Robert Cazimero, Larry Lindsey Kimura, Carolee Mei-Jen Kapuamae‘ole Nishi and Sachie Saigusa will be honored as Living Treasures of Hawaii as the Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii presents the 45th Living Treasures of Hawaii Recognition Program and Gala Luncheon on Feb. 8 in the Hilton Hawaiian Village Coral Ballroom.
The “Living Treasures of Hawaii” program was created by Bishop Yoshiaki Fujitani in 1976 at the suggestion of the late Paul Yamanaka and in emulation of the Living National Treasures of Japan. Fujitani and Yamanaka wanted a similar program to recognize Hawaii residents whose contributions to Hawaii demonstrate high standards of achievement in their particular fields while also making significant contributions toward enriching island society at large.
THIS YEAR’S HONOREES EXEMPLIFY THOSE IDEALS.
45th Living Treasures of Hawaii Recognition Program and Gala Luncheon
>> Where: Hilton Hawaiian Village Coral Ballroom
>> When: 11 a.m. Feb. 8
>> Cost: $85 (for payments received by Friday) and $100 (for payments received Saturday to Jan. 30)
>> Info: hongwanjihawaii.com/living-treasures or 522-9200
>> Note: No payments will be accepted after Jan. 31.
ROBERT CAZIMERO
Kumu hula Robert Uluwehionapuaikawekiuokalani Cazimero’s contributions to the preservation and perpetuation of modern Hawaiian music include his work as a singer, chanter, musician, composer, recording artist, dancer, choreographer, teacher and as kumu hula of his Halau Na Kamalei o Lililehua. His career as a recording artist began as member of the Sunday Manoa and then with his younger brother, the late Roland Cazimero, as the Brothers Cazimero, and as a solo artist. He has received 25 Na Hoku Hanohano Awards as a member of the Brothers Cazimero or as a solo artist; he and Roland were finalists for a Grammy Award in 2005. The Brothers Cazimero were inducted into the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame in 2006. They received the Hawai‘i Academy of Recording Arts Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008.
Cazimero’s passion for hula began while he was a student at t he Kamehameha Schools and studying hula with kumu hula Maiki Aiu Lake.
LARRY KIMURA
Larry Lindsey Kimura has been a leader for almost 50 years in the campaign to preserve and perpetuate Hawaiian as a living language of daily communication. Kimura has taught the Hawaiian language at the UH-Manoa and UH-Hilo campuses and was a leader of curriculum development for Hawaiian-language immersion schools. He also is the first president and co-founder of Hawaii’s first Punana Leo Hawaiian-language immersion preschools.
Kimura has contributed as chairman of the Hawaiian Lexicon Committee for the Hale Kuamoo Hawaiian Language Center of the College focusing on Hawaiian curriculum development and teacher licensing for Hawaii’s immersion programs, and was a leader in obtaining a National Science Foundation and a National Endowment for the Humanities grant to digitize and archive 525 hours of first-language Hawaiian speakers recorded in the 1970s.
CAROLEE NISHI
Carolee Mei-Jen Kapuamaeole Nishi’s contributions to the islands come first and foremost through her years as a volunteer at the Nuuanu YMCA where her lessons in Hawaiian studies resulted in the formation of halau Hula Hui o Kapunahala. Nishi emphasized what she calls the “Aloha Values” of akahai (gentleness), lokahi (unity), oluolu (comfort), haahaa (humility) and ahounui (patience), and encouraged her students to learn the Hawaiian language.
Through her years as a volunteer, ,she also worked for United Airlines and as a state Department of Education Hawaiian studies teacher where she voluntarily organized, produced and directed May Day programs for the schools.
SACHIE SAIGUSA
Sachie Saigusa has perpetuated Japanese culture through the stroke of a brush for much of her 92 years.
The wife of a Buddhist minister, she arrived in Hawaii in 1956 with no English-language ability but two degrees in Japanese budo (naginata), degrees in primary and elementary education, and a master’s degree and certification as a social counselor and administrator from Japan.
It was under the tutelage of master sumie artist Juho Motomura that her dedication to the art of brush painting began. Before he retired in 1980, he selected Saigusa to become his successor and introduced her to the schools. Today she is still the only sumie teacher accepted by the state Department of Education and still employed by the DOE School for Adults.
To ensure the continuation of the art and to set up an established system and program for the instruction of sumie, Saigusa founded the nonprofit Sumie Society of Hawaii in 2001. Saigusa continues to teach classes today.
