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    Manoa Chinese Cemetery

    4.5 (13 reviews)

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    Entrance
    Nadine C.

    Towards the back of Manoa Valley, past the residential area and the shopping center, you may find this landmark: Hawaii's largest and oldest Chinese cemetery. Simply drive along East Manoa Road and you'll run into its 27 acres of grandeur. It's an unusual place to go for great views of Honolulu since it has an incline, but it also is an interesting place with historical value. Founded in 1851, this cemetery was planned with the help of Feng Shui methods. It was calculated that the "Pulse of the Watchful Dragon" of Manoa Valley is contained at this site. My grandfather on my mother's side used to be buried here. My aunties decided to relocate him to Kaneohe at the Hawaii Memorial Cemetery to be with my grandmother. However, our paternal grandmother and grand uncle have been laid to rest here. Our family used to come here with my dad for Memorial Day and the annual Chinese Bai San tradition - a time to clean the graves of relatives who have passed on. We used to burn paper money, incense, candles, and sometimes fireworks. We also brought food, whiskey, and tea to pay respects to ancestors. I used to enjoy trimming the surrounding grass around the headstones and tossing the rolled and folded silver and gold paper money into the circle of chicken wire which contained the fire... When the oldest relative turns 100 years old, the Bai San ritual can stop, but dad just liked to get together with his cousins and their family, so we continued until dad wasn't able to go any more. We even went a few times with our male cousins in the lead, but the younger generation seems busier with work and extracurricular activities, so we don't visit the graves any longer. I kind of miss those days of hiking through the uneven pathways and hunting for Tai Po and Uncle Kai. Once in a while, I visit Manoa Cemetery and just get some harmony and peace at this beautiful and calm site... It's a kinda cool place!

    Dog
    Angela D.

    A very calm, pretty place to walk through and contemplate life. What can you say about a cemetery? It is a solemn place, for sure. But this is beautifully maintained and I especially like the pet cemetery area with the Chinese Zodiac sculptures. Very pretty.

    Tai Po and Tai Goon

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    6 years ago

    A truly sacred place. One of the most beautiful places on Oahu I have been. I am dying to go back!

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    Review Highlights - Manoa Chinese Cemetery

    On a nice Sunday morning, my family and I came over here for the yearly Chinese Memorial Day aka Bai San.

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    Oahu Mortuary

    Oahu Mortuary

    4.4
    (129 reviews)

    On January 15, 2026 our family suffered the lost of my Dad. It came at a shock as his passing was…read morequick. Oahu Cemetary assisted me through each step of the process in this difficult time. Being that it is an emotional process our coordinator Sherie worked very hard to help in the process as we faced a simple but troubling issue. Despite this Sherie kept in touch and through this we were able to complete the process and retrieve his remains. The urn that I purchased from them was a beautiful Hawaiian Koa box that now holds the remains of both my Mom and Dad together. My Mom passed away back in 2020 during the lockdown and we were unable to do anything for her but handle her cremation. Now with the passing of my Dad, he and my Mom can be together as they were before 2020. They were married for 43 years and finally together again not just in heaven but as their remains sit together in this beautiful urn that was also beautifully engraved. Mahalo Sherie and Oahu Cemetary for helping in closing this final chapter in our family.

    During COVID, they were supposed to be strict with their policy of no more than 10 in attendance…read more So, 10 were scheduled to visit during a specific time while the other half were to come at a later point in time. As a result of not adhering to their safety/COVID policy, it turned out to be a huge issue and a negative experience. I was even told by an employee there, that I would receive a copy of the death certificate, but nothing was provided. I wouldn't recommend this location as the entire experience has caused my family and I trauma.

    Diamond Head Mortuary & Williams Funeral Services

    Diamond Head Mortuary & Williams Funeral Services

    3.4
    (31 reviews)

    The courtesy of the director lady there. She was cold and rude. Our service for my grandmother and…read moreuncle ran a couple minutes over and she kicked us out She threatened that their burial would be canceled if we didn't get out!! The carpet needs to be replaced in the chapel It has stains on the floor.

