SAN FRANCISCO----The Buddhist Churches of America (BCA) announces the passing of BCA Minister Emeritus Reverend Kenryu Takashi Tsuji, on Thursday morning, February 26, 2004 in San Mateo, California.
The 84-year old Reverend Tsuji was the first American citizen to serve as Bishop (Socho) of the 105-year old Buddhist Churches of America, which is the largest Buddhist religious body within the Japanese American community, headquartered in San Francisco.
Reverend Tsuji was born in Mission City, British Columbia on March 14, 1919, and graduated from the University of British Columbia. Desiring to enter into the Shin Buddhist ministry, Reverend Tsuji attended Ryukoku University in Kyoto, Japan and received his religious ordination from the Nishi Hongwanji sect of Shin Buddhism just prior to the start of World War II.
While completing his studies in Kyoto, school officials sensed the oncoming of hostilities, and insisted that Reverend Tsuji immediately the leave country on what would be the last ship to leave Japan back for Canada before World War II began. Upon returning to Canada, Reverend Tsuji was appointed the minister of the Hompa Buddhist Temple in Vancouver BC. However, this was to be a short assignment since all Canadians of Japanese ancestry living on the West Coast, were also forced into concentration camps like their Japanese American counterparts.
In October of 1942, Rev. Tsuji was sent to the Japanese Canadian internment camp at Slocan, British Columbia, where he would be appointed principal of the Bayfarm Elementary School which served 500-interned Japanese Canadian children for the duration of the war.
In 1945, with the end of the war, and little more than the clothes on his back, Reverend Tsuji left the internment camp and resettled in Toronto, Ontario, Canada where he worked on a mushroom farm, washed dishes and worked in a chemical factory in order to make a living. As most Canadians of Japanese ancestry left the internment camps, many decided not to return to what had been their homes on the West Coast provinces and instead chose to re-start their lives in Toronto, where very few Japanese Canadians had previously lived.
Later in 1945, with a growing Japanese Canadian population, Reverend Tsuji, together with other devout Shin Buddhists, decided to found a Buddhist organization which would become the Toronto Buddhist Church. The following year, Rev. Tsuji would organize the Hamilton Buddhist Church and later the Montreal Buddhist Church as well.
Through the dedication and hardships of the many followers who were struggling to re-establish their own families and lives, the members were able to build and dedicate their own formal temple building in 1955 with Rev. Tsuji as the first resident minister.
The very talented and detail-oriented Rev. Tsuji was always concerned about Buddhist education, and in 1955 he edited the first “Program of Studies for Buddhist Sunday Schools” which would come to be used by most Buddhist Sunday Schools throughout North America. He created the first English format for “Infant Presentations,” “Adult Affirmations” and a new marriage service as well,
In 1958, Rev. Tsuji resigned from the Toronto Buddhist Church and accepted an appointment as National Director of Buddhist Education for the Buddhist Churches of America in San Francisco. Rev. Tsuji would organize the BCA Buddhist Bookstore, which was probably the first Buddhist bookstore in America and also introduced the now popular district conferences and seminars held in most BCA districts to this day.
In 1968, Reverend Tsuji was elected the first Nisei (second generation Japanese North American) Bishop of the Buddhist Churches of America and he would also serve as President of the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley, California.
During his term as Bishop, Bishop Tsuji would criss cross the nation many times, visiting all BCA temples, large and small, and being the innovative person that he was, Reverend Tsuji would also embark on a career as a film director and producer, producing several Buddhist films to expand the knowledge and understanding of the Buddha’s teachings of his fellow Shin Buddhists.
In 1974, Bishop Tsuji would preside over the grand 75th Anniversary celebration of Buddhist Churches of America, attended by thousands of Shin Buddhists from throughout the world, held in San Francisco, the birthplace of the BCA.
In 1981, Reverend Tsuji retired from the Office of the Bishop and as President of the Institute of Buddhist Studies, and accepted a new challenge in his life of the Buddhist ministry to organize the first Shin Buddhist temple in the Southeastern portion of the United States, in Springfield, Virginia. Together with devout Japanese Buddhist patron, the late Rev. Dr. Yehan Numata, Rev. Tsuji started the Ekoji Buddhist Temple in the greater Washington DC area.
With this Ekoji temple near the center of America’s government, Rev. Tsuji would be called upon numerous times to represent American Buddhists in a national capacity. He would also become the first Buddhist to serve as President of the American affiliate of the distinguished World Conference on Religion and Peace from 1983 to 1989.
Following the vision and actions of Shinran Shonin, the founder of Shin Buddhism, Rev. Tsuji would also travel throughout the southeastern part of the nation to share the teachings of Buddha with many who had not had an opportunity to hear the teachings. He would visit places such as Richmond, Virginia, where he would establish a Buddhist Center, now used by several small Buddhist communities which could not afford to have their own temple. He would also regularly visit Augusta, Georgia, Morgantown, North Carolina and Dallas, Texas.
