Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kalonakikeke

“There has never been any agreement, as to the origin of this isolated island people, or the reasons why this type is only found scattered over all the solitary islands in the eastern part of the Pacific.”  (Thor Heyerdahl)

Solomon Lehuanui Kalaniomaiheuila Peleioholani (also called Peleioholani the 4th or Lehuanui, or simply, Peleioholani) (1843-1916) was the son of Peleioholani (uncle to the Kings Kamehameha IV and Kamehameha V) and Piikeakaluaonalani (mother.)

His great grandfather was the high chief Keʻeaumoku (father of Kaʻahumanu,) one of the ablest supporters of Kamehameha I.

As a boy, Peleioholani was the protégé of Kamehameha IV and his Queen Emma and the companion of their son Prince Albert (“Ka Haku O Hawaiʻi, “The Lord of Hawaiʻi.”)

During the short life of the little Prince, Peleioholani was his playmate, and both were treated with utmost respect by all they met. During this time, Peleioholani lived at the residence of Kekūanāo’a (hānai father of Bernice Pauahi Bishop.)  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, January 22, 1902)

In 1874, he returned to Hawaiʻi and was a well-respected genealogist.  For many, Peleioholani was considered an important Hawaiian antiquarian and the final word in Hawaiian genealogy, especially of the chiefs and royal families.

Peleioholani was a High Chief, and in many ways both the pinnacle and terminus of the old royal blood lines from Maui, Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi and Kauai.

His grandparents were among those who sided with Kamehameha I to achieve unity of the islands. His father was an uncle to the Kings Kamehameha IV and Kamehameha V and he was himself one of the highest ranking chiefs in the Hawaiian Islands.  (kekoolani-org)

He also wrote of the Hawaiian history.  One work, ‘The Ancient History of Hookumu-ka-lani Hookumu-ka-honua,’ was a commentary of the ancient Hawaiian cosmogonies (creation theories.)

One of Peleioholani’s theories in that book notes, “The ancestors of the Hawaiian race came not from the islands the South Pacific – for the immigrants from that direction were late arrivals there – but from the northern direction (welau lani,) that is, from the land of Kalonakikeke, now known as Alaska.”

“According to this tradition, a great flood that occurred during the reign of Kahiko-Luamea on the continent of Ka-Houpo-o-Kane, (“The Bosom of Kane”) and carried away a floating log of wood named Konikonihia.”

“On this log was a precious human cargo and it came to rest on the land of Kalonakikeke (“Alaska”).”

“On this log were the first man and woman who came to Kalonakikeke from the continent of Ka-Houpo-o-Kane, they were Kalonakiko-ke (“Mr Alaska”) and his wife Hoomoe-a-pule (“Woman of my dreams”).”

“They were said to both be high chiefs of the countries of Kanaka-Hikina (“Person of the east”) and Kanaka-Komohana (“Person of the west”) and were descended from the great great ancestor Huka-ohialaka.”

“Many generations later, Chief Nuu, travelled with his wife, Lilinoe, their three sons and their three wives in a canoe called Ka-Waa-Halau-Alii-O-Ka-Moku (“The royal canoe of the continent”), and it rested upon Mauna Kea (“White Mountain”), on the island of Hawaii. They were the first Hawaiians.”

“According to Hawaiian genealogies, Chief Nuu lived around 200 BCE. (This agrees closely with the genetic evidence showing the time of arrival of Polynesians in the Pacific)”  (Peleioholani; Poepoe translation; UC Riverside)

© 2023 Ho‘okuleana LLC

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Ala Moana Beach Park and ʻĀina Moana (Magic Island)

In 1899, the coastal road from Honolulu Harbor to Waikīkī, formerly called the “Beach Road,” was renamed “Ala Moana.”

At the beginning of the twentieth-century, this stretch of coast makai of Ala Moana Boulevard was the site of the Honolulu garbage dump, which burned almost continually.  The residue from burned rubbish was used to reclaim neighboring wetlands (which later were more commonly referred to as “swamp lands.”)

