Shōdō Habukawa, an indelible mark on the history of the Meeting

“We will remember Shōdō Habukawa with immense gratitude for his profound cordiality and for his exemplary commitment to dialogue and peace. Habukawa left an indelible mark on the history of the Meeting. With this gratitude we will share news of his passing with all the friends of the Meeting.”

These are the words with which the President of the Meeting, Bernhard Scholz, recalled the luminous figure of Habukawa, a Japanese Buddhist monk and one of the leading authorities of Shingon Buddhism, a friend of the Meeting since 1988 and a speaker at the event twenty times until 2017. In November 2011, a delegation from the Meeting visited Mount Koya: this experience is documented in the volume “The Ways of the Heart – A Journey between Italy and Japan”. In 2012, Habukawa also curated an exhibition on Mount Koya, dedicated to Shingon religiosity and art, highlighting the closeness between Italian Catholics and Japanese Buddhists after the 2011 earthquake.

This is how Emilia Guarnieri, former President of the Meeting and a personal friend of Habukawa, remembers him.

Our dearest friend Professor Shodo Habukawa has left us and has reached that intimacy with the Mystery that he always desired throughout his life. A friend of the Meeting, but also a personal friend to those of us who had the honor and the gift of meeting him. A friendship that brought him to the Meeting many times, but one that, as he loved to recount, was born from another friendship, the one with Luigi Giussani.

It was June 1987: Giussani was in Japan for a conference and, through a series of encounters and circumstances, found himself climbing Mount Koya, the center of Shingon Buddhism, where Habukawa was then master of novices. “I will never forget that extraordinary day as long as I live, when Monsignor Giussani appeared before my eyes. We remained embraced in silence for a few moments, without the need to say a word.” From the encounter with Giussani to the encounter with the Meeting was a short step.

I still remember the early years of his participation, when the harmony and affection that were growing between us coexisted with a certain degree of inevitable formalism, due to respect for traditions, rituals and gestures. But soon friendship prevailed over everything. Because, as Habukawa said in one of his talks, Mystery generates friendship. And Mystery was the great presence that dominated his life. He always held his rosary in his hands, and I remember how the slight movement of his lips was the sign that the passing of those beads marked an uninterrupted dialogue with Someone real and present in his heart.

How many times, through the words of Habukawa and the monks who accompanied him each year to Rimini, had we heard about the beauty of Mount Koya and seen its images! Finally, in October 2011, we too were able to experience the charm of those places, where the beauty of nature and the attraction of its Creator appear in an evident yet mysterious dialogue. In the context of a cultural initiative promoted by the Italian Embassy, in which the Meeting was also involved, we had the opportunity to spend two days at Mount Koya. Cultural meetings, seminars, relationships: an immense richness and some unforgettable moments. The long morning prayer that Habukawa (by then rector) celebrated in splendid golden vestments, and the chapel where, with moved amazement, we found on the altar the photo of John Paul II, of Giussani and of Don Francesco Ricci, for whom the monks prayed every day. Habukawa’s hospitality and tenderness even extended to preparing for us, at breakfast, what we Italians might enjoy. I have always wondered where, in that place, they found coffee and croissants!

The Meeting is grateful to Professor Habukawa, just as I personally am grateful to him. For honoring me with his friendship. For giving me his affection and esteem. For witnessing such an intense relationship with the Mystery. For accompanying us in those first steps of real dialogue and relationship with other religions which, over time, has become a distinctive feature of the Meeting.

This beautiful and mysterious story of friendship continues. Just as in 1987 it was a young Japanese student, Wakako Saito, who accompanied Giussani to Mount Koya, today it is the same dear friend Wakako, now a university lecturer, who carries this story forward. Truly, Mystery generates friendship.

Read the biography and participation at the Meeting of Shōdō Habukawa.