A Hawaiian Tradition of Keliikau o Kau

Moolelo contain expressions of native beliefs, customs, practices, and history. The Hawaiian landscape itself is storied, and each place name is associated with a tradition—ranging from the presence and interactions of the gods with people, to documenting an event, or the characteristics of a given place. Unfortunately, today, many of those moolelo have been lost. Through the moolelo that have survived the passing of time, we are able to glimpse the history of the land and people of Honouliuli Ahupuaa.

Included here are a collection of narratives written by native Hawaiian authors and historians, as well as non-Hawaiian visitors and residents of the land during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The narratives document traditional lore and knowledge, customary practices and beliefs, and the importance of place names which have survived the passing of time. A number of the accounts come from Hawaiian-language resources which have not been previously available in English. Other citations revisit some of the better known historical accounts, while attempting to shed new light on them, with efforts made to place them in a Hawaiian cultural context based on a wide range of resource materials.

Transcripts and/or translations of the Hawaiian-language accounts are given either verbatim, or in summary for longer narratives, with emphasis on the key events—their association with akua, aina, and kanaka of Honouliuli Ahupuaa. The citations span the period from antiquity to the 1920s. We have elected to include the Hawaiian-language transcripts in an effort to provide present and future generations with easy access to these important narratives as a means of fostering ongoing cultural attachment to place, and for educational and interpretive purposes. In this way the kupuna speak for themselves, and pass their voices on to inspire continued knowledge of place, practice, and use of the native place names.

It will be noted that in a number of instances, place names originated as the names of notable figures—either gods, demigods, chiefly personages or deified ancestors—while other names describe events or particular characteristics of named locations.

From the earliest of human times, the Hawaiian landscape has been alive with spiritual beliefs, traditions, customs, and practices. Unfortunately, with the passing of time, irretrievable traditional knowledge has been lost. This is in part a result of the rapid decline of the native population, and enforcement of restrictions placed upon Hawaiians in education and all facets of life which culminated in the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom Government in 1893. By 1900, English became the official language of the schools and government, and native Hawaiian children were punished at school for speaking their olelo makuahine (mother tongue/language). Thus, slowly but steadily, children and grandchildren were distanced from their elders, and the passing on of moolelo (traditions) of place, family, and practice—traditional knowledge—was largely cut off.¹

The loss of language, practice, and land were accompanied by changing demographics and the development of large plantations, sprawling communities, military complexes, and resorts. These changes led to the destruction of noted traditional places, or loss of access to sites where traditional and customary practices occurred. Thus, it became difficult, if not impossible, to pass on the experience of practice and familiarity with wahi pana—those sites which would qualify in their native culture and communities as “traditional cultural properties.”

Even with all that has been lost, research in Hawaiian-language materials, historical literature, and in the knowledge of families descended from traditional residents of the land reveals a wealth of history through place names, and in some instances through ongoing practices. Through place names, many wahi pana (storied and sacred places) are found to exist, and for Hawaiians today, those wahi pana remain important. In this modern age, and often in the context of historic preservation, it is the biggest sites and features—such as heiau and mass ilina—that are determined to be the most significant. But Hawaiians have observed that “The land is not sacred because the heiau is there. The heiau is there because the land is sacred.” This sacredness is conveyed in the cultural attachment shared between Hawaiians and the aina (land/natural environment) that nurtured and sustained them and their relationship with the ilina of their ancestors who rose from and returned to the embrace of the aina. This living and ongoing sacredness also implies that there need not be physical remnants of “traditional properties and features” on the ground. When all else is lost, it is enough to speak the names and pass on the knowledge of place.

