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Fresno’s “Joss House” Press Photograph

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Often overshadowed by San Francisco, by 1890 Fresno’s Chinatown was one of the largest in California and the center of much religious activity. Notably, among the few surviving 19th century Chinese American religious icons, we can include those from Fresno’s Temple of Many Saints.

The Chinese diaspora community opened many religious centers across the Pacific under the name Temple of Many Saints (liesheng gong 列聖宮) for use among local Chinese immigrants. Fresno’s temple opened in the 1880s and was located on G Street.

This Fresno Bee archival photograph shows three of the five icons displayed on the main altar. Closed to the public in 1936, the temple was demolished in 1965 shortly after this photograph; the temple artifacts were donated to the Fresno Historical Society and were in storage until last year.

The five icons included the Northern Emperor, Guandi, Tianhou, Huatuo, and Caishen, also known as the “God of Wealth” (seen here). At times, the Buddhist figure Guanyin replaced one of these icons in the Temple of Many Saints found across North America, but that was not the case in Fresno.

Guandi (seen here) was a deified historical general and cultural hero who was a symbol of integrity and loyalty. Widely celebrated by many Chinese district associations and fraternal societies, Guandi was arguably the most popular early Chinese American deity.

The Northern Emperor was a celestial deity famed among many immigrants from southern China. Last year, the Chinese American Museum Project and the Fresno Historical Society arranged a “From China to Fresno: A 150-year Cultural Journey” exhibit, see here: tinyurl.com/4jeea4cu.

The Buddhas in the West Material Archive is a digital scholarship project that catalogues artifacts depicting Buddhist material culture for Western audiences. It’s comprised of prints, photos, and an assortment of ephemera and other objects. For a brief introduction to this archive, visit the main Buddhas in the West project page.

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Jerome Camp Amida Shrine News Photograph

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Barbed-wire Buddhas: Buddhist objects were precious – and rare – at American Japanese internment camps during WWII. Here, issei Buddhist priest Rev. Gyōdō Kōno, stands in front of a small shrine to Amida Buddha at the Jerome relocation camp in Arkansas.


In February 1942, Executive Order 9066 was authorized, forcing the incarceration of more than 110,000 Americans of Japanese descent. Most were Buddhist. Japanese Buddhist temples on American soil were closed and only a few small religious items could be brought to the camps.


Often, items like shrines (butsudan), altar tables, and other ritual implements were made from scraps of wood with delicate care.


Buddhist rosaries (o-nenju), like the one held by Rev. Kōno, were important ritual items for the Jodo Shinshu sect.

After leaving the Jerome camp, Rev. Kōno relocated to Chicago and founded the Midwest Buddhist Temple which is still open today.

The Smithsonian National Museum of American History owns one of the internment camp Buddhist shrines from Jerome along with other items from the internment era. The shrine can be viewed here: https://tinyurl.com/yvb3heut

The Buddhas in the West Material Archive is a digital scholarship project that catalogues artifacts depicting Buddhist material culture for Western audiences. It’s comprised of prints, photos, and an assortment of ephemera and other objects. For a brief introduction to this archive, visit the main Buddhas in the West project page.

For Related Buddhas in the West Posts Featuring Historical Photographs:

For the Most Recent Buddhas in the West Posts: