The Living Treasures of Hawaii program was created by the Buddhist temple Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawai'i

Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawai'i

The Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii is a district of the Nishi Hongwanji branch of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism, a school of Mahayana Pure Land Buddhism.-History:...

 to honor residents of Hawaii. The criteria for selection are, "First, the designee must demonstrate continuous growth in his or her field; second, the potential Living Treasure must have made significant contributions toward a more humane and fraternal society (and this perhaps is the most important criteria); and finally, he or she must have shown an on-going striving for excellence and a high level of accomplishment." Honorees are nominated by members of the general public by August 1 of each year, and chosen by a committee designated by the temple.

These are the people who have been so honored.

1977

Wright Elemakule Bowman, Sr.

Jean Charlot

Jean Charlot

Louis Henri Jean Charlot was a French painter and illustrator, active in Mexico and the United States. Charlot was born in Paris. His father, Henri, owned an import-export business and was a Russian-born émigré, albeit one who supported the Bolshevik cause. His mother Anna was herself an artist...

Johanna Drew Cluney

Samuel Hoyt Elbert

Samuel Hoyt Elbert

Samuel Hoyt Elbert was a linguist who made major contributions to Hawaiian and Polynesian lexicography and ethnography. Born on a farm in Des Moines, Iowa, to Hugh and Ethelind Elbert, Sam grew up riding horses, one of his favorite pastimes well into retirement. After graduating from Grinnell...

Kenneth Pike Emory

Iolani Luahine

Iolani Luahine

Iolani Luahine , born Harriet Lanihau Makekau, was a native Hawaiian kumu hula, dancer, chanter, and teacher, who was considered the high priestess of the ancient hula...

Rosalie Lokalia Lovell Montgomery

Mary Kawena Pukui

Mary Kawena Pukui

Mary Abigail Kawenaulaokalaniahiiakaikapoliopelekawahineaihonuaināleilehuaapele Wiggin Pukui , known as Kawena, was a Hawaiian scholar, dancer, composer, and educator.-Life:...

1979

Abraham Kahikina Akaka

Emma Kalani-kau'i-ka'alaneo-kilioulaninui-amamao-ho'opi'i-wahine-keakaleihilinaka de Fries

John Dominis Holt, IV

Edward Leilani Kamae

Edith Kekuhikuhi-i-pu'uone'ona'ali'i-o-kohala Kenao Kanaka'ole

Clorinda Low Lucas

Aldyth Vernon Morris

Alice Ku'ulei-aloha-poina'ole Namakelua

Philip Kunia Gabby Pahinui

Gabby Pahinui

Charles Philip "Gabby" or "Pops" Pahinui was a slack-key guitarist.Gabby was born Charles Kapono Kahahawaii Jr. and later hānai-ed into the Pahinui family as Charles Philip Pahinui and raised in the Kaka'ako area of Honolulu in the 1920s...

1980

Gabriel I

Maxine Hong Kingston

Maxine Hong Kingston

Maxine Hong Kingston is a Chinese American author and Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, where she graduated with a BA in English in 1962. Kingston has written three novels and several works of non-fiction about the experiences of Chinese immigrants living in the United...

Donald Kilolani Mitchell

Pilahi Paki

Alfred Pries

1981

Solomon Kekipi Bright, Sr.

Oswald Bushnell

Leo Chai

Leon J. Edel
William H. Meinecke

Isamu Noguchi

Isamu Noguchi

was a prominent Japanese American artist and landscape architect whose artistic career spanned six decades, from the 1920s onward. Known for his sculpture and public works, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Graham productions, and several mass-produced lamps and furniture pieces,...

Juliet Rice Wichman

1982

Juliette May Fraser

Juliette May Fraser

Juliette May Fraser was an American painter, muralist and printmaker. She was born in Honolulu in 1887. After graduating from Wellesley College with a degree in art, she returned to Hawaii for several years. She continued her studies with Eugene Speicher and Frank Du Mond at the Art Students...

Annie Lehua Asam Kanahele

Richard Lyman, Jr.

Silver Kiniohi Iliwai

James Ka'upena Wong, Jr.

1983

Homer Ahu'ula Hayes

Rubellite Kawena Kinney Johnson

Zaneta Ho'oululahui Cambra Richards

Morrnah Nalamaku Simeona

Emily Kau'i Zuttermeister

1984

Satoru Abe

Satoru Abe

Satoru Abe is an American sculptor and painter. He was born in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1926. He attended President William McKinley High School, where he took art lessons from Shirley Ximena Hopper Russell...

