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October 2, 2025 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

“Ownership”

“… an underlying principle was that objects not made by the human hand could not be owned, that is they could not be set aside for the exclusive or perpetual use of any individual …” (Linnekin)

‘Kumulipo’ is a prayer of dedication of the chief Lonoikamakahiki to the gods soon after his birth (around 1700.) The ‘pule’ (prayer) was given in around 1700.

The Kumulipo is a genealogical prayer chant linking the royal family to which it belonged not only to primary gods belonging to the whole people and worshiped in common with allied Polynesian groups.

It was not only to deified chiefs born into the living world, the Ao, within the family line, but to the stars in the heavens and the plants and animals useful to life on earth, who must also be named within the chain of birth and their representatives in the spirit world thus be brought into the service of their children who live to carry on the line in the world of mankind. (Beckwith)

It was their belief that their gods had created the land and the sea and everything on the land and in the sea. These resources were there for everyone’s use – land water and sea. Because these were created by the gods, they must be cared for. No one must take more than they need and everything must be shared. (Kelly)

In Hawaiian culture, natural and cultural resources were and are one and the same. Native traditions describe the formation (literally the birth) of the Hawaiian Islands and the presence of life on, and around them, in the context of genealogical accounts.

All forms of the natural environment, from the skies and mountain peaks, to the watered valleys and lava plains, and to the shoreline and ocean depths are believed to be embodiments of Hawaiian gods and deities. Earth and nature possessed mana (spiritual life forces) that came from the gods. (Maly)

It was the nature of place that shaped the cultural and spiritual view of the Hawaiian people. ‘Cultural Attachment’ embodies the tangible and intangible values of a culture – how a people identify with, and personify the environment around them.

It is the intimate relationship (developed over generations of experiences) that people of a particular culture feel for the sites, features, phenomena, and natural resources etc., that surround them – their sense of place. This attachment is deeply rooted in the beliefs, practices, cultural evolution and identity of a people. (Kent)

One Hawaiian genealogical account, records that Wakea (the expanse of the sky-father) and Papa-hanau-moku (Papa, who gave birth to the islands) – also called Haumea-nui-hanau-wawa (Great Haumea, born time and time again) – and various gods and creative forces of nature, gave birth to the islands.

As the Hawaiian genealogical account continues, we find that these same god-beings, or creative forces of nature that gave birth to the islands, were also the parents of the first man (Haloa), and from this ancestor all Hawaiian people are descended.

It was in this context of kinship, that the ancient Hawaiians addressed their environment, and it is the basis of the Hawaiian system of land management and use. (Maly)

Before the constitution was established, all property rights for both chiefs and commoners were unstable; the entire control over the land was vested in the king. According to the opinion of learned men the land belongs to the common people, and property rights are to be vested in the commoners.

In old days the inheritance of the family burial place, the caves and secret burial places of our ancestors was handed down from these to their descendants without the intrusion of a single stranger unless by consent of the descendant, so that wherever a death occurred the body was conveyed to its inheritance.

These immovable barriers belonged to burial rights for all time. The rule of kings and chiefs and their land agents might change, but the burial rights of families survived on their lands. Here is one proof of the people’s right to the land.” (Kamakau)

With this right of the common people to the land is connected an inherent love of the land of one’s birth inherited from one’s ancestors, so that men do not (willingly) wander from place to place but remain on the land of their ancestors. The Kona man does not wander to ʻEwa or Koʻolau, nor does the ʻEwa man change to Waialua.

Whether rich or impoverished and barren, his love is unchanged; he cannot treat the land with contempt. However good the land on which he later lives he will wish to return to the land of his birth.

The land so worthless in the eyes of a stranger is good to him. But today the habit of going away for an education or sailing abroad has undermined this old feeling for the land. (Kamakau)

In old days captives might be carried away in war or friends and favorites taken into the households of chiefs, but on the whole the common people remained on the land inherited from their ancestors, and a family lived continuously on the land of their birth.