In the 1920s, Kewalo Basin was constructed and by the 1930s was the main berthing area for the sampan fleet and also the site of the tuna cannery, fish auction, shipyard, ice plant, fuel dock and other shore-side facilities.

In 1928, a channel was dredged through the coral reef to connect the Ala Wai Boat Harbor and the Kewalo Basin, so boats could travel between the two.  Part of the dredge material helped to reclaim swampland that was filled in with dredged coral.

When the area became a very popular swimming beach, the channel was closed to boat traffic.

The City and County of Honolulu started cleaning up the Ala Moana area in 1931. They used funds provided by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal Project to create a city park in the Ala Moana area.

Back in the early twentieth century, most playgrounds consisted of large areas of pavement used to get children off of the street and had no aesthetic value.

In 1933, Harry Sims Bent was chosen as the park architect for the City and County of Honolulu.  Bent’s design went beyond the modern level and into the realm of art deco, allowing for play, as well as contact with nature.  His works at Ala Moana include the canal bridge, entrance portals, sports pavilion, banyan courtyard and the lawn bowling green.

President Roosevelt participated in the dedication of the new 76-acre “Moana Park” in 1934 (it was later renamed Ala Moana Park in 1947.)  During his visit to the islands, Roosevelt also planted a kukui tree on the grounds of the ʻIolani Palace.

Ala Moana Park was developed on a swamp and the Honolulu garbage dump.

In the mid-1950s, reef rubble was dredged to fill in the old navigation channel (between Kewalo and the Ala Wai); it was topped with sand brought from Keawaʻula Beach (Yokohama Beach) in Waianae.

At the same time, a new swimming channel was dredged parallel to the new beach, extending 400-feet offshore; in addition, the west end of the fronting channel was closed by a landfill project that was part of the Kewalo Basin State Park project.  A large fringing reef remained off-shore protecting the beach area.

Reportedly, in 1955, Henry Kaiser was the first to propose building two artificial islands and six hotels over the fringing reef.  His proposal included inlets for boats, walkways and bridges. He called it Magic Island and offered to pay the $50-million cost.  (Sigall, Star-Advertiser)

In 1958, a 20-page booklet was sent to Congress to encourage them to turn back Ala Moana Reef to the Territory of Hawaiʻi for the construction of a “Magic Island.”  Local businessmen and firms paid half the cost and the Territory paid half through the Economic Planning & Coordination Authority)   (Dillingham interests were among contributors, Henry J. Kaiser interests were not.)   (Honolulu Record, February 13, 1958)

The booklet puts forth the argument that “Tourist development is our most important immediate potential for economic expansion,” and displays pictures of the crowded Waikiki area to show the lack of room for expansion.  Then it directs the reader’s attention to land that can be reclaimed from the sea by utilizing reefs, especially the 300-acre area of Ala Moana Reef.  (Honolulu Record, February 13, 1958)

It was supposed to be part of a new high scale beachfront resort complex with a half-dozen hotels that would have included two islands built on the fringing reef, offshore of the Ala Moana Park.

The Interest of the Dillingham’s in developing off-shore areas is obvious, since Hawaiian Dredging is the only local company large enough to undertake such sizable dredging operations.

The Dillingham interest in the current “Magic Island” project is more obvious because of the immediate increase in value it would bring to Dillingham land mauka of Ala Moana Boulevard.  (Honolulu Record, February 13, 1958)

The Dillinghams figure to do the dredging and construction of Magic Island, itself, of course, and it must be recalled that the original Dillingham idea was to use Ala Moana Park for hotels and apartments and build the reef island for a park.  (Honolulu Record, May 15, 1958)

But now that Magic Island is being proposed as a hotel and apartment site, it doesn’t mean for a moment the first plan has necessarily been abandoned. There is good reason to fear Ala Moana Park may be wiped out entirely so far as the people of Oahu are concerned if they don’t keep alert and guard” against every effort to encroach upon it.  (Honolulu Record, May 15, 1958)

Substantial changes were made from the more extensive original plan for the Ala Moana reef; rather than multiple islands for several resort hotels built on the reef flat off of the Ala Moana Park, in 1964 a 30-acre peninsula, with “inner” and “outer” beaches for protected swimming, was constructed adjoining the Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor and Ala Wai Canal outlet.

