Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 6, Number 11, 1 November 1989 — Known for "Kumulipo" translation [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Known for "Kumulipo" translation

Rubellite Johnson wins literature award

The State Foundation on Culture and the Arts (SFCA) has selected a native Hawaiian scholar, Rubellite Kawena Kinney Johnson, as the 16th recipient of the Hawai'i Award for Literature. Gov. John Waihee presented the award at a special ceremony in his chambers on Oct. 9. Since 1974, the SFCA has presented this prestigious award annually to recognize the outstanding writers of Hawai'i. Ruby Johnson was born in Lawa'i, Kaua'i in 1933, the daughter of Ernest Kaipoleimanu Kinney, a Mayflower descendant, and Esther Kauikeaulani Ka'ulili Kinney, whose family descends directly from Kamehameha II. After attending public schools in Kaua'i, she received a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. From the beginning, Johnson's work focused on the islands and her people. Her expertise and commitment to Hawaiian language, literature and culture, made her a natural to receive the Literacy Arts Award. It was at the University that Johnson's interest in written Hawaiian tradition was first encouraged by her instructor, Dr. Samuel Elbert. As an undergraduate, she worked on and was published in the UH literary magazine, "The Lit." In 1954, the year of her graduation, the student association produced "The Legend of Naupaka" for the Pan-Pacific Festival using a script by Mrs. Johnson. With kumu hula Kaupena Johnson she chanted for the production. A John Hay Whitney Foundation Fellowship enabled Mrs. Johnson to enroll in the School of Folklore at Indiana University for graduate study but after one year, she returned home. The opportunity to record oral histories of Hawaiians living in very remote areas of O'ahu and Kaua'i, many of them close to 100-years-old, to listen to them speak on Hawaiiana and historical events of the 19th cerrtury and describe legends and chants, proved too inviting to resist. Intellectually and physical!y, Mrs. Johnson has always been an avid explorer. Work with noted ethnologist Kenneth P. Emory on Hawaiian storytelling and Polynesian music prompted her, in 1960, to embark upon a five-month sail aboard a 38foot ketch from California to the Marquesas, Tuamotu, and French Polynesia with her 10-month-old son and then-husband, Rochne Hart Johnson of the Scripps Institute of Oceanography. While on the island of Vahitahi īn the Taumotu group, one of the most remote islands in the South Pacific, she taped some 75 songs and chants of native music for use at the Bishop Museum. This was the first time that the songs and chants of these people had ever been taped. Mrs. Johnson is a dedicated educator. She has taught for the Department of Indo-Pacific Langu ages at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa since 1968, specializing in the fields of folklore and advanced Hawaiian translation. Mrs. Johnson wrote the proposal for the bache lor's Degree in Hawaiian Language and Hawaiian Studies, that eventually became the Hawaiian Studies Program and now, under the School of Hawaiian, Asian and Pacific Studies, it is the model for Hawaiian Studies programs at Kamehameha Schools and community colleges throughout Hawai'i. As a scholar, her research encompasses an array of themes relating to Hawai'i. Consistently complimented for her mastery and ability to provide insight into complex materiai, Mrs. Johnson is perhaps best known for her study of traditional Hawaiian literature. Her expertise culminated in the 1981 publication of a major reinterpretation of an outstanding example of Hawaiian literary expression, the "Kumulipo." A Hawaiian creation and genealogical chant, "Kumulipo" was composed around the 18th-cen-tury in honor of the birth of the high chief, Ka'Iiamamao, scion of the powerful and presti-

gious 'I elan of Hilo and a grandfather of Kamehameha Kalakaua and Lili'uokalani revived the chant during their reigns. Johnson's commentary on the "Kumulipo" is exceptionally valuable as it relates the chant's signficance to ancient Hawaiian literature and to the literature of other Polynesian cultures. "The intention of the Hawaiian pnests who eomposed the Kumulipo," writes Johnson in herintroduction, "was simply to relate a new-born chief of high social rank to his ultimate origins in earth's very beginnings. The Kumulipo suggests iot only that life evolved of itself upon the earth but also that the visible universe had been set into motion by the heating surfaces of celestial bodies. The rotation of the heavens could then be the means by whieh cosmic time could be measured and thereby the orderly. The "Kumulipo" thus establishes that the Hawaiian concept of life was a product of active, natural forces, believes Johnson. " A reading of the poem," she asserts, "will confirm that the mythical appearance of deities who are mythologically personified forces of nature, follows the formation of earth and life forms already accomplished by spontaneous generation." Johnson's discussion of historical context includes an explanation for the great interest generated abroad by German and English translation of "Kumulipo" published in the 1800s. "Those who were observers of the struggle encountered by Darwinian theory with church resistance were intrigued by Polynesian concepts that were the exception to the prevailing mystical notion of Divine Cause as the source of all life upon earth,"

she explains. Onee asked why she became so engrossed in the "Kumulipo project, Ruby replied, "For me, it has been many journeys. I had to reach very far back into Hawaiian (spiritual) thought There is also the intellectual journey; the comparison of Hawaiian with Indian thought, Greek thought, Arabian thought, Buddhist thought, Chinese thought "But my real reason for doing this was back in school when my teacher said, 'You re Hawaiian, you can't Ieam algebra, you can't eam math, you're too »"eligious, too mystical.' "Then 1 looked at the "Kumulipo" and I said to myself here is something that will build up the pride of my children. It is like the Bibie or any other sacred literature. The whole 'Kumuiioo" rests in love. It is a constant regene ation of rself." Another definitive work b Johnsot aids scholars trying to pieee together histo: primitive navigation. "Na Inoa Ho A alogue of Hawaiian and Pacific Star Names" do. aments almost 400 stars used by Poly ;asians oi avigation and calendar purposes and :overs th mythologieai basis of Hawaiian star :erminoio; "Kukini 'Aha'ilono," a collection of r- nslated iclesfrom Hawaiian language newspap rs betwr i 1834 and 1948. and "Ka Nupepa Ku Ko'a. A ronicle of Entries, 1861-1862," whieh surveys material published in a single Hawaiian iangoage newspaper in the course of a yee provide ascinating reading for anyone interested in Haw ian history. Mrs. Johnson, a literary artist, is a poet as well. She composed the chants in memory of Gabby Pahinui, "Nanea Kou Maka (Joyful ' our Face) and "He Mele No Gabby Pahinui" A song for Gabby Pahinui). Mrs. Johnson is a founder of the Council of Hawaiian Elders, an organization of nowledgeable kupuna committed to perpe uating the Hawaiian language, spoken and written, and to encouraging translation of native Hawaiian texts. Mrs. Johnson received the Na Po !a Award in the education category dunng the ear of the Hawaiian in 1987. In 1982 the Honpe Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii designated he< a Living Treasure of Hawai'i. This year she rec: ed the Na Makua Mahalo Ia Award from the Brigi tm Young University-Hawai'i, awarded o those vhose lifetime achievements and service to Hawaiian eulture have been outstanding With the Hawai'i Award for Lite:ature this Oc'tober, Rubellite Kawena Johnson name will be added to another list of Hawaii's be ioved and respected scholars and literary artis

Ruby Johnson