I last blogged that Kekuhaupi`o trained Kamehameha to be the excellent fighter he’d become – all detailed in a book. So, you’d assume this master teacher stood eye-to-eye to the future king, who was over 6’2” – as were many of the other warrior-kings. Nope…`A`ole! Kekuhaupi`o was abou [...]
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There’s a full course of tales about Kamapua`a, the pig god. Since they’re all mythical, where’s the historical angle asked for in this blog? It’s in the footnotes – a wealth of them to enjoy in two books about the rascal.  Below, a citation from each book. [1] A greeting of “aloha” [...]
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1778. From Captain Cook’s journal, some little known facts about Hawaiian manufacture and living. Hair Style. Ordinarily black hairs of natives were stained with a mix of gray clay and powdered shells, and made into balls. Later chewed into a soft paste. Then smeared over the hair, rendering it [...]
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It’s a given, Kamehameha gained the skills of weaponry use and man-to-man fighting. Credit to his instructor, Kekuhaupi`o, expert at dodging and catching spears aimed to kill, a bone-breaking technician of lua wrestling, and master of  parrying and thrusting in fencing with a staff. Competen [...]
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TALKING HAWAI`I’S STORY: ORAL HISTORIES OF AN ISLAND PEOPLE is a must read book for its wealth of talk-story reminisces by local folks. Great as a Xmas gift. It’s a given that Queen Lili`uokalani looms large in Hawaii’s history. But in The Rascal of Waikiki by Lemon “Rusty” Holt we learn o [...]
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1778. How godly were Hawaiian chiefs treated at the time? Captain Clerke, an officer of Captain James Cook, felt native attendants were way too protective of their Kaua`i “chief of note,” Tamahano. Bodyguards carefully lifted him into the English ship. But, they stopped the native king from goin [...]
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Pictures are excellent for seeing Hawai`i’s past, while you imagine yourself in it. That’s what HAWAI`I 50 – FIVE DECADES OF PHOTOGRAPHS  has. The “…best and most representative photos, arranged by decades.”   I choose 1959 (Hawai`i statehood) through 1969. Leafing those pages I enjoy [...]
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That Kamehameha the Great got smacked dizzy and bloody on the forehead has been told. A common fisherman swinging his paddle did it. In that attack the warrior king was immobile cause his foot was stuck in the crevice of lava rocks.   There’s more that’s not often told. That before delivering [...]
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“These people are scanty in their clothing, very few of the Men wear any thing more than the Maro [loin wrap], but the women have a piece of cloth wraped round the waist [kihei], so as to hang down like a petticoat as low as the knee; all the rest of the body is naked. Their  ornaments are bracle [...]
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A must read, 68-page, short story book of HILO LEGENDS, by Francis Reed.   Loved the book’s first article, “How Hilo Got Its Name.” Hilo or Hiro, the famous mythical navigator who sailed throughout the Pacific to discover other Polynesian islands. That Hilo who likely ranked high enough in th [...]
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