Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 27, Number 6, 1 Iune 2010 — cover feature moʻolelo nui [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

cover feature moʻolelo nui

t is impossible to truly quantify the enormity of the unification of three Kū images at Bishop Museum. Yes, you ean stand in awe at the height and girth of the three 800-pound wood carvings towering over you at the center of Hawaiian Hall. You ean add the cost of transporting one from the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massa-

chusetts, and the other from the British Museum in England. And you ean breathe in the moment - the first time in more than 150 years that three Kū images of this size stand side by side. But consider also the immeasurable - the emotions, spirituality, pride - and you are thrust into the deepest contemplations of cultural and individual identity. The exhibition, "E Kū Ana Ka Paia: Unification, Responsibility and the Kū Images," brings together the three largest Kū images in the world for four months - June 5 to Oct. 4. They stand in "the most significant and powerful position in the museum- in its center," says DeSoto Brown, Bishop Museum's Library and Archives Collection Manager. It took the eooperation and support of many organizations to bring these three together, including the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, whieh provided $100,000 for the exhibit. Brown believes everyone who witnesses this event "will leave with a tremendous amount of emotion." "E Kū Ana Ka Paia," whieh is from the prophecy chant of Kapihe and literally means "the walls shall stand firm," holds contemporary as well as historical significance. It embodies the idea of "the rebuilding of a foundation of a nation," says Noelle Kahanu, Bishop Museum Project Manager. "We are in a transitional phase as a community, of what we were and what we will become. It's part of manifesting what we envision." And so perhaps it is without coincidence that the exhibition comes during the 200th anniversary of the unification of the Hawaiian Kingdom, as well as the second anniversary of the quadrennial 'Aha Kāne conference, whieh focuses on issues of leadership and community involvement by Native Hawaiian men. Kahanu points out that while Kū is the god of warfare, Kū is also the god of fishing, family, governance, procreation and represents the male principal. So, she says, it is a time to also reflect on what it means to be a Hawaiian male in terms of family, responsibility and solidarity within the community. Such god images onee stood on heiau. Brown says, "There would have been many thousands and thousands of Hawaiian carvings representing major gods like Kū and smaller gods like 'aumakua." But, he says, in 1819 when Hawaiians overthrew their long-standing religious structure, marking an end to the kapu system, many intentionally destroyed the images. Then, he says, in 1820 the arrival of Christianity spurred on more destruction with hundreds of images intentionally burned. In addition, few images survived because of the nature of wood and its vulnerability to the elements, unless they were cared for extremely well. Among those that did survive, were images taken by missionaries, merchants, whalers and the like, back to their home as a relic, curiosity or artistic pieee representing Hawai'i,

Brown says. Such was the case for the three Kū now standing together in Hawaiian Hall - the only three remaining of this stature, he says - "the largest and most exciting, powerful and impressive." And they have been cared for very well, having ended up at prestigious museums.

The Kū image at Bishop Museum has been there for 115 years. Kahanu says a missionary had taken it back to New England but it retumed to Hawai'i in 1895, on loan to Bishop Museum from the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. The Kū image at the Peabody Essex Museum was a gift from John T. Prince in 1846, according to Kahanu. She says Prince had said a "resident of the Sandwich Isles" sent it to him. Kahanu says the image is one of the Peabody's "most important and celebrated treasures." She says the British Museum received its Kū image from W. Howard in 1839. There is conjecture that it may have been taken to England by King Kamehameha II. Kahanu says the British Museum doesn't allow for many international loans. "The fact we've eome to a point where they're (the other two museums) allowing the temporary return to Hawai'i is very significant and we appreciate their trust," says Kahanu. "They eome with the understanding they'U leave again, and we are grateful to them as caregivers." As for the origin of these three Kū images, prior to foreign hands, it's not inconceivable that they onee stood together at the same heiau. Kahanu says all three are carved in the Kona style, all are made from the wood of the 'ulu tree and they are of similar stature, with only about a 6-inch difference in height. In addition, four years after the end of the kapu system, missionary WilliamEllis wrote in his journal of three Kū images at the north Kona heiau Ahu'ena, whieh was restored by Kamehameha I, then tumed into a military fort with cannons on its walls. Ellis wrote that "the idols are all destroyed, excepting three, whieh are planted on the wall, one at eaeh end, and the other in the centre, where they stand like sentinels amidst the guns, as if designed by their frightful appearance to terrify an enemy." We may never know if this unification is a reunion of the three at Ahu'ena, but that doesn't take away from its signifieanee. "Our (Bishop Museum's) Kū image is one of our most precious objects," Brown says. "That two other Kū even exist in the world is very impressive and special. And to get them all together is mind-boggling." It's easy to then want to take it a step further and contemplate the possibility of the museums permanently returning the Kū to their home, Hawai'i. "The reality is, if we pursue that line they wouldn't have allowed the loan," says Kahanu. When exploring the possibility of this exhibition, she says Bishop Museum polled those in Hawai'i with an interest in Kū, such as lua practitioners, carvers and those in governance and "nearly all said the opportunity to bring them home for even a brief time is worth the pain of seeing them leave again." ■

[?]