True the chiefs had the right to the fruits of the land and the property of the people, and when a chief was overthrown in war his followers also moved on. But it was they who were the wanderers. (Kamakau)

The people born of the soil remained according to the old saying, O ko luna pohaku no ke kaʻa ilalo, ʻaʻole i hiki i ko lalo pohaku ke kaʻa (It is the top stone that rolls down; the stone at the bottom stays where it is.) (Kamakau) The image shows the Islands from space. (NASA)

© 2025 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Filed Under: Hawaiian Traditions Tagged With: Hawaii, Ownership

September 10, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Pohaku O Kauai

On every island there existed a prominent bluff pointing westward, bearing the name: “leap of the spirit” (leina-a-ka-uhane). The name marked the jumping-off place where the soul of the dead was believed to depart beyond the land of the living.

Kaʻena or Kaʻena Point (‘the heat’) is the westernmost tip of land on the island of Oʻahu. The point can be reached on foot from both the East (via Oʻahu’s North Shore / Mokuleʻia) and Southeast (via Waiʻanae Coast;) you cannot drive around the point.

Two stories tell of Pohaku O Kauai, here.

The first speaks of the demigod Maui; in many of the accounts Maui is a mischievous trickster, stealing the secret of fire and helping his mother to dry kapa by lassoing the sun to slow its progression across the sky. (Bishop Museum)

The most audacious terrestrial undertaking of Maui was his attempt to rearrange the islands of the group and assemble them into one solid mass. He went to Kaʻena Point and cast his magical hook, Mana-ia-ka-lani, far out into the ocean that it might engage itself In the foundations of Kauai.

When he felt that it had taken a good hold, he gave a mighty tug at the line. A huge boulder, the Pohaku o Kauai, fell at his feet.

This failure to move the whole mass of the island argues no engineering miscalculation on Maui’s part. It was due to the underhand working of spiritual forces. Had Maui been more politic, more observant of spiritual etiquette, more diplomatic in his dealings with the heavenly powers, his ambitious plans would, no doubt, have met with better success. (Emerson)

The second story of Pohaku O Kauai is written by Westervelt: A long time ago there lived on Kauai a man of wonderful power, Hau-pu. When he was born, the signs of a demi-god were over the house of his birth.

Lightning flashed through the skies, and thunder reverberated – signs of the birth or death or some very unusual occurrence in the life of a chief.

Mighty floods of rain fell and poured in torrents down the mountain-sides, carrying the red soil into the valleys in such quantities that the rapids and the waterfalls became the color of blood, and the natives called this a blood-rain.

Then a beautiful rainbow formed over the house in which the young chief was born. This rainbow was thought to come from the miraculous powers of the new-born child shining out from him instead of from the sunlight around him.

Hau-pu while a child was very powerful, and after he grew up was widely known as a great warrior. He would attack and defeat armies of his enemies without aid from any person. His spear was like a mighty weapon, sometimes piercing a host of enemies, and sometimes putting aside all opposition when he thrust it into the ranks of his opponents.

If he had thrown his spear and if fighting with his bare hands did not vanquish his foes, he would leap to the hillside, tear up a great tree, and with it sweep away all before him as if he were wielding a huge broom. He was known and feared throughout all the Hawaiian Islands.

One night he lay sleeping on the side of a mountain which faced the neighboring island of Oʻahu. When clouds were on the face of the sea, these islands were hidden from each other; but when they lifted, the rugged valleys of the mountains on one island could be clearly seen from the other.

This night the strong man stirred in his sleep. Indistinct noises seemed to surround his house. He turned over and dropped off into slumber again.

Soon he was aroused a second time, and he was awake enough to hear shouts of men far, far away. Louder rose the noise mixed with the roar of the great surf waves, so he realized that it came from the sea, and he then forced himself to rise and he looked out toward Oʻahu.

He blindly rushed out to the edge of a high precipice which overlooked the channel. Evidently many boats and many people were out in the sea below.

