These are not just stories of our past as newcomers to Kapolei but rather an effort to allow us to see that which cannot be seen. For the past is a part of the present. If you peel away that which can be seen the past will make itself known. For the past is with us and a part of our daily lives. One’s history is not just about people and events that have since left us but rather live amongst us. It is this that we need to remember.

So is the story of Makaiwa. In defiance of its name, it is not on high ground as you would expect. Like the eyes of the high soaring Iwa or Frigate Seagull. Iwa is that special sea bird in Hawaiian culture that we only see on special occasions. It appears soaring at extreme heights in remembrance of a loved one who has since left us. The Iwa has a special place in our Hawaiian cultural past. So why is a gulch or a hole in the ground given a name of such esteem? This puzzles many contemporary cultural thinkers and Hawaiian language speakers. Or perhaps……..it is Makaiwi, the “Eyes of the Bones.”

Many of our ancient place names were changed for several reasons. Some intentionally and some simply out of a misunderstanding between the Hawaiian speaker and the foreign listener. It was an attempt to take the sounds of an oral culture which had no written language and attach English symbols and phonics to it. Somehow between the Hawaiian speaker and the English listener sounds were misinterpreted and when written an entirely different word emerged with misplacing a single letter. This happened often. There are many place names that appear in the traditions of Kane and Kanaloa and the travels of Pele and Hi’iaka that have been lost for this reason.

Some place names had been changed intentionally. Many of the Po’e Kahiko after western contact and even after the Ai Kapu were desecrated and the temple images were brought down by Ka’ahumanu. Many of our people continued to respect the old ways and beliefs. Even after the sacred Kekuaokalani and his wife Manono were killed at the Battle of Kuamo’o on Hawai’i Island in defense of the old ways many have continued to respect the “kapus” right up to this very day.

During the cattle and plantation era it was not out of laziness that we have been made to believe that our ancestors refused to work but rather a continued respect for the ‘aina. Our Kupuna believed it was desecration to allow or have a part in the ripping through and tearing apart of large sections of land to plant sugarcane and pineapple. It was just as sacrilegious to dismantle heiaus and cultural walls and use the same stone to build cattle pens and cattle walls which was done often in our area. Place names associated with sacred places were changed to encourage our Kupuna to go into places that they felt were “kapu.” Such is the story of Makaiwa……….or Makaiwi.

This is an area of many unexplained accidents along Farrington Highway. Many stories regarding “Night Marchers” crossing the area of Honokai Hale from Ko Olina along an ancient trail marked by several petroglyphs that still stand at the entrance to Ko Olina. A walk into the valley………..the valley of the “Eyes of the Bones.”

It is only recently that I have come to learn of this very special place. I do not recall much of it from my years with my mom and dad. I always saw it as a foreboding place where nothing seemed to want to grow except thorny kiawe. However today I have come to see it with special eyes. Beneath its rough and harsh landscape is a place that defies our imagination.

Much of our colorful past was lost due to its oral nature. Hawaiians never recorded their past on a piece of paper but rather in song and dance and in their stories. It was preserved in one’s memory. Our Kupuna sought to identify children with a talent to recall and remember. These children were pampered and became the receptacles of knowledge. Long chants, songs and stories were memorized.

I’m not sure how many of us can appreciate this. Today there is no need to remember. All one needs to do is create a file much like I am doing and store it in one’s computer memory. We do not need to remember. Think how sad this is. If you need to recall you just retrieve a file by “clicking” on it.

Our Kupuna never had that advantage. They had to remember. With the deaths of so many people in a short amount of time so went our past. However I have come to understand that our past can still be found. It can be seen in our many cultural landscapes. It can still be found in places such as Makaiwa.

I have never before had the experience or seen a place with so much of the past that still can be seen. In many other places we can only guess what life might have been like. In Makaiwa there is no guessing. A short distance from Farrington Highway there are C-shaped stone structures on high ground looking over Farrington Highway that was once an ancient trail.

Perhaps there were people who lived in this area who had the responsibility of watching for intruders making their way into Wai’anae. These C-shape stone structures appear to have been built to conceal a person. Further up there are many caves that show signs of human habitation. One cave in particular had a ceiling high enough to allow one to walk into it. There was a stone platform in the far corner that appears to have served as a bed as evidenced by the discovery of Olona matting. Littering the entire floor of the cave were basalt stone flakes. It may have been the home of a Kalaipohaku or a stone worker.

There are many signs of human habitation. Half way into the valley is a series of elevated platforms all seemingly associated with each other with signs of a paved “alahele” trail on the high ground between Makaiwa and Waimanalo gulches.

On a recent trip to this site during the hot summer months a green spot could be seen from across the valley that appeared to be on one of the stone platforms. Upon closer inspection the entire platform was under mud and water. The origin of the water was traced to several cracks in the side of the hill that this platform was built along. It is believed that this trickle of water must have been running since the last rainfall which had occurred 6 months prior.

Of the 3 elevated platforms one has a central stone that lines up with the center of the valley as the front sight of a gun lines up with the rear sight. It has Ko Olina in its sights. It is an indication that the cultural resources of Makaiwa are associated with Ko Olina. That relationship still needs to be discovered.

A further walk up the valley brings us upon the sight of a large stone platform built midway up the west facing slop of Makaiwa. This stone structure was compared with similar structures on Molokai by Kumu Hula John Kaimikaua. He identified this stone platform as a hula mound of religious origins.

In the same area is a large upright stone image in the shape of human figure. It is identified by anthropologist Marion Kelley at the Bishop Museum Archives as the “Palehua Ku Ula Walking Stone.” It stands tall in a field of stone mounds appearing seemingly as a guardian of all that may have once passed by.

The ancient stories identify this stone image or Ku Ula Stone as having the ability to walk. It is a stone where ancient people on their way to the ocean to gather and fish would stop, pray and leave a ho’okupu in hopes of a bountiful harvest. On their way home they would stop and leave the largest of their fish in thanksgiving for a good day’s meal. However the stone would not be found in the same place that it was seen at the beginning of that day. It was always found in a different place. This stone was walking all over the mountain side. Thus it became known by the ancient people of Palehua and Makaiwa as the Ku Ula Walking Stone.

At the very top of Makaiwa where there is nothing discernable of a depression is a large stone terrace. It interestingly appears at the site of where you would expect to find the origin of a spring or the “Waters of Kane.” It may have very well been built on the very site of a spring. It is a three level stone terrace with iliili stones paving the upper most level of the terrace. A non-native Juniper tree is anchored in the very center of this stone structure. Ulu Maika and stone adze have been found just adjacent to this cultural structure which serves as justification of a once healthy population of people in this area in ancient times.

Perhaps the single most numerous and important stone structure in Makaiwa that raises questions regarding its name are the many stone mounds too numerous to mention. Many cultural thinkers and observers of these many stone mounds feel a sense of presence when walking amongst them. The “Ku Ula Walking Stone” seems to be standing as a guardian and a testimony to the many who walk this way from the ocean to Makaiwa. Coral litter this landscape in every area where stone mounds are found. For it is coral that connects the Po`e Kahiko of this region with the ocean.

Perhaps it is not eyes of the high soaring Iwa that this place gets its name from but rather those from who make the walk through Kamokila’s Naupaka hedge, mauka passing Honokai Hale into the Valley of the “eyes of the bones”………..Makaiwi…..

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