Some years ago I met a Kupuna by the name of Sara Kauka. I went to Kamehameha with one of her sons back in the 60s. I think he was a few years ahead of me. I also know her daughter Sabra Kauka who I think presently lives on Kauai doing a lot of good work in the preservation of our Hawaiian cultural history.

However this is a story about their mother or Makuahine, Kupuna Sara Kauka - a gracious lady from a time much different from ours. I met her at a Hawaiian Civic Club convention many years ago.

I remember clearly the conversation I had with Sara. It started with the normal Hawaiian Civic Club activities that are provided for as part of any convention. At this particular convention I was hosting and serving as tour guide of a cultural bus tour to the Puuokapolei Interpretive Native Garden. As we talked about some of what I would be sharing on the tour the conversation slowly moved toward ancient place names of the area we now know as the City of Kapolei.

When I mentioned the name of Ku`alakai, it rekindled in her a sudden interest. It was a name she had not heard of for years but was one that she was very familiar with. When I met Kupuna Kauka she was already in her 90s. I always find it interesting sharing stories with Kupuna especially when they can recall clearly details of their childhood. It is not often that we have that kind of opportunity.

It seemed Ku`alakai brought back some happy childhood memories of her parents who have long since left her. These were special years to her and seemed so personal but Kupuna Sara was quick to share those happy memories. I can`t recall if she ever told me how old she was at the time, but judging from the clarity with which she spoke I suspect that she may have been about 9 or 10 years old. She did say that it was in the 1920s. As she shared this it increased my interest as this was before there was a military presence at the former Barbers Point Naval Air Station. I had always wondered what the area was like before the Navy purchased the property from Campbell Estate. I have tried to get access to military documents and photos prior to the construction of the Barbers Point NAS however unsuccessfully.

This was a time even before Gilbert McAlister, who was an archaeologist for Bishop Museum, and did the very first archaeological survey in 1930. I was aware of several old maps such as Malden`s Map of 1825 which had identified several very interesting cultural features in the ‘Ewa region. Here was an opportunity to confirm my thoughts of the cultural landscape of this area. It was also an opportunity to bring to life the ancient traditions associated with the ‘Ewa region and to learn a little of this ancient place known to the po`e kahiko as Ku`alakai.

Today most of us know of Ku`alakai as Nimitz Beach adjacent to the U.S. Coast Guard Station on Kalaeloa of the former Naval Air Station at Barbers Point. There is nothing at Nimitz Beach today that is even a hint of what Ku`alakai once was. It was anciently known as a birthing site for turtles or “honu.”

This reference puzzles us as you would expect to find a sandy shoreline upon which turtles could pull themselves up onto to dig a hole and lay their eggs. The turtles can still be seen there as I have seen many on recent occasions.

Today there is very little sand that can be found at Ku`alakai. You can however find a lot of coral, sandstone and military concrete rubble.

There is also a story of Hi`iaka, who was the youngest and favorite sister of Pele, stopping at a fresh water spring at Ku`alakai. As she sat beside it and bent over to pick a Lehua flower she saw her reflection in the spring water. It became known in the traditions as the “Spring of Hoakalei.”

In Malden’s Map of 1825 he identifies what appears to be a pond in the area where the U.S. Coast Guard Station appears today. A short distant away Malden’s Map also identifies a trail that connects the ocean resources of Ku`alakai with the Lo`i of Kaihupalaai (West Lock). This trail is referred to in the oral traditions as the Ku`alaka`i Trail. It is a unique and interesting trail in that it is paved in coral and marked by upright coral stones every 10 feet. That trail still exist today hidden beneath Kiawe trees and weeds.

Along this paved trail are many signs of a people who have long since left us. Many walled sinkholes that were used as water wells can be found along the trail perhaps to allow a weary traveler a refreshing drink of water. There are also many signs that they may have used sinkholes to grow bananas and ti leaves. One can almost feel their presence as you walk amongst these coral structures to numerous to even count.

Perhaps the most interesting story associated with Ku`alakai is the story of Kauluokahai. This name makes reference to the first breadfruit tree that was planted by the Tahitian Chief Kahai in Ewa.

Kahai was the grandson of Moikeha who was the grandson of Maweke. These are our early Polynesian navigators. Kahai was an expert navigator having made many trips to and from Kahiki and Samoa. He is credited in our cultural history for having traveled to Samoa and finding a breadfruit tree and returning by way of Tahiti and ultimately planting the tree in ‘Ewa.

There are many stories throughout all of Polynesia of the retrieving of a breadfruit tree from the land of our ancestor`s origin or their homeland and planting this tree at their new home. The motif of the leaf of the breadfruit tree symbolically represents a “new beginning” or “rebirth” or “life renewal.”