He laughed, and stooped down and tore a huge rock from its place. This he swung back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, until he gave it great impetus which added to his own miraculous power sent it far out over the sea. Like a great cloud it rose in the heavens and, as if blown by swift winds, sped on its way.

Over on the shores of Oahu a chief whose name was Kaʻena had called his people out for a night’s fishing. Canoes large and small came from all along the coast. Torches without number had been made and placed in the canoes.

Nets had been set in the best places. Fish of all kinds were to be aroused and frightened into the nets. Flashing lights, splashing paddles, and clamor from hundreds of voices resounded all around the nets.

Gradually the canoes came nearer and nearer the centre. The shouting increased. Great joy ruled the tumult which drowned the roar of the waves.

Suddenly something like a bird as large as a mountain seemed to be above, and then with a mighty sound like the roar of winds it descended upon them.

Smashed and submerged were the canoes when the huge boulder thrown by Hau-pu hurled itself upon them.

The chief Kaʻena and his canoe were in the centre of this terrible mass of wreckage, and he and many of his people lost their lives.

The waves swept sand upon the shore until in time a long point of land was formed. The remaining followers of the dead chief named this cape “Kaʻena.”

The rock thrown by Hau-pu embedded itself in the depths of the ocean, but its head rose far above the water, even when raging storms dashed turbulent waves against it. To this death-dealing rock the natives gave the name Pohaku O Kauai (“Rock of Kauai.”) (Westervelt) The image shows Kaʻena Point.

© 2025 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Filed Under: Hawaiian Traditions, Place Names Tagged With: Hawaii, Oahu, Pohaku O Kauai, Kaena

August 27, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Mahiole v Tibetan Monk Hat

On a visit to the Hawaiian Islands, the Dalai Lama XIV “was presented with a traditional ceremonial hat [mahiole] (which he wore on his head mentioning that it seemed similar to Tibetan monastic hats)”.  (Central Tibetan Administration)

The Tibetan monk’s hat was made of wool over a cotton interior; different sects had different colors (red or yellow).  Hawaiians did not have wool or cotton cloth; they had ‘ie‘ie and ‘olonā fibers and feathers, typically, red and yellow to make their mahiole.

In Hawai‘i, feathered garments denoted status and as such could be worn only by the elite. The ‘ahu ‘ula (cape) and mahiole (helmets) were worn by the most powerful chiefs, or ali’i, and were sometimes given as gifts.

Mahiole were constructed of the aerial roots of the ʻieʻie vine, woven into a basketry frame. They were perfectly fitted to an individual, and protected the most sacred part of the body, the head.

A net of olonā fibers was laid over the framework, and feathers attached in bundles in the same way as for the cloaks.  The featherwork starts from the bottom, so each new row conceals the quills of the feathers below.  (Museum of New Zealand)

“It was probably the cherished armor of a king as noble as any of the Hawaiian line. and yet it is not all yellow, as one or two authors claim that the helmet of a king should always be: it is of red, as are the most of those which retain any of their original feathers, and not a single one of all is exclusively yellow.”

“It may seem strange that articles so highly valued should have so little history connected with them … it would add greatly to the interest which must ever attach to these beautiful examples of patient and long-continued work by a primitive people if we knew …”

“… what chief first ordered the construction, how long the hunters collected, how many years the deft fingers of the high chiefesses plaited the precious feathers into the network, what rejoicings at the completion of the long task, in what battle it first was worn, and then the changing ownership when murder, fraud, or theft transferred the garment …”  (Brigham)

“Feathers were important symbols of power for Polynesians; in Hawai‘i, feathers were more highly prized than other types of property.”

“Feathers used for crafts were obtained from at least 24 bird species, however, the golden feathers of ‘ō‘ō and mamo birds made them primary targets for birdhunters; both birds became extinct by the late 1800s.”

