Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 34, Number 6, 1 June 2017 — SAM KAʻAI THE CARRIER of the WORD [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

SAM KAʻAI THE CARRIER of the WORD

By L.G. Mahi La Pierre

>• Maui's own, Sam Kaha'ieuanaho Ka'ai, is a world-renowned creative force, visionary, cultural ieon, orator, keeper of knowledge, and a vessel of multi-cultural stories and traditions arguably as deep as the Pacific Oeean and as elevated and extensive as Haleakalā. The charismatic son and grandson of eanoe makers, he has eome to be the expression of his middle name, Kaha'ieuanalio, "the carrier of the word." He has touched many people's lives from places near and far, and across many oceans, continents, and time zones. Ka'ai shares, "We are not hke our ancestors of the past," but beheves that although we may never know the breadth of what they knew, felt, smelled, tasted, saw or heard, we do have their DNA and knowledge within us. He was born in 1938 in Hāna and raised in Wailuku and Waiehu. Under the guidance of his granduncle, Lihau Ka'aihue, and his Marciel 'ohana, Ka'ai was entrusted with volumes of knowledge. His Kaupō kūpuna were the piko from whom he developed, honed, and nurtured his sldll and passion as a master carver, artisan, teacher, mentor, historian, and spiritual leader. Ka'ai's transformation into a "carrier of the word" is articulated in part by the 'ōlelo no'eau, "He mēheuheu mai nā kūpuna," whieh means, "habits acquired from ancestors." In the 1950s, Ka'ai attended Central Intermediate School and McKinley High School in Honolulu. At the Honolulu Academy of Arts, he learned illustration from Joseph Feher, who SEE KA'AI ON BACK PAGE

Sam Ka'ai. - Photo: Shane Teagarden

> KA'AI

CONTINUED FR0M INSIDE wrote and illustrated Hawaii: A Pictorial Histoty in 1969. He also learned sculpture from Edward M. Brownlee, coming to class with the adzes passed down from his kūpuna. From an early age, Ka'ai was already well versed with tools of his canoe-building ancestors. Ka'ai remarked, "I had to leam to sharpen the adzes or you would be eonsidered worthless." He was so advanced in his skills in carving and tool use that he taught the sculpture course the following year. Naturally curious and a voracious learner, Ka'ai taught himself to make and create Hawaiian carvings, fish hooks, and cordage - at the same time being sure that he knew, or would seek and find out, eachitem's connected genealogy, chants, and mo'olelo. We honor Sam Kaha'ieuanalio Ka'ai as one of our loved, admired, and respected treasures who 'auamo (carry ) our cultural knowledge forward acting as conduits in bridging the traditions, practices, history, values, beliefs, essence and other ways of knowing of our ancestors from the distant past into the present, ensuring they will survive andthrive. Ho'omākaukau! Ka'aiisnot even close to putting down his adzes and kuleana in carrying the word and culture forward - there is still mueh to hāpai, bring forth, learn, share, and

perpetuate. Mahalo nunui and Hulo e Kaha'ieuanalio! ■