{"id":111157,"date":"2020-02-12T15:52:47","date_gmt":"2020-02-13T01:52:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=111157"},"modified":"2020-03-05T13:48:51","modified_gmt":"2020-03-05T23:48:51","slug":"kimura-living-treasure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2020\/02\/12\/kimura-living-treasure\/","title":{"rendered":"东精影业<\/abbr> Hilo Hawaiian language icon declared Living Treasure"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"Larry
Larry Kimura, center, at the 45th Annual Living Treasures of Hawaiʻi<\/span> Recognition with Bishop Eric Matsumoto, left, and President Pieper Toyama, right, of the Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaiʻi<\/span>. (Photo credit: Alan Kubota)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Larry Kimura<\/strong>, internationally renowned “grandfather” of the revitalization of ʻŌlelo<\/span> Hawaiʻi<\/span> or Hawaiian language, has been named a “Living Treasure of Hawaiʻi”<\/span> by the Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaiʻi<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Kimura is an associate professor of ʻŌlelo<\/span> Hawaiʻi<\/span> and Hawaiian studies at the University of Hawaiʻi<\/span> at Hilo. He is one of four recipients<\/a> honored at this year\u2019s annual awards, joining Hawaiian music and hula legend Robert Cazimero, Japanese brush painter Sachie Saigusa and YMCA<\/abbr> volunteer Hawaiian studies and hula teacher Carolee Nishi.<\/p>\n

The award ceremony was held on February 8, at the 2020 Legislative Assembly Aloha Luncheon and 45th Annual Living Treasures of Hawaiʻi<\/span> Recognition at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikīkī.<\/p>\n

Kimura was honored for his extraordinary commitment to the preservation and use of Hawaiʻi<\/span>\u2019s<\/span> indigenous language<\/a>. The Honpa Hongwanji Mission recognized Kimura\u2019s stewardship as a kumu or teacher of ʻŌlelo<\/span> Hawaiʻi<\/span> for nearly 50 years at both 东精影业<\/abbr> Mānoa and 东精影业<\/abbr> Hilo, and for developing curricula for Hawaiian immersion schools across the state that touched multiple generations of speakers from keiki to kupuna.<\/p>\n

Ensuring Hawaiʻi<\/span>\u2019s mother tongue survives<\/h2>\n
\"Larry
Larry Kimura<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One of Kimura\u2019s most notable achievements was helping to restore Hawaiʻi<\/span>\u2019s mother tongue in the 1980s when he co-founded ʻAha<\/span> Pūnana Leo<\/a>, the state\u2019s first Hawaiian language immersion preschool. Kimura continues contributing to restore the language as the chairperson of the Hawaiian Lexicon Committee based at 东精影业<\/abbr> Hilo\u2019s Hale Kuamoʻo<\/span> Hawaiian Language Center<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Kimura is the co-principal investigator for a National Science Foundation and National Endowment for the Humanities grant to digitize and archive spoken Native Hawaiian speech<\/a>. He has collected approximately 525 hours of first language Hawaiian speakers recorded during the Ka Leo Hawaiʻi<\/span> radio program starting in the 1970s. It is the largest collection of the spoken Native Hawaiian word. He is currently working on a digital repository to make these recordings accessible to future generations.<\/p>\n

A prolific composer, Kimura is also credited across 47 albums, tapes and CDs<\/abbr> for his songs and chants. He served as one of the consultants in creating a Hawaiian language certification program for Hawaiian Airlines employees<\/a> to encourage Hawaiian to be spoken and shared with passengers on board their flights.<\/p>\n

Kimura\u2019s love and passion for ʻŌlelo<\/span> Hawaiʻi<\/span> is keeping the history, beauty and essence of Hawaiʻi<\/span> alive.<\/p>\n

For more, visit the 东精影业<\/abbr> Hilo Stories<\/em> website.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Larry Kimura helped revitalize ʻŌlelo<\/span> Hawaiʻi<\/span> when he co-founded the state\u2019s first Hawaiian language immersion preschools.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[598,33,1057,14,907],"class_list":["post-111157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-faculty-recognition","tag-hawaiian","tag-hawaiian-language","tag-uh-hilo","tag-uh-hilo-stories","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111157"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":112492,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111157\/revisions\/112492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}