Clearwater Spiritual Awakening

Saichiro Fujita was born in Japan and moved to the United States when he was 17 years old. Fujita learned about the Bahá’í Faith in California and became a Bahá’í a few years after he came to America. When ‘Abdu’l-Bahá came to North America in 1912, Fujita traveled to Chicago to meet Him.  Fujita traveled for several months with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá throughout His visit to the West Coast of the United States.

Fujita wanted to return to the Holy Land with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, but ‘Abdu’l-Bahá advised him to finish his education. He told him to study electricity and horticulture. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá addressed several tablets to Fujita. In one of these tablets, he addresses Fujita as a ‘fresh plant in the garden of the Love of God!’

After Fujita finished college, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá invited him to come to Haifa, and he arrived in 1919 after the conclusion of World War I. During the last two years of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s life, Fujita served as a host to an ever-growing number of pilgrims coming to the Holy Land from around the world. In addition, over the many years he was in Haifa, Fujita used his knowledge of electricity to install electrical fixtures in the gardens and to maintain and repair automobiles. He also planted many of the gardens throughout the Bahá’í properties. He went on a trip to Cairo, Egypt, with Curtis Kelsey to purchase special wiring needed to illuminate the Shrine of the Báb.

Above all and in all things, Fujita was of devoted service to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and, after His passing, to the beloved Guardian, the Hands of the Cause, and the Universal House of Justice.  When Fujita was asked what he did for ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Fujita said, ‘I never felt that I could do very much for ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.’ Then, after a pause, he added, ‘Sometimes I made him laugh.’  Fujita passed away in Haifa in 1976 at the age of 90, and is buried in the Bahá’í Cemetery at the foot of Mount Carmel.