Kihanuilulumoku

Kihanuilulumoku was the 11th Alii Aimoku of Hawaii ruling from 1435 - 1465. He was sovereign king or chief of the island of Hawaii.

Biography

Kiha-nui-lulu-moku was the son of Kauholanuimahu and Neula, and succeeded his father as Moi of Hawaii. His principal residence was at Waipio, district of Hamakua, where the Moi of Hawaii seem to have preferred to dwell from the days of Kahaimoelea.

Kiha, though no wars or conquests are reported as occurring during his reign, is represented in the legends as a strong, powerful, and industrious chief, who made himself respected and obeyed at home, and held in high estimation by his neighbours. Hawaiian priests and bards of later ages embellished his legend with marvels, and witchery, and superhuman adventures, a certain proof of the high esteem in which he was held by his contemporaries and their posterity. He is eulogised as a chief of a peaceful disposition, but at the same time always ready to keep peace between the subordinate chieftains by force if necessary. Agriculture and industry received his attention, and the island of Hawaii is represented as prosperous and contented during his reign.

A curious and much-prized memento of Kiha has come down to our times. It was the celebrated war-trumpet of Kiha—" Kiha-pu "—whose notes, when blown upon, were said to have been audible from Waipio to Waimea, a distance of ten miles. It was a large nautilus shell, of a kind seldom if ever found now in this group, and inlaid, after the custom of those days, with the teeth of rebel or opposing chiefs slain in battle. It had been preserved as an heirloom in the Kamehameha branch of Kiha's descendants, and was, with many other relics of the Hawaiian heathen time, sent to the Paris Exhibition of 1865. It now adorns the Royal Hawaiian Museum. Many a weird tale is still told by some of the older people of the miraculous properties of the said shell or trumpet, how it was found, and of its power over the Kini Akua, " the host of gods," when properly blown.

Kiha lived to a very old age and died at Waipio. His first wife was his own aunt, Waoilea, the sister of Neula, his mother, with whom he had Liloa, who succeeded him as Moi of Hawaii. He also had three other sons, either with Waoilea or with some other wife whose name has not been preserved. Their names were Kaunuamoa, Makaoku, and Kepailiula, the second of whom became chief of the Hilo district, and married Hinaiakamalama, sixth in descent from Kalaunuiohua. In his old age Kiha took a new wife named Hina-opio, with whom he had a son, Hoolana, who appears to have been provided for in the Puna district, where the family remained for four generations, until Kuikai removed to Molokai, married Kumakakaha, the daughter of Kalani-Pehu, the then most potent chief of that island, and became the ancestor of the well known Kaiakea family, the head of which still survives in the au daughter.

Reference

* Samuel M. Kamakau, Ruling Chiefs of Hawaii, Revised Edition, (Honolulu: Kamehameha Schools Press, 1992).
* David Malo, Hawaiian Antiquities, Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press, 1951.

Resources

* [http://www.4dw.net/royalark/Hawaii/hawaii.htm Chiefs of Hawaii]