Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 11, Number 3, 1 Malaki 1994 — Mauna Roy, modern-day kahu of historic sites [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Mauna Roy, modern-day kahu of historic sites

Lnterview bv Jeff Clark Kona native David Kahelemauna Roy, Jr., 69, has spent most of the last 25 years restoring and maintaining historic sites. He's worked on Ahu'ena, Ku'emanu, and Hikiau heiau, and he has spent considerable time and energy bird-dogging the federal government in the establishment of a national park at KalokoHonokōhau. AJthough slowed somewhat by a stroke, Roy hasn't lost his passion for preserving things Hawaiian. Meet one of Hawai'i's treasured kūpuna, Mauna Roy

KWO: How long have you been preserving Hawaiian sites? I started with the work that began with the Hotel King Kamehameha. That was the beginning. Prior to that I was in construction. My paraplegic father was either slated for a home or somebody had to take care of him, so 1 dropped everything to take care of him. That was my oeeupation prior to all of this. I built my home to accommodate him and a family. I finished all of that work by about 1969, and then I began to go out to work with construction in different residential areas. But in the meantime all these Hawaiian things were matters of study with me. Every bit of my spare time was spent in reading, reading. reading. because nothing was ever given to us for study in Hawaiian history. Not even during my course with the university was 1 in a position to take advantage of historic Hawaiian courses, it wasn't offered, really, for credit. I only wish I had my education earlier, because this was not even offered ai

Kamehameha Schools when I was there. So everything I've learned right now you might say I've had to go look for. And I've had exf>eriences with the community and so forth.

Ail ot that seemed to support what I do, until finally when we eame to this point here, I was lucky enough to be included. ... 1 suggested that I undertake the job of running the crew for this restoration work at half pay. and that"s what I did. KWO: This is Ahu'ena?

[NodsJ And 1 got it. see, because when 1 was going eheap the Bishop Museum was quick lo grab that, that"s why I did it. so I could get in. KWO: When was ihe first Ahu 'ena Heiau restoration? I understanci you 've done three there. Whal I did in the beginning was to excavate and survey that area with the Bishop Museum. ... We went down to rock bottom to see whether or not we could find anything. We located various t"eatures of that heiau. and then we restored the platform itself. whieh was a mickeymouse something for tourists. so we took that apart. KWO: What did they have on top? They had a platform with a simulated volcano on one end; concrete, gas light. When they had ceremonies in the evening, a eanoe would eome by and they'd throw a lighted spear in there and whoosh! it would light the volcano. And the mortuary mound

was the site of the imu. They made all their imu preparations on that platform. KWO: You' re kidding. No. Nobody thought of it, nobody gave a damn about Hawaiians, except Hawaiians. And we didn't have enough to go on to speak up. In fact, even our own Hawaiians didn't consider it worth their time to talk about it. Some of them condemned us for becoming activists, but after awhile when things turned around and we were getting ahead, they eame around to our side of it. Today, it's another story.

[Research at Bishop Museum ...J was a labor of love. ... and I extracted the original mortuary platform. Ahu'ena Heiau eame out just about the way it was supposed to be. Of course they had to pui in their lū'au grounds and so that took care of some of ihe histonc sites. It's not the same as it was before but it's as close as ean be expected. KWO: So in other words this is a reconstruction? Well. you might say it's a reconstruction, the difference is the original mortuary platform had been built over and extended. and I had to fmd that core, and I found that core, and we got rid of everything over there and exposed what was there before. Then, besides that, we went to Ahu'ena and I found five of the seven stones in line at the very base, and taking off from that point, the whole platform fell into plaee. So it's not a reconstruction, it's a restoration. I feel satisfied with that. KWO: So because of the elements.

the aelion of the weather on the site, you had to go back? Twice I had to go back to restore. There was one big storm that damaged it somewhat, and it wasn't too bad, but it still took some repair work on the outside structures. The platform never had any damage. I'll tell you something interesting: the superintendent on the construction of the hotel, boy he looked at me and said, "Boy you're going to have to take hundreds of yards of concrete to make that thing hold up." [laughs] I said, "You know, I don't believe that's necessary because our Hawaiian people put up

these heiau 200 years ago and they're still here. They didn't have any concrete whatever." Well, there seemed to be something to substantiate me because the day 1 got through with the platform, a tidal wave eame up. And it brought over three huge long eoeonui logs right across the whole platform and dragged them out again - I didn't lose a stone. So he

looked at me, he shook his head. [laughs] I continued working on that for about another year or two, finishing up the structures and the thatching. ... it took me until about the middle of '77 to be finished with it. KWO: Oh. lo finish ihe hale and the ki'i and all that? I couldn't finish the carving until 1979. From then on I proceeded to work on the Ku'emanu Heiau. And then, another storm eame up right after that. and required some more work on Ahu'ena. that was 1983 I think. Maintenance work really, rethatching of the smaller structure, that kind of thing. KWO: And you just completed a project in 1993 over there again? This one took six months. KWO: Whal did that one involve? Repair of the structure on the seaward side. It had been blasted over

by 'Iniki, so there was no way of patching to repair that. It had to be removed and put back in plaee on one side at least. The other side away from the weather was all right; we didn't have to touch that. The tileaf thatching, and the trim and all that had to be replaced. It took a little bit of doing. We had to gather ti leaves until they were coming out of our ears.

Of course, I couldn't go partici- " pate with the boys to show them how to do that, and it was a bit of doing. So what I did was take a camcorder and have the boys shoot a picture of the whole thing that was there before, then I'd look at it and then with a set of walkie-talkies we were able to communicate and I'd tell them what had to be done, and that way it worked out. So I was able to surmount the problem of a disability and get the job done. After that, we had heavy storm damage at Ahu'ena so I went back to repair that work. It's all maintenanee over the years. But after I had my stroke, there wasn't mueh I could do. I was very limited. Right now I've improved quite a bit, but I'm lucky. Then after awhile we eame through this recent job [at continued on page 17

David Kahelemauna "Mauna" Roy, Jr. Photo by Jeff Clark

Mauna Roy from page 2 Ahu'ena], we've goi to continue maintenance on it, but that's about it - the story of my Iife: at the bottom of a heap trying to climb out. KWO: Whal is ihe general state of condition ofheiau in Hawai'i? The major heiau that were well known are generally in fairly good shape. My feeling is that they shouldn't be touched. The ruins themselves tell a story. AU that shou!d be done is to stabilize them so that there is no further deterioration, stop it as is in a plane of time. They should be left just as they are, as ruins. Because the day that they did away with the kapu system is when they destroyed as mueh as they could on the heiau throughout the state. And some of them are good, some of them are in bad shape.

KWO: How ean people malama or kahu the heiau in their area? If you want a heiau cared for, then what you should do is make all efforts to find some family closely associated with the heiau from childhood or even from generations back. Appoim them the kahu. And they will see to it that it's cared for. But if you don't do that, then it becomes a drag on the county and a matter of expense. Because they'Il ne\er get there until it needs to be clcaned, whieh means money by that lime. and manpower. But if they do it the other way, the kahu would be there every day to piek up every little pieee of grass that's growing. That way they'd keep it in good shape and it would keep the public from vanda!izing. But they've got to be recognized as kahu.