Inoa Aina: Place Names

By learning place names and their traditions, even if only fragmented accounts remain, one begins to see a rich cultural landscape unfold on the lands of Honouliuli Ahupua‘a. There are a number of place names that have survived the passing of time. The occurrence of place names demonstrates the broad relationship of the natural landscape to the culture and practices of the Hawaiian people. In A Gazetteer of the Territory of Hawaii, Coulter [7] observed that Hawaiians had place names for all manner of feature, ranging from “outstanding cliffs” to what he described as “trivial land marks” [7:10]. In 1902, W. D. Alexander, former Surveyor General of the Kingdom—and later government—of Hawai‘i, wrote an account of “Hawaiian Geographic Names” [2]. Under the heading “Meaning of Hawaiian Geographic Names” he observed,

It is very difficult, if not impossible, to translate most of these names, on account of their great antiquity and the changes of which many of them have evidently undergone. It often happens that a word may be translated in different ways by dividing it differently. Many names of places in these islands are common to other groups of islands in the South Pacific, and were probably brought here with the earliest colonists. They have been used for centuries without any thought of their original meaning. [2]

History further tells us that named locations were significant in past times, and it has been observed that “Names would not have been given to [or remembered if they were] mere worthless pieces of topography” [14:412].

In ancient times, named localities served a variety of functions, telling people about (i) places where the gods walked the earth and changed the lives of people for good or worse; (ii) heiau or other features of ceremonial importance; (iii) triangulation points such as koa (ceremonial markers) for fishing grounds and fishing sites; (iv) residences and burial sites; (v) areas of planting; (vi) water sources; (vii) trails and trailside resting places (oioina), such as a rock shelter or tree-shaded spot; (viii) the sources of particular natural resources/resource collection areas, or any number of other features; or (ix) notable events which occurred at a given area. Through place names, knowledge of the past and places of significance were handed down across countless generations.

¹J. W. H. I. Kihe, “Na Hoomanao o ka Manawa,” Ka Hoku o Hawaii, June 5th and 12th, 1924.

In 1870, native historian S. M. Kamakau wrote about several practices and beliefs pertaining to mano, sharks, in ancient life. One practice of note in the Puuloa region was the practice of transforming deceased family members into mano as aumakua. These family aumakua would help relatives when in danger on the sea—if a canoe capsized or a man-eating shark was threatening attack. Hawaiians also worked with and tamed sharks so that one could ride them like a horse, steering them to where one wished to go.¹  Kupuna Mary Kawena Pukui shared that there were two basic classes of sharks—mano kanaka: sharks with human affiliations; and mano ia: wild sharks of the sea, man eaters. The mano kanaka were revered and cared for, while the mano ia were at times hunted and killed following ceremonial observances.² The practice of chiefs hunting sharks using the flesh of defeated enemies or sacrificial victims as kupalu mano (shark fishing chum), and of commoners using rotted fish as kupalu mano are further described in several historical narratives.

Ke Awalau o Puuloa, “the many bays of Puuloa” (Pearl Harbor), are famed in traditional and historical accounts of mano. The traditions center around the several deified sharks, foremost of whom is the goddess Kaahupahau, then followed several others, including but not limited to Kahiuka , Kuhaimoana, Komoawa, Kaehuikimanoopuuloa, Keliikau-o-Kau (Kealiikauaokau), and Mikololou. With the exception of Mikololou, all these shark gods were friendly to people, and dedicated to keeping mano ia, wild sharks of the sea, out of the Puuloa-Ewa waters and protecting people.

Traditions of Ke Awalau o Puuloa tell us that one of the most important kanawai governing mano was that they would not attack humans. This kanawai was created by the shark gods themselves. In 1870, Kamakau wrote about the establishment of this kanawai in a section titled “Alahula Puuloa, he Alahele na Kaahupahau,” which means “The Swimming Trails of Puuloa Are the Trails Traveled by Kaahupahau.”

Oahu was made a kapu land by this kanawai placed by [the shark gods] Kanehunamoku and Kamohoalii. But their sister Kaahupahau broke the law and devoured the chiefess Papio. She was taken and “tried” (hookolokolo) at Ulukaa [the realm of these gods], but she escaped the punishment of death. It was her woman kahu who paid the penalty of the law because it was her fault—she reviled Papio. The trouble arose over a papahi lei of ilima flowers which belonged to Kaahupahau that her kahu was wearing. [The kahu refused to give it to Papio, and] Papio said, “I am going bathing, but when I come back you shall be burned with fire.” But Ka‘ahupahau devoured Papio before she could carry out her threat, and she was punished for this. That is how Puuloa became a [safe] thoroughfare (alahula). After her confinement ended several years later, Kaahupahau was very weak. She went on a sightseeing trip, got into trouble, and was almost killed. But she received great help from Kupiapia and Laukahiu, sons of Kuhaimoana, and when their enemies were all slain, the kanawai was firmly established. This law—that no shark must bite or attempt to eat a person in Oahu waters—is well known from Puuloa to the Ewas. Anyone who doubts my words must be a malihini there. Only in recent times have sharks been known to bite people in Oahu waters or to have devoured them; it was not so in old times.³