    This is more of a technical review as well as a review for a specific funeral director since most…read moreother aspects were already covered in other Yelp reviews. I was impressed by the modern technology at the Diamond Head chapel that makes it convenient to display your videos and slide shows. Two large screen monitors are built in the chapel and one was in the lounge area where all share the same images. As an AV person, I can appreciate not having to setup a portable projection screen & projector on table and bring a separate sound system for it that is required at many other funeral venues. The wall monitors are easily visible in the ambient lighting compared to a projector and screen. The audio from the video/slide show were conveniently fed into the house sound system. The podium microphone was a high quality Shure gooseneck condenser microphone so it sounded very clear and the thin gooseneck was unobtrusive. Wyatt, who was the onsite funeral director, was professional, quick, attentive, talented and caring in all aspects of his services. He's not one to stand around doing nothing and has a keen sense of attention to detail as evidenced by him picking up trash to make everything perfect. He surprised us by playing the trumpet during the burial ceremony. Many professional musicians who happened to be in attendance commented on his skillful playing. Turns out he's an accomplished trumpet player as well as an instructor. I would recommend Diamond Head Mortuary and Wyatt as your funeral director.

    Kyoto Gardens of Honolulu Memorial Park

    Kyoto Gardens of Honolulu Memorial Park

    4.0
    (4 reviews)

    Maybe I was Japanese in a previous life. Somehow, I'm drawn to Japanese things, but I've only been…read moreto Japan once. Luckily for me, there are enough Japanese things in Hawaii and LA! I was always curious about the pagoda top that I passed by every day on the way to school and work when I lived in Nu'uanu. After many years, I saw Cara M.'s review when I searched Honolulu Landmarks on this Yelp website! I finally had time yesterday to explore and get a close up look! It was really cool! I parked for free on Craigside Place - the street in the front of the big condominium. It's just a short walk down the paved driveway which is blocked off with orange cones. If you drive to the left, you'll pass by all of the Japanese style graves which are like crypts where urns of family members can be placed together. So - walking down the driveway which curves to the left, you'll arrive at the tall, faded Sanju Pagoda straight ahead. Although the it needs repair and is surrounded by a soft, saggy orange fence, it's still magnificent and beautiful! According to an article in Honolulu Magazine (11-1-06), it is one of the "9 Most Endangered Historic Sites in Hawai'i". It is believed to be the largest pagoda in the world! Before the Sanju Pagoda, to your right, sits a replica of the Kinkaku-ji Temple with the Mirror Lake Garden. It would look better if the water filled the ponds and if the temple were gold in color like the original one in Kyoto, Japan, but I was happy enough to be so close to it! There seems to be some controversy about the maintenance of this Landmark. It may take over $2 million to renovate. If you want to check it out before it falls down, you may want to do it soon... Just be careful!

    After driving on the Pali Highway and seeing the top of that mysterious pagoda every day, I decided…read moreto investigate! and the Internet gave me the Kyoto Gardens of Honolulu Memorial Park, which is the eastern half of the Honolulu Memorial Park and Cemetery. We parked by the graves and walked down to the Sanju Pagoda, an impressive sight in Hawaii! To people from Japan, they'd probably just think that it's old and in SERIOUS need of repairs, but to my friends and I, it was super awesome! A for real pagoda outside of Japan! There was an orange safety fence around it, so we couldn't walk around the pagoda, but it was for the best because it really does look like it can fall down any moment. We then walked down to the replica of Kyoto's famous Kinkaku-ji. Although it doesn't have gold walls, the building looks practically exactly the same as the one in Japan! What makes this replica even more fun is that you can walk right up to it and walk around it, which you can't do with the one in Japan. Good for us! Good for the old building? Probably not... The Mirror Lake Garden was empty of water, so it wasn't really a lake, but we could see how the rocks were placed. It was interesting. If you are a fan of Japanese culture, have gone to Japan, or plan on going soon, the Kyoto Gardens of Honolulu Memorial Park is really nice! Just respect the grounds and don't throw rubbish around.

    Manoa Chinese Cemetery - funeralservices - Updated July 2026

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