“Feathers were utilized for many items, including ‘ahu‘ula [cloaks], mahiole [war helmets], and kāhili [standards]. Most garments utilized a considerable number of feathers; a cloak for Kamehameha consumed the golden feathers of 80,000 mamo birds.”  (Perez)

“The feathers of birds were the most valued possessions of the ancient Hawaiians. The feathers of the mamo were more choice than those of the oo because of their superior magnificence when wrought into cloaks (ahu). The plumage of the i‘iwi, apapane and amakihi were made into ahu-ula, cloaks and capes, and into maho-ole, helmets.”

“The ahu-ula was a possession most costly and precious (makamae), not obtainable by the common people, only by the alii. It was much worn by them as an insignia in time of war and when they went into battle. The ahu-ula was also conferred upon warriors, but only upon those who had distinguished themselves and had merit, and it was an object of plunder in every battle.”

“Unless one were a warrior in something more than name, he would not succeed in capturing his prisoner nor in getting possession of the ahu-ula and feathered helmet of a warrior.  These feathers had a notable use in the making of the royal battle-gods. They were also frequently used by the female chiefs in making or decorating a comb called huli-kua, which was used as an ornament in the hair.”

“The lands that produced feathers were heavily taxed at the Makahiki time, feathers being the most acceptable offering to the Makahiki-idol. If any land failed to furnish the full tale of feathers due for the tax, the landlord was turned off (hemo). So greedy were the alii after fathers that there was a standing order (palala) directing their collection.” (Malo)

There are many different kinds of mahiole that can be seen today found in museums around the world from the mahiole haka (short crested helmet,) mahiole pōheoheo (knobbed helmet,) mahiole haka kahakaha (striped short crest helmet,) spoked crescent helmet and others.

In Tibet, regarded as the manifestation of Bodhisattva of Wisdom, Jampelyan (Manjushri), Tsongkhapa’s followers built him the Ganden Monastery in Netang near Lhasa in 1409. After his death, Tsongkhapa’s students built a new school of Tibetan Buddhism based on his teachings and named it ‘Gelug’ which means virtuous tradition. (TibetPedia)

Among his known disciples were Gyaltsab (1364-1431), Jamchen Chojey (1355-1435), Khedrub (1385-1438), and Gendun Drupa (1391-1474). His disciples founded the great monasteries of the Gelug Sect such as Sera monastery of Lhasa, Drepung and Tashillhunpo monasteries, and introduced the tradition of wearing yellow hats to distinguish them from Sakya lamas, who wore red hats.

The Gelugpa Sect of Tibetan Buddhism, despite being the youngest, is the largest and most important school of thought. Having emerged in the 15th Century through the reforming efforts of Tsongkhapa, adherance to the Gelugpa sect is considered to be purest form of Tibetan Buddhism.

The sect achieved its peak in the 17th Century with huge support from Mongols and Tibetans inspired by the enigmatic 5th Dalai Lama. The Gelugpa Sect remained in power in the Central Tibetan Plateau until Chinese invasions of Tibet in the 1950s. (TibetPedia)

Hmmm …

© 2025 Ho‘okuleana LLC

Filed Under: Hawaiian Traditions, Ali'i / Chiefs / Governance Tagged With: Hawaii, Mahiole, Tibetan Monk

August 22, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Salt

Within ten years after Captain Cook’s 1778 contact with Hawai‘i, the islands became a favorite port of call in the trade with China.  The fur traders and merchant ships crossing the Pacific needed to replenish food supplies and water.

The maritime fur trade focused on acquiring furs of sea otters, seals and other animals from the Pacific Northwest Coast and Alaska.  The furs were mostly sold in China in exchange for tea, silks, porcelain and other Chinese goods, which were then sold in Europe and the United States.

Needing supplies in their journey, the traders soon realized they could economically barter for provisions in Hawai‘i; for instance any type of iron, a common nail, chisel or knife could fetch far more fresh fruit meat and water than a large sum of money would in other ports.

A triangular trade network emerged linking the Pacific Northwest coast, China and the Hawaiian Islands to Britain and the United States (especially New England).