This act of Kahai, the planting of a breadfruit tree, serves both as a connection to their homeland and the start of a new life. But its meaning goes beyond this. Kahai had a son named Namakakapao`o. Kahai and his son became separated when his son was a young child. However Kahai told his wife he was going to bury his Mahiole (feather helmet) and his Ahuula (feather cape) beneath the “Ka Ulu O Kahai” (The Ulu or breadfruit tree of Kahai). He told his wife he was leaving however when his son grows up and if he wanted to find his father, he could find him beneath the Ulu tree of Kahai or “Kauluokahai.”

In the opinion of most contemporary cultural thinkers Ku`alakai is a corruption of “Kauluokahai”in its pronunciation. The first breadfruit tree was planted at Nimitz Beach or anciently known as Ku`alakai according to the oral traditions. The meaning of this story as part of our voyaging traditions or an island culture, it was always important to know who you are and where you are from. It was a culture that could trace their genealogy back to Wakea, the sky father, and Papa, earth mother. If the time came when Namakaokapaoo wanted to learn who he was he could seek his father at Ku`alakai beneath the standing breadfruit tree of Kahai. Every island throughout all of Polynesia has a place one can go to find their way home.

Kupuna Sara Kauka’s story starts in Kaimuki where in the 1920s she lived with her parents.

This was a time when many of the Japanese and Chinese were leaving the difficult work in the pineapple and sugar plantations and seeking other careers. It was they who moved and established the new community of Kaimuki. It was here where young Sara grew up. Sara and her parents were Hawaiian.

She recalls her and her parents riding the electric trolley from Kaimuki to the Iwilei train depot across the street from the old Aala Park. This was a time when ‘Ewa and especially Ku`alakai was well known for their limu and seafood and it was for this reason that she and her parents were riding the train on this day.

She recalls little things as they passed Kalihi Kai, then the old John Rodgers Airport, passing along Pearl Harbor and seeing some of the ancient fishponds that could still be seen in those days.

She recalls the many watercress ponds, rice ponds and Lo`i Kalo in the area we today identify as Pearl City, Waipio and Waipahu. Just beyond Waipahu the train turned east till it got to the old ‘Ewa Plantation Town.

Much of this area was in sugar and beyond ‘Ewa Town on makai side of the train tracks was all Kiawe and cattle or as they called them “pipi.”

Kupuna Sara recalled her parents would signal someone on the train just as the train got beyond Puuokapolei. It would never completely stop but slow down enough so they could jump off safely. It seemed every time they came here there would always be cowboys or paniolo on horseback waiting to give people a ride to Ku`alakai and this time was no different.

She and her parents would each jump on the back of a horse with a cowboy and would be packed along what she recalls as a paved coral trail from the train tracks all the way to the beach. Although there were a lot of Kiawe, it was not as thick as it is today in some places of the former naval air station.

As she and her parents got close to the beach it opened up into what can best be described by her as a coastal wetlands. There was only one house there at that time and it was the home of a Hawaiian man and his family who fished and gathered limu in the area. It was he who they had come all this distance to see.

Kupuna Sara recalls not being able to see the ocean when standing on the mauka side of the beach as there was a mountain of sand that stretched the length of the beach. She also remembers a large pond that she believed had fresh water. Once they had gathered the fish, lobster and limu they jumped on horses again and rode back to catch the train on its way back to town.

Sara’s story intrigued me enough to extend an invitation to take her to Ku`alakai. I`m not sure exactly when however we did meet some time later at her home then in Waialae.

My wife and I picked up Kupuna Sara and we drove to Kalaeloa. It had been some time since she was last there. She pointed out the area that she thought was where they got off the train although it took her some time to say with any kind of certainty. It was along Roosevelt Road just adjacent to the now Campbell Industrial Park and former enlisted officers homes. We had to drive all the way back to Coral Sea Road to find our way to the ocean side of the former base.

We could not drive straight through as she did on horseback some 80 years earlier. Nothing looked familiar to her including the road that we were driving upon.

When we got to Nimitz Beach and I tried explaining to her that this is where we thought Ku`alakai once existed. It took Kupuna Sara a while before she felt comfortable enough to say what was off in different directions. She would point in one direction and say this was all sand. Over here in this direction was a large fresh water pond. She could never really say where the old Hawaiian fisherman’s house was located.

In a way it was a sad day because I could see her struggling to see something that she could no longer see, as if reaching back into the past and hoping and trying to find something familiar. Something to at least grab on to like the hand of a parent some 80 years ago.

It is a day I will cherish as it was a day Kupuna Sara helped me see a small part of our past. It will never come back. But as long as we have Kupuna such as Sara who can still share pieces of this past with children, it will always help us see what cannot be seen today but only through the eyes of Kupuna like Sara Kauka.

This essay was first published on myadvertiser.com in February 2007.