Did you know that dragons and fish are related? Or that paired animals on Japanese decorations often have one mouth open and one mouth closed to symbolize all knowledge? Or that the Taj Mahal in India inspired the design of a Jodo Mission in Honolulu?

If you don’t, "Approaching the Sacred: Japanese Buddhist Temples in Hawaii," a free exhibit at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii, is for you.

"We wanted to help the average person understand some of the complex and ornate elements they’d see when visiting Japanese Buddhist temples in Hawaii and to tell the fascinating stories behind some of them," said Willa Tanabe, who co-wrote "Japanese Buddhist Temples in Hawaii: An Illustrated Guide," with her husband, George. The book serves as the basis for the show.

Tanabe is a professor emeritus in the University of Hawaii at Manoa art department, while her husband is a professor emeritus in the UH religion department. They had wanted to write the book for a long time, and after they retired found the time to visit the 90 temples in the state.

"Since we both had close relationships with the Buddhist temples and collectors, there was no trouble in asking them to lend us the items to display here," George Tanabe said.

Those items include a gilded, but cracked, sandalwood Amida ("infinite light") Buddha originally housed at the Kona Hongwanji Mission on Hawaii island.

"The story is that the piece of sandalwood was gathered from the Big Island and shipped to a famous Tendai priest-sculptor in Japan in the ’30s, but the original got cracked in an accident at the temple, so a second piece was sent to him to carve," he said. "The second version is still at the temple, and this cracked one is from a private collection."

Then there’s a red wooden drum, called a "mokugyo," that was used for chanting. The drum, from a private collection, is shaped like a fish with an interwoven dragon design.

"They’re both associated with water," Willa Tanabe said. "The dragon is supposed to protect the temple in the case of a fire by spouting out water, while the fish (whose eyes never close, even during sleep) reminds the members to always be vigilant."

There’s also a gold-hued altar table, or "maejoku," with a two-headed bird motif that hails from Ewa Hongwanji Mission.

According to teachings, one head ate a sweet fruit that it did not share with the second head. The second head became jealous and fed the first head a poisonous fruit, killing the entire bird.

"We like to use that as a metaphor for the Republicans and Democrats," she laughed. "We’re all interconnected, so we all have to get along!"

The exhibit also features an old-fashioned pilgrimage scroll, upon which travelers collected stamps from each temple they visited to prove they had walked to each one. A completed pilgrimage meant a 900-mile trek.

Photographs nearby capture a modern-day pilgrimage. Replicas of each temple are placed side-by-side so that members need only step six inches away to the next "temple."

There’s also a striking collection of Daruma dolls that depict the founder of Zen Buddhism with a large, dark beard and wide eyes. The eyes reflect the legend of Daruma that has him cutting off his eyelids to prevent him from sleeping.

Detailed charts illustrate the layout of a typical temple altar and inner sanctuary, plus architectural styles and decorations exclusive to Hawaii.

Visitors also may take a video tour of the exhibit narrated by the Tanabes.