Several place names commemorate the shark gods of Puuloa. Among them are three recorded in the Saturday Press of December 29, 1883:

Keaalii A cave in the sea at the entrance to Puuloa harbor, and known by the natives to have been formerly the home of a large shark called Komoawa, who has been generally credited as the watchman on guard at the entrance of Kaahupahau’s waters. The latter’s royal cave-dwelling was in the Honouliuli lagoon.

Kuhia loko Waiawa. Named for one of the attendants/purveyors of the shark goddess Kaahupahau.

Kuhia waho Waiawa. Named for one of the attendants/purveyors of the shark goddess Kaahupahau.

In addition to the traditions of Kaahupahau, two other accounts center around the nature of sharks in the Ewa District, and battles that were fought to kill offending sharks. In the early 1820s, members of the Protestant mission station traveled to the Ewa District, and learned something about the shark gods of Puuloa.

Hiram Bingham accompanied King Kamehameha II (Liholiho), the royal family, and attendants to Ewa in 1823, where they stayed near the shore of Puuloa. During the visit, the king and party, along with Bingham, visited the dwelling place of a noted shark god. The name of the god was not recorded in Bingham’s journal, though one must infer that it was either the goddess Kaahupahau or her brother, Kahiuka. Bingham wrote:

I one day accompanied the King [Liholiho] and others by boat to see the reputed habitation of a Hawaiian deity, on the bank of the lagoon of Ewa. It was a cavern or fissure in a rock, chiefly under water, where, as some then affirmed, a god, once in human form, taking the form of a shark, had his subterraqueous abode. Sharks were regarded by the Hawaiians as gods capable of being influenced by prayers and sacrifices, either to kill those who hate and despise them or to spare those who respect and worship them. It had been held that, when a mother gave her offspring to a shark, the spirit of the child dwelt in it, and the shark becoming an akua, would afterwards recognize and befriend the mother on meeting her, though ready to devour others. [4:177]

Later, in January 1825, Elisha Loomis also traveled to Ewa and stayed along the Puuloa shore [31]. During his visit, Loomis learned the name of the shark goddess who protected the waters of the Pearl Harbor region, and also reported hearing about a war between the good sharks and those who sought to eat human flesh. It will be noted that due to his limited Hawaiian-language skills, Loomis apparently transposed she for he in his journal.

After supper I conversed with them a long time on the subject of religion … during the conversation one of them mentioned that in former times there dwelt at Puuloa a famous shark named Ahupahau. He had a house in the hole of a rock. He was one their gods. On one occasion a strong shark 3 or 4 fathoms long came into the channel to make war upon the sharks and upon the natives that dwelt there. Ahupahau immediately communicated to the natives information advising them to get a net out and secure him. They took the hint and spread their nets, and in a little time the stranger was captured.

Loomis’s reference to a war between an invading shark coincides with the traditions of Ka-ehu-iki-mano-o-Puuloa,⁴ Mikololou and Kealiikauaokau,⁵ in which battles between sharks are fought in order to protect the people of the Ewa region from attacks by mano ia.