Foreign vessels had long recognized the ability of the Hawaiian Islands to provision their ships with food (meat and vegetables,) water, salt and firewood.

Salt was Hawaiʻi’s first export, carried by some of the early ships in the fur trade back to the Pacific Northwest for curing furs.  Another early market was provided by the Russian settlements in Alaska.

Salt Exports ran to around 2,000 to 3,000 barrels a year in the 1830s, reached 15,000-barrels in 1847 and thereafter declined gradually until exports ceased in the 1880s.  (Hitch)

But salt in Hawaiʻi was not just for export.

Salt “has ever been an essential article with the Sandwich Islanders, who eat it very freely with their food, and use much in preserving their fish.”  (Ellis, 1826)

During Cook’s visits to the Islands, King’s journal noted “the great quantity of salt they eat with their flesh and fish. … almost every native of these islands carried about with him, either in his calibash, or wrapped up in a piece of cloth, and tied about his waist, a small piece of raw pork, highly salted, which they considered as a great delicacy, and used now and then to taste of.”

“Their fish they salt, and preserve in gourd-shells; not, as we at first imagined, for the purpose of providing against any temporary scarcity, but from the preference they give to salted meats.”  (King, 1779)

“(T)he Sandwich Islanders eat (salt) very freely with their food, and use much in preserving their fish. … The surplus … they dispose of to vessels touching at the islands, or export to the Russian settlements on the north-west coast of America, where it is in great demand for curing fish, &c.” (Ellis, 1826)

Early salt production was made by natural evaporation of seawater in tidal ponds. (Hitch) “Amongst their arts, we must not forget that of making salt, with which we were amply supplied, during our stay at these islands, and which was perfectly good of its kind.”

“Their salt pans are made of earth, lined with clay; being generally six or eight feet square, and about eight inches deep. They are raised upon a bank of stones near the high water mark, from whence the salt water is conducted to the foot of them, in small trenches, out of which they are filled, and the sun quickly performs the necessary process of evaporation.”  (King, 1779)

The Hawaiians “manufacture large quantities of salt, by evaporating the sea water. We saw a number of their pans, in the disposition of which they display great ingenuity. They have generally one large pond near the sea, into which the water flows by a channel cut through the rocks, or is carried thither by the natives in large calabashes.”

“After remaining there some time, it is conducted into a number of smaller pans about six or eight inches in depth, which are made with great care, and frequently lined with large evergreen leaves, in order to prevent absorption.”

“Along the narrow banks or partitions between the different pans, we saw a number of large evergreen leaves placed.  They were tied up at each end, so as to resemble a shallow dish, and filled with sea water, in which the crystals of salt were abundant.”  (Ellis, 1826)

Early export users were the Russians, who first made contact in the Islands in 1804.  A year or two later, Kamehameha made known to them that he would “gladly send a ship every year with swine, salt, batatas (sweet potatoes,) and other articles of food, if (the Russians) would in exchange let him have sea-otter skins at a fair price.” The following year, they came to the islands for more salt.  (Kuykendall)

Later, in the early-1820s, the Russians could get most provisions cheaper from Boston or New York than from the Hawaiian Islands, but the salt trade between the North Pacific and Hawaiʻi continued.

On September 5, 1820, Petr Ivanovich Rikord, governor of Kamchatka, wrote to Liholiho (Kamehameha II) requesting salt be traded for furs.  In 1821, Captain William Sumner sailed the Thaddeus (the same ship that carried the Protestant missionaries to Hawaiʻi in 1820) from Hawaiʻi to Kamchatka with a load of salt and other supplies.  (Mills)  (Check out the letter from Rikord to Liholiho in the album.)

Another trading concern was the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC,) a fur trading company that started in Canada in 1670; its first century of operation found HBC firmly focused in a few forts and posts around the shores of James and Hudson Bays, Central Canada.