Bumpei Akaji

Bumpei Akaji

Bumpei Akaji was an American sculptor. He was born in Lawai, on the Hawaiian island of Kauai in 1921. In 1943 he joined the United States Army and was sent to Italy with the 100th Battalion of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. He was inspired by the artwork in Florence and received a discharge...

Irmgard Farden Aluli

Francis Haar

Herb Kawainui Kane

Herb Kawainui Kane

Herbert "Herb" Kawainui Kāne , considered one of the principal figures in the renaissance of Hawaiian culture in the 1970s, was a celebrated artist-historian and author with a special interest in the seafaring traditions of the ancestral peoples of Hawaii...

Tadashi Sato

Tadashi Sato

Tadashi Sato was an American artist. He was born in Kaupakalua on the Hawaiian island of Maui. His father had been a pineapple laborer, merchant, and calligrapher, and Tadashi’s grandfather was a sumi-e artist....

Emma Kapi'olani Farden Sharpe

1985

Gladys Kamakakuokalani Ainoa Brandt 

May Moir

Sarah M. Wood Nalua'i

Katashi Nose

Soichi Sakamoto

Allan Frederic Saunders

1986

Claude F. Du Teil

Kahu Edward L. Kealanahele

Milton M. Howell

Margaret Machado

1987

Agnes C. Conrad

Agnes Kalaniho'okaha Cope

Edmund M. K. Enomoto

Joe Harper

Claude Horan

Claude Horan

Claude Horan is an American sculptor who was born in Long Beach, California. He received a BA from San Jose State University in 1942 BA and an MA degree in art from Ohio State University in 1946. His wife Suzi Pleyte Horan collaborated on many of the larger projects.He started the ceramics...

David Kuraoka

David Kuraoka

David Kuraoka is an American ceramic artist. He was born in Lihue, Hawaii and received a BA from San José State University in 1970 and an MA from the same institution in 1971. Kuraoka is a professor of art and head of the ceramics department of San Francisco State University and maintains...

John Keolamaka'ainanakalahuiokalani Lake

Kahauanu Lake

Toshiko Takaezu

Toshiko Takaezu

Toshiko Takaezu was an American ceramic artist.She was born to Japanese immigrant parents in Pepeekeo, Hawaii, in 1922. She studied at the Honolulu Academy of Arts and at the University of Hawaii under Claude Horan from 1948-1951...

1989

Reiko Mochinaga Brandon

Healani Onohiaulani Chilton Doane

Yehan Numata

Reuben Tam

Reuben Tam

Reuben Tam was an American landscape painter, educator and graphic artist. He was born in Kapa'a on the Hawaiian island of Kauai on Jan. 17, 1916. He earned a BA degree from the University of Hawaii in 1937, and also studied at the California School of Fine Art, at Columbia University with Meyer...

Tseng Yuho (Betty Tseng Ecke)

1990

Richard Kekuni Blaisdell

Richard Kekuni Blaisdell

Richard Kekuni Blaisdell, in full Richard Kekuni Akana Blaisdell, is professor emeritus of medicine at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu. Blaisdell is the co-founder of an organization of Hawaiian health professionals called, E Ola Mau in 1984. He is also the Founding Chair, of the Department...

Edmond Lee Browning

Frances Damon Holt

Kyo Kawabata

1991

Daniel G. Chun

Dwight Pauahi Kauahikaua

Moses Kapalekilahao Keale, Sr.

Puanani Kanemura Van Dorpe

1992

Helen Hoakalei Kamau'u

David Kaohelaulii

Marie Emilia Leilehua McDonald

Harry Seisho Nakasone

Matsuno Yasui

David Nu'uhiwa Enoka Kaohelauli'i

1993

Elaine Arita

Yoshiko Matsuda

Stewart Valentine Medeiros, Sr.

Edith Hanae Tanaka

Shige Yamada

1994

Todd Toshiaki Akita

Daniel J. Dever

Yoshiaki Fujitani

Roy T. Fukumura

Deborah Kepola Kekalia

Yukio Ozaki

Marion Grace Saunders

1997

Robert Aitken

Henry A. Auwae

Martha Kaumakaokalani Aoe Poepoe Hohu

Ralph Chikato Honda

Iwao Mizuta

1998

Hubert Victor Everly

George Sanford Kanahele

Beatrice Kapua'okalani Hilmer Krauss

Jerry Okimoto

Vladimir Ossipoff

Vladimir Ossipoff

Vladimir ‘Val’ Ossipoff was an American architect best known for his works in Hawaii.Vladimir Ossipoff was born November 25, 1907 in Vladivostok, Russia, but grew up in Tokyo, Japan, where his father was a military attaché of the Russian embassy, and emigrated to the United States in 1923...

