City to relocate Japanese archery range following opposition from Kaimuki residents

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – City park officials are revising plans for Oahu’s first public Japanese archery range after Kaimuki residents rallied against it.

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The roughly $1 million kyudojo would have sat on about half an acre of Mau‘umae Nature Park.

But on Tuesday, city officials announced they are seeking a new site.

In a press release, the city said, “Though the effort received support from the area’s Neighborhood Board, additional public sentiment against the project and developing site conditions played a role in the decision to forgo Mau‘umae as a location of the kyudojo.”

Neighbors expressed resistance to the range since the city announced the public-private partnership with the Hawaii Kyudo Foundation last year.

“I don’t see a great benefit of taking away the minimal green space that is accessible to people and putting more concrete over that space,” said Kaui Lopes, who grew up across the street from the park.

Critics feared for their safety, saying they lacked confidence in a plan for 8 to 10 ft. netting around the kyudojo.

“How impactful are these netting that is going to help, supposed to deter the arrows from getting into the spaces, the public spaces that people are utilizing?” Lopes questioned.

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Bob Dewitz of the Hawaii Kyudo Foundation said, “Our facility was engineered with permanent barriers erected that would preclude arrows from leaving the archery range at all. So that’s been a hard issue to get people to understand. So we’re just going to keep repeating that until hopefully we can convey that message because we’re concerned about safety.”

With safety in mind, the Hawaii Kyudo Foundation will still use the same design in its partnership with the city.

Dewitz said he hopes the project can get another shot at a central location “so it’s convenient for the folks from the windward side, from the west side and from the east side.”

Any altered details of the kyudojo plan, as well as possible new locations, are still in the works.

Wherever the kyudojo ends up, the Hawaii Kyudo Foundation plans to build and help maintain the city-owned facility.

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