The Company was attracted to Hawaiʻi not for furs but as a potential market for the products of the Company’s posts in the Pacific Northwest.  That first trip (1829) was intended to test the market for HBC’s primary products, salmon and lumber.  (By then, Honolulu had already become a significant Pacific port of call and major provisioning station for trans-Pacific travelers.)

Back then, salmon was a one of the most valuable commercial fisheries in the world (behind the oyster and herring fisheries.)  (Cobb)  Just as salt was used for curing furs, HBC used Hawaiian salt in preserving salmon.

Hawaiian salt used in preserving the salmon made its way back to Hawaiʻi for Hawaiian consumption.   During the 1830s, HBC sold several hundred barrels of salmon a year in Honolulu.  The 1840s saw a major increase in sales; in 1846, 1,530 barrels were shipped to Hawaiʻi and HBC tried to increase salmon exports to 2,000 barrels annually.  (Thus, the creation of lomi lomi salmon.)

The salt also came in handy with the region’s supplying whalers with fresh and salt beef that called to the Islands, as well as the later Gold Rushers of America.  Here is where Samuel Parker (of the later Parker Ranch fame) started out as a cattle hunter to fill those needs.

© 2025 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Filed Under: Economy, Hawaiian Traditions Tagged With: Hudson's Bay Company, Salt Lake, Parker Ranch, Hanapepe Salt ponds, Hawaii, Kewalo, Kakaako, Salt, Russians in Hawaii

August 14, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Puaka‘ilima

Aia e ka nani i Puaka‘ilima
Kēlā ‘ailana noho i ke kai
(There is beauty in Puaka‘ilima
That island that nestles in the sea)

No kai ka makani la a he Kona
Haiha‘i lau la‘au o ka uka…
(From the sea comes the Kona wind
Tearing the leaves from the trees from the upland…)
(Hula dedicated to Queen Emma, Kimo Keaulana, Adv Mar 2, 2001)

“The name of the village Toeaigh [Kawaihae] was by us extended to the Bay, (which is the same that had been called by Captain King Toeayahha bay,) since the natives give no distinctive name to any part of the ocean that washes the shores of their islands.”

“Such bays, coves, &c. as are so distinguished, having been named by their European visitors from the contiguous villages or districts.”

“Toeaigh is situated in a grove of cocoa-nut trees, just behind a sandy beach. A reef of coral rocks, extending thence about three quarters of a mile into the sea, rendered it inaccessible to our boats in a direct line …”

“… but we landed very commodiously in a narrow channel, between the reef and the shore, near the morai [heiau], to the S.E. of the beach, from whence we had about two miles to walk to the habitation of Kahowmotoo [Ke‘eaumoku].” (Vancouver, Vol II)

“About two hundred huts compose the town of Toyai [Kawaihae]; they are low, small, and badly covered. Many of them are not more six or eight feet in length. The people who inhabit them will however bear no comparison with those whom we saw at Karakakooa [Kealakekua].” (Arago, letter CXV)

“The surf of Kapuailima is in Kawaihae, and Kahaleula is in Mahaiula. Honokohau has a surf, and there are others in the various districts of the island of Hawaii.” (John Papa ‘Ī’i)

“Mr. [Solomon] Akau describes Pua ka ‘Ilima as a wave which comes around the end of the year, November through March: ‘Pua ka ‘Ilima is a wave…a small wave that used to come over the reef, it used to come inside.’”

“‘It comes in from the west to the east. …We watch it really come slowly. It’s not the kine that [fast]; it is slow, because the Kawaihae reef at one time was enormous and then they dredged it out…Pua ka ‘Ilima is not there anymore; it’s gone.’” (Akau, Cultural Surveys)

“[A] small island in the bay fell victim to an April Fool’s Day tidal wave. This island was named Puaka‘ilima. According to Kimo Alama, ‘ilima was once grown there for the purpose of making lei for royalty – hence the island’s name.”