Ruth Tabrah

1999

Earl E. Bakken

Samuel S. A. Cooke

Shimeji Ryusaki Kanazawa

Yutaka Kimura

Abraham St. Chad Pi'ianai'a

Adam A. "Bud" Smyser

2000

Glenna Fusae Kimura Ewing

James K. Fujikawa

Ah Quon McElrath

Rose Nakamura

Charles Nainoa Thompson

Nainoa Thompson

Charles Nainoa Thompson is a Native Hawaiian navigator and the executive director of the Polynesian Voyaging Society...

2001

Ronald E. Bright

Sean Kekamakupa'a Lee Loy Browne

Rocky Ka'iouliokahihikolo 'Ehu Jensen

Bob Krauss

Jesee "Takamiyama" Kuhaulua Azumazeki Oyakata

Clarence K. M. Lee

2002

Alfred Bloom

Takeshi Fujita

Takashi Nonaka

Lynne Yoshiko Nakasone Sensei

Yoshihiko Sinoto

Myron "Pinky" Thompson

2003

Beatrice "Beebe" Freitas

Mary Lou Kekuewa

Dr. Albert H. Miyasato

Dr. Margaret Y. Oda

Ted T. Tsukiyama

Masaru "Pundy" Yokouchi

2004

The Rev. Mitsuo Aoki

Genoa Keawe

Genoa Keawe

‘Aunty’ Genoa Leilani Adolpho Keawe-Aiko was a Hawaiian musician. Aunty Genoa was born on the island of Oʻahu in the Kakaʻako district of Honolulu and grew up in Lā'ie. She is an icon in Hawaiian music and has been a mainstay on the Hawaiian music scene for more than 60 years...

Pat Namaka Bacon

Fujio Matsuda

Edith Kawelohea McKinzie

Tau Moe

Tau Moe

Tau Moe was a singer and musician who formed The Tau Moe Family musical troupe which toured the globe for decades.-Biography:...

2005

Dr. Isabella Aiona Abbott

Isabella Abbott

Isabella Aiona Abbott , was an educator and ethnobotanist from Hawaii.The first native Hawaiian woman to receive a PhD in science,she became the leading expert on Pacific algae.-Early life:...

Gabriel "Gabe" Baltazar Jr.

Momi Cazimero

Dr. Thomas Klobe

Sione Tui'one Pulotu

Dr. Benjamin B.C. Young

2006

Richard K. Paglinawan

James T. Kunichika

Carol Kouchi Yotsuda

Edward T. Kaanana "Uncle Eddie"

Walter H. K. Paulo "Uncle Walter"

Dr. Terry Shintani

Terry Shintani

Terry Shintani, MD, JD, MPH, KSJ is a physician, attorney, nutritionist, author, lecturer, radio show host and community advocate. He is formally designated a "Living Treasure of Hawaii"....

2007

Malia Craver

George Na'ope

George Na'ope

George Lanakilakekiahialii Naope , born in Kalihi, Hawaii, was a celebrated kumu hula, master Hawaiian chanter, and leading advocate and preservationist of native Hawaiian culture worldwide...

Dr. Terence Rogers

Norman Sakata

Barbara Smith

Dorothy "Aunty Dottie" Thompson

Dottie Thompson

Dorothy Mae Elizabeth Soares Thompson, widely known as Auntie Dottie, was an American festival organizer, who is credited with co-founding and developing the Merrie Monarch Festival. The Merrie Monarch Festival, which is held in Hilo, is Hawaii's premier hula event...

Wally Yonamine

2008

Edwin Mahiai Beamer

Dr. Charles P.K.M. Burrows

Rev. Sam Cox

Benjamin Kodama

Elsie T. Tanaka

2009

Amy Agbayani

Puanani Sonoda Burgess

Sister Joan Chatfield

Bert N. Nishimura

Nalani Olds

2010

S. Stanley Okamoto

Elizabeth Kawohiokalani Ellis Jenkins

Paul Weissich

Reverend Toshihide Numata

Patti Lyons

2011

Josephine Kaukali Fergerstrom

Dr. Claire Ku’uleilani Hughes

Masaru Oshiro

Dr. Jack H. Scaff Jr.,

Dr. Livingston M.F. Wong, MD, FACS