About Shinnyo Lantern Floating Hawai‘i

Her Holiness Shinso Ito

Her Holiness Shinso Ito officiates the Shinnyo Lantern Floating Hawaiʻi ceremony each year. She is the current head of Shinnyo-en and is one of the few women to become a Buddhist master and attain the highest priestly rank of Daisojo.

When the founder of Shinnyo-en, Master Shinjo Ito, visited Hawaiʻi in 1970, he paid respects at Punchbowl and the Arizona Memorial. Profoundly moved by this experience, he was inspired with the wish to hold a lantern floating where people could share their hopes for peace.

Recognized as Master Shinjo Ito’s most accomplished disciple, Her Holiness Shinso Ito succeeded him as the head of Shinnyo Buddhism after his passing in 1989, and carried out his wish in the form of Shinnyo Lantern Floating Hawaiʻi on Memorial Day, 1999.

Profoundly aware that a spiritual path must be meaningful for people living today, Her Holiness teaches an engaged form of Buddhism where practitioners see their daily surroundings as their training ground for cultivating their innate “buddha nature” – the seed of enlightenment that can blossom through giving joy to others.

Read her address during the 2024 ceremony here. We hope that her message inspires you to share aloha with those around you.