“‘The tidal wave of 1946 collapsed this island and it is said that the surf of the Ka‘ewa (the name of the surf at Kawaihae) resembles that of ‘ilima leis once strung for royalty there’”,

“Manu Boyd and Kawehi Lucas have told me that Puaka‘ilima is also remembered by their Kohala families as a favorite surfing spot of Kamehameha I.” (Kīhei de Silva; Kaʻiwakīloumoku, KSBE)

“The tsunami which devastated the shores of the Hawaiian Islands on April 1, 1946, was caused by a movement of the sea bottom on the northern slope of the Aleutian Trough, south of Unimak Island. … The movement also gave rise to a violent earthquake which was recorded on seismographs all over the world.”

“At the [Kawaihae] wharf the waves rose on shore to a height of 12 feet above sea level. The third wave is reported to have been the largest.  “Between the waves, and reportedly before the first wave, recession of the water uncovered the reef for 1,000 feet offshore, the lowering of water level being estimated by one observer as about 20 feet below normal sea level.”

“The old wharf was almost completely demolished, even pilings being carried away. However, the new wharf, which stood much higher above water, was unharmed. Many blocks of coral several feet across were thrown up onto the reef, and one about 3 feet in diameter was carried to the roadway 5 feet above sea level.”

“For half a mile south of the wharf, houses along the shore, inside a half-mile-broad reef, were damaged or destroyed. However, these houses were built less than 5 feet above sea level.”

“At the park at the southern end of Kawaihae the water rose 10 feet, but it caused no damage there because all structures were on higher ground. Several waves were observed, the fourth being the largest. The water withdrew far out from shore between the waves.” (Shepard, Macdonald, & Cox: Tsunami of April 1, 1946)

“No lives were lost at Kawaihae. However, fishponds in the harbor area were filled with debris, which wiped out commercial fishing activity there. According to a synopsis of oral historic interviews in Hammatt et al. the tsunami ‘was the beginning of the end for the Kawaihae Fishing Village. People left.’” (Cultural Surveys)

Most historical mapping of Kawaihae does not show islands in and around Kawaihae; except one of those I found (but that one does not name the Islands).

Louis-Isidore Duperrey of the French Royal Navy was part of Louis de Freycinet’s second circumnavigation on the Uranie. Jacques Arago (quoted above) was on the same expedition.  Duperrey shows two Islands at Kawaihae; the southern one is offshore the vicinity of the Pu‘ukohola Heiau – and could very well be a representation of the referenced Islet of Puaka‘ilima.

But the Puaka‘ilima place name continues … “In 1992, Tiger Espere, a well-known surfer and water man created the ‘Tiger Espere Longboard Classic’ surfing contest. [I]t has brought together surfers from this island and other areas in the state to compete in an atmosphere of friendship and fun.”

“Additionally, it has given many of us the awareness of the importance of this area, both as a recreational reserve and an historical/cultural resource.”

“Through Tiger Espere’s efforts and leadership, the dream to create a cultural surf park at the breakwater site has become a reality. Senate Resolution No. 10, a ‘Senate Concurrent Resolution Urging That The Pua Ka ilima‘O Kawaihae Be Designated A Site For Recreational, Educational And Cultural Activities’ was passed in [1997].” (Barclay, Waimea Gazette)

Link to The Pua Ka ilima ‘O Kawaihae Video: https://imagesofoldhawaii.com/wp-content/uploads/Pua-Ka-Ilima-O-Kawaihae-Surf-Park.mp4

© 2025 Ho‘okuleana LLC

Filed Under: General, Hawaiian Traditions, Place Names Tagged With: Hawaii, Kawaiahae, Puakailima

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People, places, and events in Hawaiʻi’s past come alive through text and media in “Images of Old Hawaiʻi.” These posts are informal historic summaries presented for personal, non-commercial, and educational purposes.

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Hoʻokuleana LLC

Hoʻokuleana LLC is a Planning and Consulting firm assisting property owners with Land Use Planning efforts, including Environmental Review, Entitlement Process, Permitting, Community Outreach, etc. We are uniquely positioned to assist you in a variety of needs.

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