With nearby graves already swallowed by the ocean, sea level rise and coastal erosion are now threatening to destroy an iconic Zen mission and cemetery. A Zen Buddhist graveyard on Maui’s north shore is supposed to be a place of eternal rest. Instead, the cemetery is battling an ever-encroaching sea.
Pounded by relentless surf, an alluvial bluff supporting the cemetery has eroded to the point that waves have washed away dozens of graves containing human remains. Just down the beach, Paia Mantokuji Soto Mission faces a similar fate. Built in 1906 to serve Japanese immigrant laborers, the seaside temple and associated buildings are perched precariously close to the ocean.
Fabric-covered cages filled with sand, called geotechnical containers or revetments, are the only thing keeping the temple and nearby structures from being swept out to sea. The dramatic scene along Mantokuji Bay in lower Paia, where the temple, graveyard, bell tower, commercial kitchen and clergy house are located, is a familiar one playing out across the Hawaiian archipelago. Sea level rise and coastal erosion fueled by climate change are undermining shoreline buildings and devouring beaches statewide, including the sandy habitat that endangered sea turtles use to rest.
Typically 10 or more green sea turtles can be spotted napping on what’s left of the Mantokuji beach although 60 were documented on a single day within the last year. Coastal erosion is a particularly acute problem on Maui where some beach.