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November 16, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kolekole

From Kūkaniloko (royal birth stones near Wahiawa,) the winter solstice (December 21) occurs when the sun is aligned with Kolekole.

The Waiʻanae ahupuaʻa has an un-typical shape – it has two parts: Waiʻanae Kai, on its western side, runs from the ocean to the Waiʻanae Mountains (like a typical ahupuaʻa;) however, Waiʻanae Uka continues across Oʻahu’s central plain and extends up into the Koʻolau Mountains.

Kolekole Pass forms a low crossing point through the Waiʻanae Mountains.  A prehistoric trail crossed Kolekole pass linking Waiʻanae Uka with Waiʻanae Kai.

As a result, the trail was of strategic importance. Kolekole Pass is not far from the base of Mount Kaʻala, the highest summit on O‘ahu, an important place in Hawaiian religion, ceremony, legend and perhaps celestial observations.

When Kahekili was reigning as king of Maui, and Kahahana was king of Oʻahu, it was during this period that Kahahawai, with a number of warriors, came to make war on Oʻahu (Kahahawai was a strategist for Kahekili.)

A decisive battle in the war between Kahekili and Kahahana, fought in the Waiʻanae mountain range, took place near Kolekole Pass.

“Kahahawai told them to prepare torches. When these were ready they went one evening to the top of a hill which was near to the rendezvous of the enemies where they lighted their torches.”  (Fornander)

“After the torches were lit they moved away to a cliff called Kolekole and hid themselves there, leaving their torches burning at the former place until they died out. The enemies thought that Kahahawai and his men had gone off to sleep. They therefore made a raid … But Kahahawai and his men arose and destroyed all the people who were asleep on the hills and the mountains of Kaʻala. Thus the enemies were annihilated, none escaping.”  (Fornander)

Therefore, the conquest of Oʻahu by Kahekili was complete through the bravery and great ingenuity of Kahahawai in devising means for the destruction of the enemy.  Oʻahu remained until the reign of Kalanikūpule, Kahekili’s son – until Oʻahu was conquered by Kamehameha in 1795.

Near Kolekole Pass is the Kolekole Stone, which is described as a “sacrificial stone,” but the story that victims were decapitated over this stone may be a fairly recent rendition. Older stories suggest the stone represents the Guardian of the Pass, a woman named Kolekole.

Reportedly, Kolekole was a place where students practiced lua fighting. Students practiced their techniques on “passing victims” on the “plains of Leilehua.”  Lua was an “art” that involved dangerous hand-to-hand fighting in which the fighters broke bones, dislocated bones at the joints, and inflicted severe pain by pressing on nerve centers.

This form of fighting involved a number of skills: “first, how to grasp with the hands, second, how to prod with a kauila cane; third, how to whirl the club called the pikoi or ikoi that had one end … tied with a rope of olona fibers.”  (Na Oihana Lua Kaula 1865 – Army)

In the late-1800s, James I Dowsett had ranching interests on lands now occupied by Fort Shafter, Schofield Barracks and Wheeler Army Airfield; portions of the latter two were part of his extensive Leilehua Ranch. Cattle from George Galbraith’s Mikilua Ranch in Lualualei Valley on the Waiʻanae coast may have been herded across Kolekole Pass to pasture on Leilehua Ranch plateau lands.

With later US military use in Waiʻanae and Central Oʻahu, passage through Kolekole Pass provided a convenient short cut across the Waiʻanae Mountains between Schofield Barracks and Lualualei Naval Magazine.  The Army’s 3rd Engineers corps constructed vehicular passage in 1937.

Kolekole Pass, is located at the northern corner of the Lualualei Valley and connects the Waianae coast with Waianae Uka (the present Schofield Barracks.)

On the morning of December 7, 1941, six Japanese carriers transported torpedo planes, dive bombers and fighters to a point about 220 miles north of Oʻahu.  Launching the aircraft in two waves, the attackers achieved total surprise and wreaked havoc.

Contrary to general belief, the attacking aircraft did not come through Kolekole Pass west of Wheeler but flew straight down the island.  Most of the attacking planes approached Pearl Harbor from the south.  Some came from the north over the Koʻolau Range, where they had been hidden en route by large cumulus clouds.  (hawaii-gov)

In 1997, a 35-year-old, 35-ton white steel cross at Kolekole Pass was ordered dismantled by the Army – threatened with lawsuit, they chose removal, rather than fighting a separation of church and state claim.

The first cross at the pass was put up in the 1920s; later, a metal one was erected in 1962.  It was later replaced with an 80-foot flagpole that flew an American flag.

