Here are two musical offerings from the May 25, 2025, Hawaii Betsuin Memorial Day Service as shared to our Facebook page. 🙏

The Hawaii Betsuin Choir sings “Where Peaceful Waters Flow” by Mary Donnelly at the 2025 Memorial Day Service (excerpt from Zoom recording with captions added).

Video with images set to a 2023 recording of Francis Okano playing “This Precious Thought.” We played the video at the 2025 Memorial Day Service. Here are the words spoken by Francis in 2023 and Dave A. in 2025 to introduce the song.

“Together with other music, this song was written for and first performed at a national observance held in Tokyo in the early 1950s to honor the memory of the 3.1 million people of Japan, including 800,000 civilians, who died during the Pacific War a decade earlier. The lyrics were written by Lady Yoshiko Ohtani, who is the grandmother of the current Gomonshu, and the music was written by Osamu Shimizu, who has written many gathas as well as music for the world stage.

“The words in translation read as follows –

“Within the light,
Amida’s light,
You are embraced,
And so am I,
Oh yes, you and I –

“This precious thought
Brings sorrow’s ease
And a touch of peace
To live.

“This precious thought
Brings sorrow’s ease
And a touch of peace
To live.”