Honouliuli Ewa TCP's Are Important Wahi Pana (Sacred Places) On Multi-Dimensional Levels
John Bond Kanehili Cultural Hui
Kanehili Cultural Hui has done major research on Honouliuli Ewa centered on four main subject points which are all interrelated TCP areas of Honouliuli – Ewa Plain – Puuloa (Pearl Harbor).
Honouliuli Ewa and Puuloa (Pearl Harbor) has high level traditional cultural properties (TCP) wahi pana (sacred places) of major cultural significance. This area was Oahu’s major population and food production center for 1000 years with a significant Ewa Plain trail network connecting all regional locations. And it is where many important historic events took place both in ancient times as well as in the modern Western era.
Most of the really major revelations about Honouliuli Ewa's cultural importance have only been made widely available in reports during the past 10-15 years.
Some very important additional research on Shark Gods, shark caves, tunnels, etc has been done by native Hawaiian cultural practitioner Michael Lee of Ewa where he is a cultural descendant related to Hawaiian royalty buried in the same area.
Important Hawaiian figures associated with Honouliuli-Ewa Puuloa cultural history:
Ka'ahupahau – Shark Goddess
Kahi'uka – Smiting Tail – Shark God
Kapo - goddess of hula, fertility and sorcery
Hiiaka - youngest Pele sister, was the patron goddess of hula dancers, chant and medicine. Owls were her messengers. Her chants name places on the Ewa Plain and shore as she traveled through Honouliuli.
Ku- or Kū-ka-ili-moku is one of the four great Hawaiian gods.
Kane - the creator and gives life associated with dawn, the sun and sky.
Kamapua – goddess Pele’s husband. After Kamapua'a conquered most of O'ahu, he installed his grandmother as queen at Puu o Kapolei heiau. Kapolei, or the Lei of Kapo, refers to the wreath of the sun created by the sunset glow during winter solstice around Pu’u-o-Kapolei, also as seen on the May 2 solstice from the Waikiki Aquarium on Oahu’s south shore.
The guardian sharks of Pu'uloa (Pearl Harbor) were Ka'ahupahau and her brother Kahi'uka
They were benevolent gods who were cared for and worshiped by the people and who aided fishermen, protected the life of the seas, and drove off man-eating sharks.
Ka'ahupahau is also associated as the all seeing guardian protector of Honouliuli-Puuloa trails. 'Olelo No'eau: Hawaiian Proverbs and Poetical Sayings, No. 105: "Alahula o Pu'uloa, he alahele na Ka'ahupahau": "Everywhere in Pu'uloa is the trail of Ka'ahupahau.”
The HART rail project in West Oahu has two APE’s -Area of Potential Effect – an above surface APE based upon land ownership which covers a very wide area of the central Ewa Plain and the below surface APE based upon the footprint of the FTA Rail Project’s built infrastructure- pillars, stations, parking lots and the Transit Oriented Developments (TOD’s) directly funded by transit funds. This was all agreed to in letters exchanged between FTA and DLNR-SHPD before rail construction began.
The Leina spirit pathway for West Oahu is specifically about the traditional cultural world of Pearl Harbor and the Ewa Plain. Generally most Oahu residents have assumed that Kaena Point was the island’s logical spirit leaping place because it is the western most point of the island.
It is also worth noting that the Kupuna caves of shark goddess Ka'ahupahau are also in this same exact Westerly alignment of the setting sun- which is the Leina spirit portal direction
However, for the large native Hawaiian Honouliuli-Ewa Puuloa communities the southwestern point of land was Ka Lae Loa (Barbers Point) and the spirit departed from Aliamanu, a high volcanic crater which provided a clear view across the Ewa Plain and toward the western setting sun in the sea. This was the spirit portal back to the ancient homeland of kahiki.
The above surface Leina a ka 'uhane from the Leiolono heiau on Aliamanu to the Western setting sun has already been established in FTA-HART funded documentation as National Register eligible property under categories A and B. This area also covers the entire West Oahu Ewa rail Project APE on the Ewa Plain. The FTA-HART report states: “In our opinion, the Leina a ka ‘uhane likely has integrity of relationship,” and “these storied places are important to the retention and transmittal of knowledge and beliefs about the land and the Hawaiian people on Oahu.”
In later documents the area is referred to as the "Leina District" which fits into a Western concept of an "historic district" concept.
The 1825 Malden Trails
The Malden Trails are actually an 1825 map by British Navy cartographer R. N. Malden who documented the network of ancient Hawaiian trails that could be clearly seen crossing the Ewa Plain, connecting from Honouliuli to the Ewa shore. A likely vantage point for Malden to make his map sketch notes would have been the Palehua trail going up through Makakilo as this would have been close to his ship the HMS Blonde. There is a lot more to this special historic survey in 1825 and why a painting of the ship is in the governor's home- Washington Place.
The Malden Trails map help establish a TCP for the active major Oahu native Hawaiian culture in Honouliuli Ewa. The State Na Ala Hele trail program has expressed interest in the historic significance of the trails and their possible restoration. There could be recreational connectivity and potential for recreating events such as the annual Makahiki festival using the ancient trail right of ways. The Palehua trail section is most affected by the HART rail guide way and the UH West Oahu rail station and TOD.
The ancient trails identified by the Malden map include a Honouliuli Village that led to what later became Ewa Plantation. The early trails near what became the plantation villages split into the Kualaka’i trail (Nimitz-White Plains Beach area) and the One’ula trail (Haseko-One’ula Beach.) A mauka northern trail- Palehua- leads up to Palehua heiau and then to Nanakuli-Waianae and Pohakea Pass. A westerly trail leads to and by Puu o Kapolei through the UH West Oahu campus where it becomes part of Farrington Hwy and then goes on to Nanakuli.
The Na Ala Hele program accepts that historic native trails over time can become modified as roads and even highways. It is the original rights of way that are most important to preserve.
The largest pre-contact native Hawaiian population lived around Honouliuli Village by West Loch. It was a major breadbasket of agricultural fields, fishponds and fisheries. There is nearly 1000 years of TCP traditional native Hawaiian agriculture of kalo fields (Kalo'i Gulch), sweet potatoes, bananas, etc. followed by approximately 150 years of Western industrial agriculture – cattle ranching, rice fields, sisal plantation and Ewa Plantation. The major Ewa sugar plantation became the truck farming seen today, growing a wide variety of table top vegetables for homes, markets and restaurants.
The 1000 years of traditional use of the land for agriculture was due to ideal growing conditions- abundant mountain spring water, a very sunny climate and especially rich volcanic soil from the Waianae volcano. Native Hawaiians and later Ewa Plantation made extensive agricultural use of the Kalo’i waterway to direct the waters to many different field parcels which are still in use today.
After the apocalyptic deaths of nearly 95% of the native Hawaiian population of Honouliuli Ewa Puuloa from Western diseases the agricultural infrastructure was modified for Western and Asian crops. The Ewa Plantation made use of the native fields and waterways, as well as trail systems by upgrading the agricultural infrastructure with water pipes, water flumes, plantation narrow gauge railway lines.
However it is all in very great danger from FTA HART rail stations and City Transit Oriented Developments such as Hoopili. Their plans will cover the entire property in 12,000 homes, shopping centers and big box stores. Traffic will become a nightmare with desalinated water and absolutely no food sustainability. Honouliuli Ewa will likely become a future environmental disaster area.