KWO: What woulā a kahu do? The kahu was to see that everything was cared for, elean, and nobody desecrated it, and any activities done within that area were within the eonstraints of propriety. Generally good care. Kahu is the guardian. KWO: So today that would mean

cleaning up rubhish, eradicating weeds and things that tend to grow up? Yes, seeing that it was in good shape. If it needs repair work then alert the community and if you ean get volunteers to eome in to help out, that's the kahu's job. lf you need money, OK, approach certain sources to cover that, that ean be done. The term 'kahu' is something that has not been accepted by the state yet, but it's a Hawaiian eoncept, not a haole concept. I think it's very mueh needed in the preservation efforts throughout the state. I Editor's note: DLNR has recognized several civic groups as caretakers ofvarious heiau.] Somehow 1 couldn't get the head of the state forestry division to understand what I'm talking about. He tried to get me to prevent that kind of thing. I said, 'No, that's

what you folks need - it would save you a lot of money.' You've got to pay a man $20 an hour to get on that job. Bux if you have the kahu doing it, he's going to see to it himself. It's his spiritual responsibility. KWO: Spiritual responsibility. Darn right. You take on that project, you' re the one, nobody else, so if it's not done, in Hawaiian thinking,

the impact would be on you. KWO: So rather than thinking of a paycheck, he' s going to operate from the na'au. Exactly. KWO : What kind of damage happens when weeds and things grow on top ofthe heiau? You'd be surprised. The roots create a lot of damage. If they get big enough, they displace the stones. Not only knoek them over, they move them away from their positions, and then they start getting loose and then they fall down. Watch what a monkey pod tree does to the road pavement; similar kind of thing. So every time you see something growing, a banyan tree or anything like that, yank it out, that's it.

KWO: When vandalism occurs, I would think that ignorance rather than maliee is what drives the vandals. Most of it is ignorance, but a lot of it is maliee. I have to be sure that the people I work with carry the values on to the kids that are being trained today so these values will continue and to shape our personalities, our Hawaiian people. Aloha is the key thing, and most people don't realize what aloha is all about. That has been going out the window over the years with all the influx of new people. So it's very important for us to convey this very important feature of our Hawaiian culture, aloha. Nobody else has it; we can't afford to lose it.

KWO: How would you express what aloha is? Aloha, to me, as it's been expressed by the Hawaiian people in the traditional accounts, is the way they are able to suppress self to the consideration of the next one. In other words, what you want for yourself, he should have before you. And you know, that is so close to biblical training, what Jesus Christ was preaching, it's not funny. But they had it. If you go as far back as Kuali'i, one of our ancient leaders, he invoked a kapu, a law, to the effect that if someone were to eome to you [in need of something], he was to be given that by the household head or whoever, without restriction. Given. To refuse him would be death. However if that other person was to take it for his own advantage, the penalty would reverse to him. Now if that practice continued ever since Kuali'i's death in 1730, imagine: from the childhood times to the

death of the first generation, to the next generation to the next generation, wouldn't you have aloha there? It would be ingrained in the people. KWO: There would be so mueh aloha. ... Yeah, first they start it out from pain of death, then it would be by habit. And that's what it is now, by habit. Only now it's going out. It has to be given in order to be received. Aloha was something that eame out spontaneously with my folks. I ean recall the instances when I was a kid, anybody who eame to my house as a guest, everything in the house was for that guest. And he was treated accordingly, and we were instructed to treat him accordingly. That was the practice, and I grew up

that way. Today I'm having difficulty because I don't loek my doors as a rule. When somebody comes up to the door and I'm inside, I say, 'Come on in.' My wife doesn't do that: she goes to the door to see who's there before she lets them in. But my habit is according to the way I've been trained. 'Come in.' And when my children today see friends of theirs [at their house] and the friends are departing after the visiting, the kids are to stand there and wave and all that and pay their respects, then turn around and go back into the house. They don't turn around first before they leave. That kind of thing. The guest must occupy the first line ofattention. And that is the Hawaiian practice, and I experienced [it], anywhere I went it was like that. So you know it's heavy to see it going out. And unfortunately it is going out. My kids can't understand when I bawl 'em out about it, but they'd better learn.

Ku'emanu, the surfing heiau in South Kona, is one of the sites worked on by Mauna Roy. Photo byJeffClark