In 1999, with the full support of the late Rev. Dr. Numata, their dream of a full fledged Shin Buddhist temple in the Nation’s capital area was realized with the completion of a new Ekoji Buddhist temple complex in Fairfax Station, Virginia, just southwest of Washington DC, That fall, Reverend Tsuji retired from the active Buddhist ministry and he was presented the title of BCA Minister Emeritus, and together with his wife, moved to Foster City, California to be near their family.
Reverend Tsuji is survived by his wife Sakaye, children Liz & Wells Wadleigh, Maya & Gary Lawrence, Carolyn and Ray Holochuck, Rosalind and Eleanor and 6 grandchildren.
Buddhist Churches of America-sponsored Funeral Services in memory of Reverend Tsuji will be held on Thursday evening, March 4, at the San Mateo Buddhist Temple, beginning at 7:30 PM, to be officiated by BCA Bishop Hakubun Watanabe.
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Kenryu T. Tsuji Dies at 84; Buddhist Bishop
By Patricia Sullivan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 10, 2004; Page B06
The Rev. Kenryu T. Tsuji, 84, the first U.S. citizen to serve as bishop of the 105-year-old Buddhist Churches of America, the largest Buddhist group in the Japanese American community, died of pneumonia Feb. 26 in San Mateo, Calif. He had Alzheimer's disease.
The first Shin Buddhist bishop to speak fluent Japanese and English, Mr. Tsuji survived life in a World War II internment camp, launched several congregations and published an introduction to Buddhism on the Internet.
He started congregations in Canada and California and, in 1981, at an age when many others would have retired, moved to Virginia and organized the first Shin Buddhist temple in the southeastern United States, Ekoji Buddhist Temple in Springfield. He also helped establish a Buddhist center in Richmond that is used by several small communities. The Ekoji congregation built a full-fledged temple in Fairfax Station in 1999, and after that, Mr. Tsuji actually retired.
Bishop Tsuji was born in Mission City, B.C., and graduated from the University of British Columbia. He attended Ryukoku University in Kyoto, Japan, as part of his effort to enter the Shin Buddhist ministry. He earned a black belt in judo and received religious ordination from the Nishi Hongwanji sect just before the start of World War II.
Urged by his schoolteachers to leave Japan before the war began, Bishop Tsuji returned to Canada on what turned out to be the last boat. He was appointed the minister of Hompa Buddhist Temple in Vancouver, B.C. However, like all Canadians of Japanese ancestry who lived on the West Coast, in October 1942 he was forced into an internment camp. The 23-year-old Bishop Tsuji was sent to the camp at Slocan, B.C., where he was appointed principal of Bayfarm Elementary School. The 25 teacher-internees there instructed the 500 children in camp.
In 1945, after the camp was closed, Bishop Tsuji was unable to reclaim his father's 35-acre berry farm, so he settled in Toronto. He worked on a mushroom farm, washed dishes and worked in a chemical factory to support himself. As other Japanese Canadians moved to Toronto, Bishop Tsuji and others formed an organization that became Toronto Buddhist Church, the largest Buddhist congregation in Canada. The next year, he formed Hamilton Buddhist Church and later Montreal Buddhist Church. The Toronto members built their own formal temple in 1955 with Bishop Tsuji as the resident minister.
In 1955, he edited the first program of studies for Buddhist Sunday schools , which came to be used by most such schools in North America. He created the first English format for infant presentations and adult affirmations and a new marriage service as well.
Bishop Tsuji was appointed national director of Buddhist education for Buddhist Churches of America in 1958 and moved to San Francisco. He organized the Buddhist Bookstore there, and he introduced the popular district conferences and seminars. He became a U.S. citizen about 1965, his family said.
In 1968, Bishop Tsuji was elected the first nisei, or second-generation Japanese North American, bishop of the national Buddhist Churches of America and became president of the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley, Calif. He became a film director and producer and created several Buddhist films.
He presided over the 75th anniversary of Buddhist Churches of America in 1974, a celebration attended by thousands of Shin Buddhists from around the world.
The U.S. churches, which had about 100,000 members at mid-century, now have about 17,000 members, as second- and third-generation Japanese Americans are less likely to join the church, said Michael Endo, executive secretary of the organization.
Bishop Tsuji was the first Buddhist to be president of the U.S. affiliate of the World Conference on Religion and Peace, serving from 1983 to 1989. He was a guest at an interfaith breakfast at the White House with President Bill Clinton in 1993.
Bishop Tsuji retired in the fall of 1999, was named Buddhist Churches of America minister emeritus and moved to Foster City, Calif.
Survivors include his wife, Sakaye Tsuji of Foster City; five children; and six grandchildren.
© 2008 The Washington Post Company
Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44824-2004Mar9.html
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Buddhist bishop Kenryu Tsuji
Don Lattin, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, March 4, 2004
San Francisco Chronicle
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Funeral services will be held this evening for the Rev. Kenryu Takashi Tsuji, a Japanese American Buddhist leader who began his ministry during the dark days of West Coast internment.
The Rev. Tsuji, the first North American-born bishop in the Buddhist Churches of America, died Friday in San Mateo. He was 84.
Born into a large farming family in Mission City, British Columbia, The Rev. Tsuji traveled to Japan in the late 1930s to study at Ryukoku University in Kyoto. He also earned a black belt in judo.
