Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 31, Number 2, 1 February 2014 — On Kauaʻi, Kāneiolouma restoration is a labor of love [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

On Kauaʻi, Kāneiolouma restoration is a labor of love

By Mary Aliee Ka'iulani Milham With four 16-foot-tall ki'i standing sentry atop a stone platform at the corner of Po'ipū and Ho'owili roads, there's no mistaking Ke Kahua O Kāneiolouma. Yet, until quite recently, this largely intact, centuries-old Hawaiian village, fronting Kaua'i's famed Po'ipū Beach, was largely unknown, hidden behind decades of overgrowth and layers of hurricane debris. "Up until about a few months ago, no one knew any of this existed," says Randy Wiehman, project historian for Hui Malama o Kāneioluma, the volunteer group that in 2010 heeame the official stewards of the site. It was only after the group cleared decades worth of brush and overgrowth that the extent of the complex hidden beneath was finally revealed.

The 13-acre complex, Kaua'i's only sacred site not on private land, dates back to at least the 1400s and, according to Wiehman, 80 percent of it is in stunning condition. Surrounding a central amphitheater onee the site of Makahiki games, the complex was used for religious functions as well as agriculture and aquaculture. It embraces fish ponds, taro patches and residences, altars and astronomical observation points. Though it was Kāne, god of sky and creation, for whom the heiau was named - Kāneiolouma, meaning "Kane who drove and pushed" - Kū, god of war, Kanaloa, god of the oeean, and Lono, the Makahiki god of peaee, rain and fertility are also represented as the four corners of honua (earth) that are the pillars of Hawaiian astronomy. Eaeh ki'i, carved from 'ōhi'a wood by Hawai'i Island artist James Kanani Kaulukukui Jr., is uniquely

striking: coiled hair, blazing inlaid shell eyes, mouths baring perfect rows of teeth. Their headdresses and even their squatting postures, Wiehman says, are representative of Kaua'i's unique style. Their placement on the platform, oriented to astronomical alignments

that governed Kauai's anciently people, is likewise exacting. Wichman's key to the site is a large, tattered copy of a 1959 map drawn by native historian Henry Kekahuna, a kahuna and surveyor of 68 heiau, whose detailed depicXI KĀNEI0L0UMA ON PAGE 21

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We hope that the people will cherish the things that should be preserved for themselves and for posterity — things whieh whieh they now deliberately destroy or allow to perish, but for whieh in a very few years from now we shall be clamoring."

— Henry Kekahuna, historian who drew a 1959 map of the site

CULTURE

The ki'i of the god Polohiwakanaloa (Kanaloa) glowers wilh a inlaid eyes and crouched in a Kaua'i ki'i stance atop the stone platform marking the loeahon of Kahua 0 Kāneiolouma at the corner of Ho'owili and Po'ipū roads. - Photos: Mary Aliee Ka'iulani Milham

Historian Randy Wiehman indicates the large assembly area and surrounding stone "hleaehers" where ancient Hawaiians observed games and ceremonies.

KĀNEIOLOUMA

Continued from page 19 tion shows the various architectural features of the site - from the great sports arena and assembly grounds, to the fishponds where special fish reserved for ali'i were raised. Beyond the ponds are taro patches, fed by above-ground irrigation ehan-

nels, home sites, altars, bleachers, the sacred spring of Wai'ohai and the locations more than 70 ki'i that onee dotted the complex. At the northeast corner of the complex sits a large stone 'awa bowl. It was here, on the 27th and 28th night of the moon, that the people partook of 'awa when the beaches, reserved for the god Kāne, were kapu (forbidden). The restoration work began two years ago with the development of a seven-year master plan developed by the hui, after a groundbreaking stewardship agreement with Kaua'i County granted care of the complex to the volunteer group under the county's Adopt-a-Park program. The hui, whieh has unofficially been caring for the site for a decade, was formally organized in 2009 by Rupert Rowe Sr., the hui's president, Billy Kaohelauli'i, whose land abuts the site, and Wiehman. Decisions are made under the leadership of po'o (heads) endowed with sole discretion under their respective protocol houses. "We've divided out into the 10 colleges and we allow eaeh college to make their decisions that we trust them to do it," explains Wiehman. In keeping with Kaua 'i's tradition-

ally egalitarian culture - in whieh Wiehman says women not only ate with men but fought beside them in battle - women participate side by side in the restoration work. The installation of the ki'i in July serves as a reminder to visitors that Kāneiolouma is a plaee commanding respect, Wiehman says. A l,500-foot long perimeter wall, Manokalanipo, was installed months earlier.

Under the direction of stone masonry po'o Kelly Fields, son of master stone mason Billy Fields, the 4-l/2-foot-tall enclosure was hand built using pōhaku (rocks) fromthe nearby Kōloa Plantation. Wiehman sees the pōhaku in the traditional Plawaiian world view, addressing them as fellow participants in the work. "We offered this new stone, a new job . . . a new consecrated purpose," says Wiehman. "They won't move. They'll be there long after we're gone." The next critically important phase of the work, a two-year, hands-on community participation campaign begins this fall when, under the guidance of four stone masons, eommunity members will be allowed to contribute to the repair work every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. "The point is to bring the eommunity in, to have kuleana," says Wiehman. "The whole island is goingtobegivenkuleanatoleam." ■

Marv Ali.ce Ka'iulani Milham, a Portland, Oregon-based freelance journalist, is a fortner newspaper reporter and columnist from California 's Central Coast.

A ceremonial stone kānoa, or 'awa bowl, at Kāneiolouma is one of the intact artifacts that remains from this ancient Hawaiian village.