J. S. Emerson presented a paper titled “The Lesser Hawaiian Gods” before the Hawaiian Historical Society on April 7, 1892. In this report are details of Kaahupahau, Kahiuka, and Mikololou in the history of Ewa and the waters of Puuloa:

One reason for the affection shown to the shark aumakua was the fact that so many of them claimed human parentage, and were related by ties of kinship to their kahus. Such was the case with Kaahupahau and her brother Kahiuka, the two famous shark-gods of the Ewa Lagoon on this island. Their birth and childhood differed in no essential features from that of other Hawaiian children up to the time when, leaving the home of their parents, they wandered away one day and mysteriously disappeared. After a fruitless search, their parents were informed that they had been transformed into sharks. As such, they became special objects of worship for the people of the districts of Ewa and Waianae, with whom they maintained pleasant relations, and were henceforth regarded as their friends and benefactors. After a time the man-eating shark, Mikololou, from the coast of the island of Maui, paid them a visit and enjoyed their hospitality until he reproached them for not providing him with his favorite human flesh. This they indignantly refused to give, whereupon, in spite of their protest, he made a raid on his own account upon the natives, and secured one or more of their number to satisfy his appetite. Kaahupahau and her brother promptly gave warning to their friends on shore of the character of this monster that had invaded their waters. To ensure his destruction they invited their unsuspecting guest to a feast made in his honor at their favorite resort up the Waipahu river. Here they fed him sumptuously, and at length stupefied him with the unusual amount of awa which they supplied him. While he was in this condition, their friends, who had come in great numbers from the surrounding country, were directed to close up the Waipahu river, which empties into the Ewa Lagoon, with their fish nets, brought for the purpose, while they attacked him in the rear. In his attempt to escape to the open sea he broke through one net after another, but was finally entangled and secured. His body was then dragged by the victorious people on shore and burned to ashes, but certain do got hold of his tongue, and, after eating a portion, dropped the remainder into the river. The spirit of the man-eater revived again, and, as a tongue, now restored and alive, made his way to the coasts of Maui and Hawaii, pleading with the sharks of those waters for vengeance upon the sharks of the Ewa Lagoon. They meantime secured the aid of Kuhaimoana and other notable sharks from the islands of Kaula, Niihau, Kauai, and Oahu. A grand sight it was to the numerous spectators on the shore when these mighty hosts joined in combat and began the great shark-war. It was a contest of gods and heroes whose exploits and deeds of valor have long been the theme of the bards of the Hawaiian Islands… [I]n the first great battle the friends and allies of the cruel man-eater were touted by the superior force of their opponents, which the good Kaahupahau and her brother long continued to enjoy the affectionate worship of their grateful people. It is said that she is now dead, while her brother Kahiuka still lived in his old cave in the sea, where he was visited from time to time by his faithful kahu, Kimona, now deceased. Sometimes Kimona missed his fish nets, when he was pretty sure to find that Kahi‘uka had carried them to a place of safety, to preserve them from destruction by hostile sharks.⁶

Noted Hawaiian scholar Mary Kawena Pukui wrote about visits she made to Ewa and the Puuloa region in 1907. She observed that the name Kaahupahau could be translated as “Cloak well cared for,” and that her place in the history of the land is commemorated in the saying, “Alahula Puuloa he alahele na Kaahupahau, Everywhere in Puuloa is the trail of Kaahupahau” [25].

The role of Kaahupahau as a goddess and guardian in the waters of the Puuloa bays is still in the minds of Hawaiians in the present day. Her brother Kahiuka, whose name means “The smiting tail,” is also remembered, and it is said that with his great tail, Kahiuka was responsible for destroying any foreign sharks “that offended his sister” Kaahupahau [25:57–58]. His cave is reported in several locations, including Dry-dock No. 1, between Mokuumeume and Keanapuaa, and in Waiawa estuary.⁷ The cave, destroyed in the construction of Dry-dock No. 1, was once his home.⁸

¹S. M. Kamakau, January 6, 1870; Pukui, translator, 1976.
²M. K. Pukui, personal communication to Kepa Maly, 1976.
³S. M. Kamakau; Pukui, translator, 1968:73.
⁴W. H. Uaua, “He Moolelo Kaao no Kaehuikimanoopuuloa,” Ke Au Okoa, Dec. 1, 1870 to Jan. 5, 1871.
⁵“He Moolelo Kaao Hawaii no Keliikau o Kau,” Home Rula Repubalika, January 6, 1902, p. 7–8.
⁶J. S. Emerson, 1892:10–11.
⁷Manu 1895.
⁸For additional background on the sharks of Puuloa, see Pukui and Curtis, 1961 [27].