On the eve of World War II, the Rev. Tsuji was ordained into the Nishi Hongwanji sect of Shin Buddhism, then caught the last ship that sailed from Japan to Canada.
His ministerial career, which began at the Hompa Buddhist Temple in Vancouver, was suddenly interrupted when the Rev. Tsuji and his family were forced by the Canadian government into an internment camp for people of Japanese descent.
His father's 35-acre berry farm was confiscated and sold. the Rev. Tsuji, then 23 years old, taught elementary school to interned children in Slocan, B.
C.
After the war, the Rev. Tsuji resettled in Toronto, where he washed dishes and worked on a mushroom farm while ministering to a small Buddhist congregation.
That flock would soon grow into the Toronto Buddhist Church, the largest of the sect's Canadian congregations.
After founding two more Buddhist churches in Toronto and Montreal, the Rev. Tsuji came to San Francisco in 1958 to serve as National Director of the Buddhist Churches of America.
The Rev. Tsuji, unlike most ministers in that Japanese American denomination, was fluent in both English and Japanese.
"It's a very Japanese-oriented church, but my father made the teachings accessible to everyone,'' said his daughter, Elizabeth Tsuji of San Mateo.
Over the next decade, the Rev. Tsuji opened the Buddhist Bookstore in San Francisco and served as president of the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley.
In 1968, he was elected as the first nisei (second generation Japanese- North American) bishop of the national Buddhist Churches of America.
He retired from that post in 1981, but went on to help found the Ekoji Buddhist Temple in Washington, D.C.
There, the Rev. Tsuji was active in the interfaith movement and was often called on to represent American Buddhists at national gatherings.
In recent decades, the Buddhist Churches of America have struggled to attract second- and third-generation Japanese Americans. National membership has dropped from 100,000 to 17,000 as its older members have died and their children have lost interest in Shin Buddhism.
In 1999, the Rev. Tsuji presided over the opening of the new Ekoji Buddhist Temple complex in Fairfax Station, Virginia.
The Rev. Tsuji suffered from Alzheimer's disease in his final years in Virginia, but he retained the affection of his flock.
"He'd be delivering a sermon and forget where he was in the middle of it, '' his daughter recalled. "He really wasn't up to running a church. One of his parishioners told me, 'Your dad is getting forgetful, but it is still hard for us to let him go.' ''
In the fall of 1999, the Rev. Tsuji and his wife, Sakaye, moved to Foster City to be near their children.
He is survived by his wife and four other daughters: Maya Lawrence of Moraga, Eleanor Tsuji of Foster City, Rosalind Tsuji of Tokyo and Carolyn Holochuck of Redwood City. He is also survived by six grandchildren.
His funeral, presided over by B.C.A. Bishop Hakubun Watanabe, is at 7:30 p.m tonight at the San Mateo Buddhist Temple, 2 South Claremont St., San Mateo.
Source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/03/04/BAGL65DTQ01.DTL
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Tsuji, Kenryu Takashi
Minister, Buddhist Churches of America. Born 1919, Mission City, BC, Canada. 1946: married Sakaye Kawabata; 5 children. 1937: University of BC, Canada. 1942: University of Toronto. 1948: Ryukoku University, Kyoto. 1958: ordained minister, Jodo Shinshu, Buddhist Churches of America. 1968: Bishop, Buddhist Churches of America. 1941-2: minister, Vancouver Buddhist Church. 1942-5: Slocan Buddhist Church. 1945-58: Toronto Buddhist Church. 1958-68: National Director of Buddhist Education, BCA.1968-81: Bishop, BCA; President of Institute of Buddhist Studies. 1981-: Eko-ji Buddhist Temple. Editor, Program of Studies of Buddhist Sunday Schools. 1960: Publications including Three Lectures on Tannisho. Has made documentary films, including In The Footsteps of Shinran, The Story of Hongwan-ji, A Buddhist Pilgrimage, and Sri Lanka, Where the Dharma is Preserved.
Source: Buddhist Studies: Profiles of Mahayana Buddhists, Buddhanet.net
From the Congressional Record
A TRIBUTE TO REV. KENRYU T. TSUJI -- HON. ROBERT T. MATSUI (Extension of Remarks - September 26, 1991)
[Page: E3177]
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HON. ROBERT T. MATSUI
in the House of Representatives
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1991
* Mr. MATSUI. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to salute the accomplishments of the Rev. Kenryu T. Tsuji on this the 50th anniversary of his service as a Jodo Shinshu minister. To honor Mr. Tsuji and his years of dedicated service, the Ekoji Buddhist Temple will host a dinner in his honor next Saturday at the Phillips Restaurant here in Washington, DC.
* During the last five decades, Reverend Tsuji has served as a minister in both the United States and Canada and also as the director of Buddhist Education and as the bishop of the Buddhist Churches of America. Additionally, he was one of the few ministers of the pre-World War II era who spoke excellent English. He continues to be a distinguished speaker of Buddhism, a sound administrator, and a farsighted leader for Buddhism in North America.
* I ask my colleagues to join me in saluting Reverend Tsuji and in extending our best wishes for a successful and enjoyable celebration next Saturday.
