and eventually sent a letter to our mother to let her know that he would not be able to go home to Japan soon. A year later, he contacted her to let us know that it would be best for us to go to the United States to join him.
His idea was that we would stay for a few years and then we could return to our home in Japan. The few years turned out to be the rest of my life. If we had returned, I would have taken over the small temple in Tokyo and I would have lived an entirely different life.
I probably would have enjoyed life there, but reflecting back, I am glad that we made Los Angeles our home and somehow I became a minister at our betsuin here. I may have enjoyed living my entire life in Japan, but reflecting on my 77 years of life, I’m happy to have been a product of both Japan and the United States.
I’ve lived here most of my life, but I’ve also had the opportunity to live in Japan as a student learning and training to become a kaikyōshi, an overseas minister, and serve at the Los Angeles Higashi Honganji and at our West Covina temple for 50 years.
I am sure I could not follow as an accomplished minister like my predecessors, but I am happy to have been able to serve as a Higashi Honganji minister for so many years. I have enjoyed the relationships I’ve been able to develop with our members, and so many friends in our community.
All of you have helped me to be a minister who was able to contribute to our Buddhist community here in Los Angeles. Thank you for allowing me to serve as long as I have.
Gratefully,
Noriaki Ito