Kapu Kuialua

Kapu Kuialua (also Pa Kuialua, Kuialua or just Lua) is said to be an ancient Hawaiian martial art of bone breaking, emphasizing joint locks as well as strikes.

The name roughly translates to "forbidden way to fight", as it is claimed to have been only taught to the king and his family, and teaching outside of the sanctioned circle was punishable by death. The modern form of this art may actually include techniques from other traditional martial arts, such as jujutsu, judo, karate and aikido. Weapons used by natives of the Hawaiian islands may have been focused on primarily in the art at one time, as it is said the fighter who loses his weapons should then resort to "Mokomoko" (dirty fighting methods). The old warriors of this art would oil up and remove hair in order to be able slip away and avoid being grappled in battle.

Lua is also known as the art of bone-breaking, as many of the techniques are designed to break the neck, arms, wrists and other appendages. Most students of modern Lua are students of Olohe Kolomono "Sol" Kaihewalu or Olohe David Nuuhiwa. Senior instructors are located in California, Texas, Oklahoma, Mexico and many other states.

Olohe Kaihewalu's Website is available at: http://www.olohe.com/

Kumu Steve Taylor's Website is available at: http://www.hawaiianlua.com/

Practitioners

Fighter John Matua is a practitioner in this style and also claims to be a distant cousin of Akebono. He has fought in NHB style competitions including the UFC.

6'2 in height, his hometown is Westminster, California and at the time of UFC 6 he was 29 years of age, and weighed in at 400 lbs. He lost by KO to Tank Abbot in 18 seconds.

His fight record is 1 - 4 - 0 (Win - Loss - Draw). [http://www.sherdog.com/fightfinder/fightfinder.asp?FighterID=111]

External links

* [http://martialarts.about.com/od/standupstyles/p/lua.htm Lua - the ancient Hawaiian martial art]
* [http://www.olohe.com/ A Lua organization.]