The Gardena Buddhist church has endured for nearly 100 years despite challenges
The first Buddhist churches of any kind in the country were built in the Bay Area in the early 1850s by Chinese migrant workers in the early 1850s.who had come to the U.S. to work in the mining and railroad industries.
The first Japanese Buddhist church in the U.S. was built in San Francisco much later, in 1899. It was preceded by a sharp rise in Japanese immigration to the U.S. that can be traced to bad economic conditions in their homeland caused by the 1904-05 Russo-Japanese war.
Large numbers of Japanese immigrants came to the West to work in the agriculture industry. A sizable number settled in the Gardena area, which at that time had so many strawberry farms that it was known informally as “Berryland.”
During World War I, many of the farms were repurposed for the war effort and never returned to their pre-war use. Many of the Issei, as the first generation of immigrants were called, worked plots of land they leased back from landowners after the war. (The Alien Land Law of 1913 forbade Asians from owning land.)
The flow of Japanese immigrants stopped cold with the passage of the Immigration Act of 1924, which specifically banned further Asian immigration. Knowing they could never return to the U.S. if they left, the Issei in Southern California began in earnest to build their cultural infrastructure, including religious organizations.
By the 1920s, there were more than enough practicing Buddhists in the Gardena area to support a free-standing church. In May 1926, the very first iteration of the Gardena Buddhist Church was formed in a small $3,500 building on Main St. near Gardena Blvd.
Two years later, the church opened its school, the Gardena Buddhist Church Japanese Language School. The church’s minister, Rev. Kosei Ogura, performed double duty as principal of the school. He held the posts from 1928 to 1980.
Before World War II, the school’s students were required to be the offspring of church members and practicing Buddhists. These restrictions were removed after the war.
The church itself grew rapidly in its early years. In May 1931, church leaders purchased a larger plot of land at what is now the church’s current location, 1517 166th St. in Gardena. The original church building was moved to the new lot, and an addition was built onto it. It opened in November 1931.
In 1938, a new church building was erected on the west end of church property at a cost of $18,000. The school moved into the former original church building.
The Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor and the subsequent relocation of Japanese-Americans into internment camps led to the closure of the church and the school for the duration of the war. The church and school buildings were used to store baggage for internees.
In September 1945, the church reopened, and served as a hostel and community center for returning Japanese internees for the next three years. In October 1948, it was allowed to operate as a fully functioning church again.
In February 1959, the church and its congregation began planning for new church and school buildings to replace the aging structures that were then being used. The old school structure would be transformed into a social hall under the plan.
The needed funds, approximately $300,000 for both church and school, were raised, and ground was broken for the new 14-room school building in June 1962. It opened the following November.
The groundbreaking for the new main church building, the fourth in its history, was held in October 1962, and it was completed in 1963. A gala two-day dedication for both new buildings was held on Oct. 5-6, 1963.
At the time, it was considered to be one of the largest Buddhist churches in the country, and it remains the largest in the South Bay and Harbor Area. Its annual Obon Festival honoring the dead draws large crowds every August.
The Gardena Buddhist Church’s story took an unexpected and tragic turn early in the morning on Sunday, July 13, 1980. Starting at about 4 a.m., flames from a fire in the basement ravaged the church buildings, totally gutting everything except the main church’s facade and exterior walls. Damage from the suspected arson was put at $750,000, and many irreplaceable religious artifacts were destroyed.
The church and business communities raised $800,000 in rebuilding funds over the next 16 months. The church’s restoration work was 70 percent complete when a second blaze, also estimated to have been set at 4 a.m., destroyed most of the new construction.
Police arson investigators had been unable to make any arrests in the case. Unbelievably, a third, much smaller fire broke out on Friday, Feb. 12, 1982, again in the church’s basement.
Five months later, John Alden Stieber, a 47-year-old handyman with a history of mental illness turned himself in to Gardena police. He was deemed responsible for setting fires at seven South Bay area churches in all between 1980 and 1982.
At his trial, he was convicted of the crimes but judged not guilty by reason of insanity and sent to a mental hospital. Psychiatrists who examined him said he believed that the Catholic church, the Bank of America and the Japanese people were conspiring together to take over the U.S.
The Gardena Buddhist Church was rebuilt once more, this time with a lower, sleeker roof. The church continues to serve its congregation and community as it nears its 100th anniversary in 2026.
Sources: Daily Breeze archives. Gardena Buddhist Church and Gardena Buddhist Church Japanese Language School websites. Gardena Valley News archives. Los Angeles Times archives. Wikipedia.