Lead Story – Kadomatsu and Cultural Identity

S. Sanae (Imada) Tokumura
Special to The Hawai‘i Herald

Got kadomatsu, or kadomatsu plans? If not, there’s still time to gather the essential pine boughs and other symbolic elements to create Hawai‘i’s essential New Year’s decoration. Kadomatsu, literally “gate pine,” is originally a

Shintö practice, but placing kadomatsu outside homes and/or businesses is largely no longer a religious ritual in Hawai‘i. Rather, it has become a nostalgic, stylish, generationally honored cultural tradition.