© 2022 Hoʻokuleana LLC

 

Filed Under: Ali'i / Chiefs / Governance, Military, Place Names Tagged With: Kahahana, Kahekili, Schofield Barracks, Kalanikupule, Kolekole Pass, Kahahawai, Lua, Waianae, Hawaii, Oahu

February 2, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Lua

The name conjures up a variety of images – Pukui notes it refers to “two,” “toilet,” “equal” or “hole”/”pit.”

It also refers to a type of dangerous hand-to-hand combat in which the fighters broke bones, dislocated bones at the joints and inflicted severe pain by pressing on nerve centers.

That’s what this discussion is about.

Lua was a hand-to-hand system of combat based on the knowledge of anatomy to strike weak points of the human body. Intended as a self-defense martial art, combatants injured or killed an opponent. (Green)

“Huna na mea huna” (Keep secret what is sacred) – the art was exercised and taught by a few; it was not used or known by the broad community.

Lua incorporates numerous methods for combating an attacker, including hakihaki (bone breaking), hakoko (wresting), kuikui (punching), peku (kicking) and aalolo (nerve pressure.) (Noonan)

The techniques included dislocating the fingers and toes, striking at nerve centers and hitting and kicking muscles in such a way to inflict paralysis; it included the use of weapons. (Green)

Traditionally, only a small group of men were taught lua. The selected warriors practiced lua in secret, under the cover of darkness. They were usually a chief or a royal bodyguard who, during time of war, briefly trained the commoners and then lead them to battle. (OHA)

Reportedly, the secret of Lua was broken in 1917 when Henry Seishiro Okazaki learned Lua from a Hawaiian man on the big Island. Okazaki later converted the Lua he learned and transferred this into his Danzen Ryu System.

Solomon Kaihewalu’s name also comes up in the Lua combat discussion; he reportedly introduced lua into America in 1963.

Another name pops up as someone who was important in keeping the art alive. Around 1974, Charles Kenn passed on his knowledge of the art to a handful of others – they in turn are teaching others.

(Kenn was later recognized by the Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaiʻi as a Living Treasure of Hawaiʻi (he was the first to be recognized in the Hongwanji program, 1976.))

Traditional weapons in the lua practitioner’s hands included spears, daggers, clubs, slings, strangling ropes, shark tooth weapons and more.

Captain James Cook wrote about them: “They have a sort of weapon which we had never seen before, and not mentioned by any navigator, as used by the natives of the South Sea”

“It was somewhat like a dagger; in general, about a foot and a half long, sharpened at one or both ends, and secured to the hand by a string. Its use is to stab in close fight; and it seems well adapted to the purpose.”

“Some of these may be called double daggers, having a handle in the middle with which they are better enabled to strike both ways.”

Warriors, throughout history, primarily train to use weapons during battle. Hawaiian warriors utilized weapons (Mea – Kaua) offensively and defensively, in training or during actual battle, including (Reish:)

Ihe (short spear)
Pololu (long spear/javelin)
Pāhoa (wooden spike dagger)
Pāhoa ʻOilua (double bladed weapon)
Lei-o-mano (shark-tooth weapon)
La-au-palau (long war clubs)
Newa (short war club)
Pōhaku (stone hand club)
Pikoi ʻIkoi (tripping weapon)
Maʻa (sling)
Kaʻane (strangulation cord)
Ko’oko’o (cane)

Lua, then, was the general name for a type of hand-to-hand fighting which not only included hakihaki (bone-breaking), but combined ha’a (dance,) hakoko (wrestling,) mokomoko/kuʻi (boxing or punching,) peku (kicking,) aʻalolo (nerve pressure) to cause paralysis and also the use of weapons. (Reish)

However, Hawaiian lua training encompasses far more than the master of blows, strikes, takedowns, holds, dodges and falls. It also included the game konane (similar to checkers), designed to teach strategic thinking.

Additionally, lua involved lomilomi (massage) which was designed to enhance a lua warrior’s performance in training or combat by keeping muscles from binding. (Reish)

Hawaiian combat units of old consisted of groups of small squads, units and divisions. The squads and units were broken down into groups of 10, 20 and 30 warriors. A full division consisted of a total of 40 Koa. Each squad of 10 men were experts in several types of weapons they brought with them into combat. (olohe)

A martial dance found in various styles throughout Polynesia is the haka or haʻa, an old word for hula. Lua incorporated the haka to develop grace, agility and strong leg muscles, necessary for battle.

When dancing, the lua artists would lunge forward and back, dodge from side to side, and then whirl and pivot in unison to simulate combat. Their haka arm motions were actually lua strikes in disguise. (Reish)

By 1790 Kamehameha had acquired guns, light cannon and an armed schooner, in addition to the advice and technical expertise of two European seamen, John Young and Isaac Davis; this changed the nature of combat and helped to lead to Kamehameha’s unification of the Islands.

© 2022 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Filed Under: Hawaiian Traditions Tagged With: Lua, Hawaii

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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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