When she was 12, Chizu Helen Iwanaga began playing piano for temple services at the Stockton Buddhist Temple.
But the repertoire of Buddhist music back then was thin. Western music wasn’t a part of the Japanese Buddhist tradition, so temples had adapted Christian hymns.
Mrs. Iwanaga changed that. A pioneer in Buddhist music, she composed Buddhist gathas, or hymns, and organized and conducted choirs in several temples.
She died last Tuesday from complications after a fall and a heart attack. She was 92.
Mrs. Iwanaga was a small, energetic woman full of passion. She loved cooking, gardening, the Food Network, the 49ers, the Giants and Ichiro Suzuki, her family said.
Even when she was hospitalized after her fall, she was making sure her family was cared for, said her daughter-in-law, Reiko Iwanaga of Saratoga. “She was a very independent woman.”
She was born Chizu Okamoto in Stockton, where her parents ran a bicycle shop. In 1935, she became one of the first women and first Asian-American graduates of the College of the Pacific, now University of the Pacific, in Stockton, where she majored in music.
She married the Rev. Yoshio Iwanaga, and in 1940 moved with him to Watsonville, where he was the resident minister of the Buddhist temple. The couple had two sons.
Besides composing Buddhist music, Mrs. Iwanaga also organized and conducted choirs at temples in Watsonville, Berkeley, Oakland, Palo Alto and Mountain View, as well as bands and orchestras of Buddhist youth groups.
The Rev. Iwanaga introduced to the United States Bon Odori – traditional Japanese dancing performed during the summer Obon festival that honors the dead. The couple traveled throughout California, teaching at Buddhist temples, with the reverend teaching dance and his wife providing the music.
At the World’s Fair on Treasure Island in 1940, Mrs. Iwanaga directed the Buddhist choir, and her husband led 1,000 dancers in Bon Odori.
In 1942, the Iwanagas were interned with other Japanese-Americans in Poston, Ariz. There, Mrs. Iwanaga organized and directed a group that played big-band-type music for dances.
After the war, the Iwanagas returned to Watsonville and reopened the temple, initially housing returning evacuees who had nowhere to stay. The Rev. Iwanaga died in 1950, and Mrs. Iwanaga continued to help lead the temple. She also taught piano.
In 1956, she moved to Berkeley so her sons could attend the University of California. She worked for many years as a cashier at the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Mrs. Iwanaga later moved to Palo Alto, then to Danville.
She was a gourmet cook, known for her cheesecake, sushi, enchiladas, Chex mix, mashed potatoes and strawberry shortcake, her family said. “She loved having people over,” Reiko Iwanaga said.
“Some of her great-grandchildren called her `Little Little Bachan'” – grandmother – “because she was so small, but despite the nickname, they all recognized that she was larger than life,” said her granddaughter, Maya Iwanaga Pinkner.
CHIZU HELEN IWANAGA
Born: Aug.30, 1914, in Stockton
Died: April10, 2007, in Walnut Creek
Survived by: Son and daughter-in-law, Rio and Kimie Iwanaga of Concord; daughter-in-law, Reiko Iwanaga of Saratoga; sister, Meri Umino of Stockton; sister-in-law, Frances Okamoto of Stockton; six grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren
Services: 2 p.m. today at the Palo Alto Buddhist Temple, 2751 Louis Road
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obituaries/.
