Fonds F2956 - Raymond Buddhist Temple fonds

Raymond Buddhist Temple was established July 1, 1929 by Japanese residents of Raymond, Alberta, including Kyojun Iwasa, Yoshio Hatanaka, Yoichi Hironaka, Tanesaburo Kosaka, Eita Sonomura, Takejiro Koyata, Kisaburo Sugimoto and Buhachi Nishimura. The temple purchased a school building from the Mormon Church and it was remodeled into a temple. Membership blossomed during the Second World War when Japanese Canadians were interned, many in southern Alberta. The Church was organized into several departments including: Bukkyo-kai (administrative body), Ho-onkai (elders), Fujin-kai (ladies auxiliary) Young Adult Buddhist Association and Young Buddhist Association, Junior Young Buddhist Association, Sunday School, Japanese Language School, Kobai (store), Audio-visual, and Budo-keon-kai (group that encourages Bushido of Japan). Ministers of the church have included: Rev. Shinjo Nagatomi (1930-1933), Rev. Yutetsu Kawamura (1934-1940), Rev. Shinjo Ikuta (1942-1951), Rev. Ensei Nekoda (1950-1951); from 1951 to 1964 the temple was governed by the Alberta Kyoku and Revs. Nekoda and Kawamura served the Raymond Temple. In 1964 Rev. Leslie Kawamura took over. The Temple disbanded about 1993.