Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 8, Number 9, 1 Kepakemapa 1991 — Wai piʻi aka kai ʻeʻe -- tracking the legacy [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Wai piʻi aka kai ʻeʻe -- tracking the legacy

by Rudy Leikaimana Mitchell Historian/archaeologist

From the time of our kupuna kahiko, the kai was looked upon as our pathway into being upon this 'aina. It provided for our needs and well-being. The 'aina gave us a solid foundation to dwell upon. It also pro-

vided for our needs and well-being. On the dark side, the kai and the 'aina have mysterious habits of raging destruction; coming from the sea as a kai e'e (tidal wave) and from the 'aina, the ola'i (earthquake), lua'i Pele (volcanic eruption). This dark side takes away what kai and 'aina have so graciously provided us. These are the uncontrollable events of the kai and the 'aina. Together, these two elements of destruction precede eaeh other; one generates the other. They have ravaged the po'e (people) from the time of kahiko to the present day. 1 do remember what my kupuna had told me — but then it was mysterious. I didn't understand the cautions of their 'olelo no'eau (sayings):

"£ kamali'i a'ole kua i ke kai." (Children, don't turn your back to the sea.) "E kamali'i a'ole hele i ka Pele he wahine maka'u." (Children, don't go to Pele; she is dangerous.) This article is intended to instill an awareness upon us. Never take the kai or the 'aina for granted. A tidal wave, in the Hawaiian vernacular, is referred to descriptively as kai e'e. A kai mimiki refers to the kai as it recedes before the kai e'e. A kai ku piki'o is a turbulent sea, caught in a bay or basin, sloshing back and forth, riding on top of a kai ulu (the sea at full tide). This kind of wave action is the most dangerous; its wave exceeds its height by the high tide condition. This combination lingers long after the kai e'e has passed — sometimes two or three days. A kai ko i ka muliwai is a tidal phenomena that occasionally occurs at the mouth of rivers. It is called a "bore." This bore rides on the outgoing flow of the river, upstream. Bores have been recorded in heights of 6 to 35 feet. This kai ko i ka muliwai arrives like a rapidly rising tide that just keeps coming and coming, with no high front wall

of a wave. A tidal wave today is scientifically called a seismic sea wave. We now generally refer to it with the term "tsunami," a Japanese word meaning "great wave in harbor". The kai ku piki'o action is called a "seiche." In an attempt to gain information from our 1 kupuna kahiko about kai e'e, I have looked to the legends and chants. I have found that they are not very clear in defining a flood ( wai pi'i), in contrast to a kai e'e (tidal wave); both are treated in the same manner, as a wai pi'i. | More confusing are the similarities attributed between biblical flood stories, whieh may have ! been introduced to the Hawaiians by early j Western explorers — or by Christian proselytizers, whieh the Hawaiians adopted and localized to their own legends of flood stories such ! as Noah and the Ark (biblical) Nu'u Kahinali'i and ' the Flood ( kai a kahinali'i) and his large eanoe (he j wa'a halau ali'i o ka moku), a legend. At the beginning of this article, I presented a partial chant found in Abraham Fornander's "An Account of the Polynesian Race, its Origin and ' Migrations and the Ancient History of the i Hawaiian People to the Times of Kamehameha I," (pp. 92-95). This portion of the chant clearly ; expresses kai e'e. The composer and antiquity of this chant are not known, but the characters mentioned are very ancient. This, according to genealogical i renderings, places Nu'u before Papa and Wakea. !

The legend of Nu'u "In the time of Nu'u or Nana Nu'u, the flood, kai a kahinali'i, eame upon earth and destroyed all living beings; that Nu'u, by command of his god, j built a large vessel with a house on top of it. It is j called and referred to in the chants as "He wa'a ali'i o ka moku" (the royal vessel). In this vessel he and ' his family, consisting of his wife Lili Noe, his three sons, and their wives, were saved. When the flood ' subsided, Kane, Ku, and Lono entered the Wa'a halau of Nu'u and told him to go out. He did so, and found himself on top of Mauna Kea (the highest mountain on the island of Hawai'i); and he called a cave there after the name of his wife. The j cave remains there to this day, as the legend says, j in testimony of that fact." Early Recordings: 1813-1819 The catalog of Hawai'i tsunami records obtained from the University of Hawai'i at j Manoa's Joint Institute for Marine and j Atmospheric Research (JIMAR) provided by Dr. George Curtis shows that in 1813 or 1814 a tidal wave hit at Ho'okena Beach near Honaunau, continued page 9

E ka ohu - Kolo i kai Oh! the swelling sea, the raising sea Kai nu'u - Kai e'e the high seas, mounting seas Kai pipili a Iku The boisterous sea of Iku La e ua puni It has engulfed us E hua hua kai Oh! the foaming sea E ka ale'i Oh! the raising wave £ ka ale moe Oh! the falling wave £ ka ale Hakoikoi Oh! the overwhelming waves I kahiki a Ola In Kahiki, salvation comes No Nei Make ia oe la e Lono From this death by you O Lono. Chant from Fornander "An Account of the Polynesian Race, its Origin and Migrations and the Ancient Histoiy of the Hawaiian People to the Times of Kamehameha ī."

Witnesses to the April 1946 tidal wave race down Punahawaii Street in Hilo, Hawai'i.

Rudy Mitchell

i III— I |i ■■ ■ aa) ; Damage done by the April 1946 tidal wave is shown here at Mamo Street and Kamehameha Aversue on the Hilo waterfront.

C o 0 1 o e ■— « Ē o e 3 o e e o e 0) e to u 3 o u o o