The project stopped after the development of “Magic Island,” leaving the State with a man-made peninsula, which they converted into a public park.

In 1972 the State officially renamed Magic Island to ‘Āina Moana (“land [from the] sea”) to recognize that the park is made from dredged coral fill. The peninsula was turned over the city in a land exchange and is formally known as the ‘Āina Moana Section of Ala Moana Beach Park, but many local residents still call it Magic Island.

Between 1955 and 1976 the beach eroded, and in 1976, more sand was brought in from Mokuleʻia on the north coast of Oʻahu.

© 2023 Hoʻokuleana LLC

 

 

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

‘Ue o Muite Arukou’

On December 10, 1941, Hiroshi Sakamoto welcomed his ninth child into the world with his second wife Iku. Called Hisashi, the alternate kanji reading of his given name was Kyu (pronounced ‘cue’), meaning nine. He was subsequently given the nickname Kyu-chan.

During World War II, Hisashi and his family were forced to evacuate from Kawasaki and headed to his grandparents’ house in Kasama City, Ibaraki Prefecture.

On the way there, they were riding in a vehicle that collided with a train at Tsuchiura Station and fell into a river resulting in a number of fatalities. Fortunately for the Sakamotos, they had transferred to another vehicle shortly before the accident.

Kyu was just 20 months old at the time, but when told about the incident, he believed the God of Kasama Inari Shrine protected his family.

When his parents divorced in 1956, Kyu and two other siblings adopted their mother’s maiden name, Oshima. The older children kept their father’s surname, Sakamoto.

In 1958, 16-year-old Sakamoto joined The Drifters (then known as Sons of Drifters), but ended up quitting after six months due to in-house fighting. One of the main reasons for this was his dissatisfaction with being the second vocalist.

He then joined his classmate in a band called Danny Iida & Paradise King before going solo. The Drifters, meanwhile, went on to become the most famous rock/comedy group in the country and, in 1966, supported The Beatles at the Budokan.  

Kyu became famous for a song.  First released in Japan in 1961, Sakamoto’s seminal track, “Ue o Muite Arukou” was composed by Hachidai Nakamura with lyrics by Rokusuke Ei.

“Ue o Muite Arukou” became a global phenomenon and in 1965 an instrumental version was played over the radio by NASA for astronauts aboard Gemini 7, on what was the 21st crewed spaceflight.

Down the years it has been covered or sampled in various languages by numerous artists including A Taste of Honey, 4 PM, Selena and Avicii on his posthumous album “Tim.” The original has featured in several movies and dramas such as “M*A*S*H,” “Charlie’s Angels,” “Mad Men” and the Ghibli Film “From Up on Poppy Hill.”

More than just a one-hit-wonder, Sakamoto continued to have a successful career after “Ue o Muite Arukou” as an actor, presenter and more famously as a singer thanks to tracks such as “Ashita ga Arusa” (“There’s Always Tomorrow”) and “Miagete Goran Yoru no Hoshi o” (“Look up at the Stars at Night”).

Though Sakamoto is most well-known as a singer, he also appeared in numerous films including the movie adaption of Higuchi Ichiyo’s famous novel “Takekurabe,” Seijun Suzuki’s “Subete ga Kurutteru” (“Everything Goes Wrong”) and Yoji Yamada’s “Kyu-chan no Dekkai Yume” (“Kyu-chan’s Big Dream”).

In 1965, he provided the voice for lead character Ted in the animated feature, “Gulliver’s Travels Beyond the Moon.” A young Hayao Miyazaki, working as an in-between artist, impressed Toei with his contribution to the end of the animated production.

