In 1914 Reverend Kaiseki Kodama arrived in Kona and held services at the former Hanato Store which was located across the street from the present temple. He walked around the entire island twice in order to collect donations to build a temple. In 1915, the first temple, a small thatched structure was built a few hundred yards above and to the north of the present site. It was named Hakuhozan Daifukuji (Temple of Great Happiness on White Mountain Peak) by the Zen abbots of Sōtō temples Eihei-ji and Sōji-ji in Japan. The site is in the area known as Honalo, Hawaii in the Kona district on the western slopes of Mauna Loa. Although white mountain is a translation in the Hawaiian language of the name Mauna Kea, the other main peak on the island of Hawaiʻi, snow often covers Mauna Loa in winter as well.