Valley of the Temples Memorial Park

Valley of the Temples Memorial Park is a memorial park located on the Windward (eastern) side of the Hawaiian island of Oʻahu. It is a vast area of lush, rolling green hills at the foot of the Koʻolau mountains, overlooking the sleepy town of Kāneʻohe. Thousands of Buddhist, Shinto, Protestant and Catholic residents of Hawaiʻi are buried in this memorial park.

The park features a 1968 replica of the 11th-century Phoenix Hall of the Byodo-In Buddhist temple complex in Uji, Japan. Inside the main part of the temple is a 9-ft Amida Buddha statue sitting on a gold lotus leaf.

Also on the grounds are large Catholic statues depicting the Passion of Christ, the Virgin Mary, various Catholic saints, crypts and mausoleums of some of the most influential people in Hawaiʻi. Most notable of those interred at the mausoleums of the Valley of the Temples is Walter F. Dillingham, Hawaiian entrepreneur and statesman. For a time, former Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos was interred at a private mausoleum overlooking the Byodo-In Temple.

The Byodo-In Temple is seen several times in the popular television show Lost as the estate of Sun-Hwa Kwon's father in the Season 1 episode "House of the Rising Sun", and is later used as the backdrop for Sun and Jin-Soo Kwon's marriage in the Season 5 finale, "The Incident".

Images