Wanting to use his fame to help give back to those less fortunate, Sakamoto did a lot of work for charity during his career. In the 1960s, he held a concert to raise money for the Tokyo Paralympics, which was struggling for funding. He was most passionate about supporting children with disabilities, particularly those who were blind or visually impaired.

In 1979, he released “Soshite Omoide,” Japan’s first song in sign language. At that time, sign language was prohibited at deaf schools so people studied it independently.

Tragically, Sakamoto was killed when Japan Airlines Flight 123 crashed in 1985. He was 43 years old. Due to faulty repairs, the plane crashed into a ridge near Mount Osutaka just over 30 minutes into the journey.

All 15 crew and 505 out of 509 passengers died, for a total of 520 deaths and only 4 survivors. It was one of the worst single airline disasters in history.

Oh, Kyu Sakamoto’s famous song “Ue o Muite Arukou”, we know it as ‘Sukiyaki.’  (They named it such as it is easier to pronounce for Americans, and it is a word that people associate with Japan. Sukiyaki is a kind of Japanese dish and has nothing to do with the song.)

The song topped the US pop charts for three weeks in 1963. It is the only Japanese language song to hit #1 in the US. It sold over 13 million copies internationally.  (ThoughtCo)

Here is Kyu Sakamoto and Ue o Muite Arukou, “Sukiyaki:”

During a stop in Hawai‘i, Sakamoto told reporters, “Songs and laughter have a common language all over the world.  I hope to show American audiences what the Japanese younger generation actually is and to let them know the wonderful meaning of the original title of the sukiyaki song.” (Sakamoto, SB, Aug 14, 1963).

“Ue o Muite Arukou,” is a song about loss that translates across languages and cultures. It’s at once sorrowful and hopeful. The light melody bubbles at the surface and sparks joy in listeners.

Yet the lyrics are more bittersweet and sad. It’s a song about loss, love and alienation. And it perfectly captures the mixed emotions listeners may feel in the wake of a loved one’s death.

Although “Ue o Muite Arukou” is a song that any listener can understand on an emotional level, the tune actually has layers of meaning under the surface. For instance, when you first read the song’s lyrics, they appear to be about a young couple falling out of love.

Kyu Sakamoto sings, “Ue o muite arukou” (I look up as I walk); “Namida ga kobore naiyouni” (So the tears won’t fall); “Omoidasu harunohi” (Remembering those happy spring days); “Hitoribotchi no yoru.” (But tonight I’m all alone.)

But the inspiration for the song’s mournful lyrics wasn’t love or the loss of a loved one at all. Lyricist Rokusuke Ei wrote these words in response to political tension and protests in Japan during the 1950s. 

Although WWII had ended, the US still had a strong military presence in Japan, and many Japanese youth felt alienated by this continued military occupation.

Young people in Japan were protesting against the Japanese government’s security treaty with the US.  Yet despite their efforts, the two governments agreed to the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security. (SevenPonds)

Later, the group A Taste of Honey recorded English words to the melody, turning it into a hit for a second time in the 1980s. The English words made popular by A Taste of Honey were not a translation of the Japanese version of the song but probably revived interest in the original Japanese version. (Hawaii Herald) (Lots of information here is from TokyoWeekender.)

© 2023 Ho‘okuleana LLC

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Sea Bathing

Even the most rudimentary plumbing was unknown before Captain Cook’s arrival. The ancient Hawaiians depended on streams and springs for their water supply, sometimes carrying calabashes of water great distances over rugged terrain. They bathed in streams, mountain pools, ʻauwai (irrigation ditches,) shore pools and the sea.  (Schmitt)

In the late-19th Century, Waikīkī’s shoreline was mostly a day-use beach; overnight accommodations were scarce.  Visitors, usually residents of Honolulu, would arrive via horse-drawn carriage, on horseback or in a canoe.  (White)

“The most popular resort of the people of Oʻahu is the famous Waikīkī … Waikīkī is the seaside and pleasure-resort of the island. … There are a number of private residences, picturesque-looking bungalows and cottages, but all airy, comfortable, and close to the murmuring sea. A beautiful grove of towering coconut-trees adds to the tropical charm of the place.”  (Musick, 1898)

