Neither the Western Sonoma County Historical Society nor the Sonoma County Library make any assertions as to ownership of any original copyrights to digitized images and can claim only physical ownership of the image(s) described in this records. However, these images are intended for Personal or Research use only. Any other kind of use, including, but not limited to commercial or scholarly publication in any medium or format, public exhibition, or use online or in a web site, may be subject to additional restrictions including but not limited to the copyrights held by parties other than the Library. USERS ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE for determining the existence of such rights and for obtaining any permissions and/or paying associated fees necessary for the proposed use. Preferred credit line is: Courtesy, the Western Sonoma County Historical Society. Please contact the Society regarding additional reproduction and reuse information at: https://wschs.org/contact-us
Description
Photo--black and white: Enmanji Buddhist Temple of Sebastopol. Members of the Enmanji Temple gather for a funeral service sometime in the late 1930s or early 1940s. About 60 men and women are standing in front of the Enmanji Temple and surround a casket with flowers. The windows of the Temple are the original bell-shapped windows with shogi screens--later in 1947 replaced with rectangular ones. A Kanji banner is above the doorway and another to the right of the front entrance (Kanji is Chinese characters used in Japanese writing) . Background: The unique Enmanji Buddhist Temple, originally built by the Manchurian Railroad Company for the Chicago World's Fair in 1933, faithfully represents a 12th century Kamakura-style Japanese temple. After the fair it was offered to the members of the Sonoma County Buddhist Temple and the structure was dismantled and shipped by rail to Sebastopol for reassembly. It was completed and dedicated on April 15, 1934 after being reconstructed without the use of nails by skilled local Japanese craftsmen.
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