John R. K Clark

Softcover, 216 pp.

Written by an authority on Hawaiʻi's beaches and water safety, Guardian of the Sea shines a light on a little-known facet of Hawaiʻi's past. It incorporates valuable firsthand accounts taken from interviews with nissei (second-generation) fishermen and residents and articles from Japanese language newspapers dating as far back as the early 1900s. In addition to background information on Jizo as a guardian deity and historical details on Jizo statues in Hawaiʻi, the author discusses shore casting techniques and organizations, which once played a key role in the lives of local Japanese. Although shore casting today is done more for sport than subsistence, it remains an important ocean activity in the Islands. In examining Jizo and the lives of issei, Guardian of the Sea makes a significant contribution to our understanding of recent Hawaiʻi history.