“The sea bathing is simply perfection. The water is never chilly; and yet it is most healthful and invigorating. The bottom is of nice smooth sand, always warm and pleasant to the feet. There is no fear of undertow or of any finny monsters. Not only is it pleasant to bathe here during the day, but moonlight bathing is indulged in. … It is a novelty, worth seeing, if not worth trying.  (Whitney, 1895)

Just as “sea bathing” were gaining popularity on the American and European continents, private bathhouses, like the Long Branch Baths, Ilaniwai Baths and Wright’s Villa, began to appear in Waikīkī.  (White)

“Bath-houses that equal those in Long Branch (New Jersey) are found here, and sea-bathing in January is as pleasant as in July. There is no clearer water, no finer beach, no smoother bottom in any of the many famous watering-places than are found at Waikīkī.”  (Musick, 1898)

Bathhouses served customers with bathing suits and towel rentals, dressing rooms and each access to the beach. Initially, bathhouses served only day-use recreation of visitors, but eventually some of them began to offer overnight rooms.

One of the first of these bathhouses was the “Long Branch Baths,” named after a popular New Jersey resort. This long wooden shed was built near the edge of ‘Āpuakēhau Stream by James Dodd in 1881 at the former residence of Kākuhihewa.  (CulturalSurveys)

“There are now forty two dressing rooms for gentlemen and eighteen boudoirs for ladies. To these accommodations will be added a bathing platform 100-feet along the beach by 80-feet wide and a trapeze and spring board attached. There will also be a restaurant and when the whole is finished we may expect to have occasionally to report aquatic feats of considerable magnitude.”    (Hawaiian Gazette, May 28, 1889)

At that time, the Waikīkī beach area in Ulukou and Kahaloa was dotted with small cottages and some bathing houses. These “bathing houses,” placed strategically near the beach, were places where people could change into their bathing suits, rent towels, and walk directly into the ocean.  (CulturalSurveys)

“At “Long Branch Baths” the bather may find deep water and at a temperature which will surprise him, permitting a two or more, hours enjoyment in plunging and bathing in the pure waters. Here sun and sand baths may be indulged in.”  (Godfrey, 1898)

Dodd, who also ran a livery station, also offered round trip ‘omnibus’ mule-drawn bus service from Honolulu to Waikīkī, which included the use of the Long Branch.

Another attraction was a 200-foot long marine toboggan, where “for a nickel, riders could climb a ladder to the top of the run, mount a ‘star oval board’, zip down the chute and ricochet across the water …, skipping along like a flat pebble.” This toboggan was built on the west side of the bathhouse in 1889 by Jim Sherwood, a later owner of the Long Branch Bathhouse.

“The toboggan itself is a wooden frame with a turn up end upon which the bather reclines and the pleasure is in the swiftness of motion over the chute.  When the bather reaches the water his toboggan skips on the surface for some distance from fifty to one hundred feet in proportion to the momentum acquired in the descent and then he has to swim ashore and propel his toboggan to a landing.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, May 28, 1889)

During the 1870s and 1880s, Honolulu residents in growing numbers went out to enjoy the sea bathing at Waikīkī.  Local writers spoke of it as the Long Branch, Newport, Brighton or Trouville of Hawaiʻi.  (Kuykendall)

In 1875 or earlier, Allen Herbert proprietor of the Hawaiian Hotel in Honolulu, “provided a cottage at the sea-shore at Waikīkī … where guests can go and spend the day, or merely enjoy a morning or evening bath in the ocean.”

Apparently this was only a beach house and not a hotel for overnight accommodation of guests; it is uncertain how long the arrangement continued.  (Kuykendall)

The first hotels in Waikīkī were bathhouses, such as the Long Branch Baths, began to offer rooms for overnight stays in the 1880s.  The first beachside hotel, the Park Beach, was a converted home which offered 10 rooms, each equipped with a bath and telephone.

As time passed, more found their way into the district, at first as visitors to enjoy the beach and the sea bathing, and then as residents, especially when access was made easier by the construction of a road (sometime in the 1860s.)

Toward the end of that decade an omnibus began running to Waikīkī, providing the only public transportation to that resort until the tramcar line reached there at the beginning of 1889. (Kuykendall)

© 2023 Hoʻokuleana LLC

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

James Melville Monsarrat

James Melville Monsarrat was born June 13, 1854, in Honolulu.  On his paternal side Monsarrat is descended from Nicholas Monsarrat, who went to Dublin, Ireland, in 1755 from France. MC Monsarrat, his father, resided in Canada before coming to Hawaii.

The elder Mr. Monsarrat was a figure in the public life of Hawaii in the 1850s, being at one time deputy collector of customs and later entering the lumber firm of Dowsett & Co., which was eventually absorbed by S. G. Wilder &  Co. He died on October 18, 1871.

Through his mother Monsarrat is a descendant of Captain Samuel James Dowsett, a native of Rochester, Kent, England, and a commander in His Majesty’s Colonial Service, who, as owner and master of the brig “Wellington,” came to Hawaii from Sydney July 27, 1828, and established his family in Honolulu.

James Monsarrat was educated at Episcopal Grammar School (Honolulu), Oahu College (Punahou).  Returning to his father’s native land in 1871, he studied at Kilkenny College, Ireland.

For two years, and, traveling extensively, he was privately tutored in the French language at Brussels, Belgium, in 1873. He later attended Harvard University Law School, receiving  his LL.B. degree, class of 1878.

Before returning to Hawaii, he was with the law firm of Ely & Smith, New York City, for a short time. He was then admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of the Hawaiian Islands, Aug. 22, 1879.

He became active in public life, holding the office of deputy attorney general under W Claude Jones, Attorney General, and was secretary of the legislative assembly in 1880.

During his practice Judge Monsarrat drew the will of Queen Emma and of Princess Likelike. The will of Queen Emma was later contested without success by Prince Albert Kunuiakea.

“There are many legacies mentioned in the will. Some are to native Hawaiians, one is to a Chinaman, and to the St. Andrew’s School for Girls, and the Queen’s Hospital, a chartered institution, a large share of the property is left.” (Hawai‘i Supreme Court)

Queen Emma left the bulk of her estate, some 13,000 acres of land on the Big Island and in Waikiki on Oahu, in trust for the hospital that honors her.

The Queen’s Medical Center mission is to fulfill the intent of Queen Emma and King Kamehameha IV to provide in perpetuity quality health care services to improve the well-being of Native Hawaiians and all the people of Hawaii.

Princess Likelike was the sister of a King and Queen – and the daughter of High Chief Kapaʻakea and Chiefess Analeʻa Keohokālole – her sister became Queen Liliʻuokalani and her brothers were King Kalākaua and William Pitt Leleiōhoku.

On September 22, 1870, Princess Likelike was married to Honolulu businessman Archibald Scott Cleghorn.  The Cleghorns had one child Kaʻiulani (born on October 16, 1875) – “the only member of the Royal Family having issue.” (Daily Herald, February 3, 1887)

In 1887 when Master of Hawaiian Masonic Lodge, Monsarrat assisted in conferring the Mark Master’s degree on King Kalakaua at Iolani Palace.

Monsarrat married Carrie Capitola Tuttle in Honolulu, February 11, 1907. He was appointed District Magistrate of Honolulu, May 8, 1911 to May 31, 1917.  He was later an examiner of titles for the Land Court.  

Judge Monsarrat consolidated his professional interests in 1926, when he organized the Monsarrat Abstract and Title Co., his nephew, Marcus R Monsarrat, became associated with him at that time.

Judge Monsarrat was a member of the Outrigger Canoe, Harvard and British Clubs, and the Harvard Law School Association.  He died September 20, 1943 in Honolulu.

© 2023 Ho‘okuleana LLC