Over the years I must have spoken to a lot of people who seemed not too sure where this place Honouliuli is located. I think at one time you could also perhaps have placed me in that category. There are several reasons for this. It might be because it is the name of all of this region and at the same time it is the name of a place. Honouliuli is one of 13 ahupua’a or traditional land divisions of the Moku of ‘Ewa.

Traditionally ‘Ewa is one of 6 Moku for the entire island of ‘Oahu. In defining the land area of Honouliuli we can start at the mouth or entrance of Pearl Harbor and travel along the coastline past Keoneula, Kalaeloa and Ko Olina all the way to Pili ‘O Kahi. Then follow the ridge of the Waianae Mountains up past Palehua, Mauna Kapu, Pohakea all the way to Pu’u Hapapa adjacent to Schofield Barracks. Then follow a line east beyond Kunia Road and then return to Kunia Road at a point where the Oahu Country Club is located. Follow Kunia Road past Village Park and Waipahu to a point at the top of Kaihuopala’ai or West Loch. Then continue your line bisecting West Loch to the start at the entrance to Pearl Harbor. Honouliuli is also the name of the flood plain in the area of West Loch Golf Course……….and this is where our story shall start……It is a story of exploration……settlement ……and growth………………….

A question our ancestors had to deal with constantly is how many people can an island support. I know it is something a lot of us think about often. If not, we should….. It is real…… One of the reasons our Polynesian ancestors came this far north is simply because their numbers became so overwhelming that they started to have the kind of problems you would expect as numbers of people grow. We have the same problems today and same question. It is no different although we are only separated in time. They lived a subsistence lifestyle which meant it was important for them to live in areas of resources. There were no refrigerators or grocery stores. Food and water need to be abundant and readily available. Fish had to be plentiful. One did not have time to cast a hook and line out and wait for a fish to bite as his wife and children were home waiting for a meal. As these numbers of people grew in the southern latitudes, food and resources became less readily available. It became a struggle amongst family members which resulted in conflict and famine. It was either die or risk the seas in search of a new home. Many cultural thinkers feel that it was this that brought about the age of exploration into the northern seas of our ancestors. To put this into a better perspective the Roman Empire was flourishing 27 BC. It is believed by some that the first settlers arrived in Hawaii around 100 to 300 BC. It took well over a thousand years in the evolution of a language where there are more differences than similarities. It was this distance not only in miles……… but time…..that gave rise to this unique culture who we today know of as the …………..Hawaiians.

When one compares the history of these Polynesian explorers it is no different from the explorations of other countries during the same period. It was a search for resources. There was however one major difference. The Hawaiians were the only ones out on the open seas. No other country ventured beyond the sight of land. There are many stories of such Navigators of Kapawa and Maweke having been to such places as South America, Central America and the Pacific Northwest. Maweke was exploring these foreign lands 150 years before the 1st Crusade into the Holy Land which had occurred around 1099 AD.

The sweet potato is South American in origin. It is also believed that our ancestors had a taste for salmon before western contact. In the early 1990s an article appeared in the “Smithsonian” magazine that identified human skeletal remains found along the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest as Polynesian in origin. What made this find extremely interesting is the Iwi Kupuna was dated prior to the Native American Indians having been in this region. A court struggle with Native American Tribes of the region resulted in further research being halted and the remains turned over to the Native American Tribes involved in the dispute. The Iwi Kupuna was subsequently reinterred by the Tribes. Few Hawaiians ever knew that this discussion was taking place.

Much like Mesopotamia and the Columbia River Valley they settled in areas of resources. Where there was rich fertile soil and an abundance of fresh water. Such is the story of…….Honouliuli………..

Honouliuli was one of the areas of the earliest settlement in all Hawaii. Although Honouliuli is the name of the entire ahupua’a it is also important to understand that the entire river system and drainage from Honouliuli gulch into Kaihuopala’ai took the name of Honouliuli. Traditions clearly connect some of the fishponds of Kaihuopala’ai and mullet productivity specifically with Honouliuli. It is probable that Honouliuli took its name, meaning “blue harbor” or “dark bay”, from its association with Kaihuopala’ai.

Ancient fishpond adjacent West Loch Golf Course.

Honouliuli was known for its kalo and fish ponds. When an archaeological survey was done a number of years ago signs of human habitation and farming was very evident. Carbon 14 dating of Midden or ancient archaeological trash associated with human habitation indicated that people were living in this area by 400 AD. The Saxons invaded England in 400 AD and Atilla the Hun conquered most of Europe around 450 AD. The first migration or the Nanaulu Migration from Tahiti arrived around 400 AD. This was the first migration of the Ali’i.

A model of the settlement of the ‘Ewa region indicates that it grew west from the Honouliuli flood plain along the alluvial fan elevations inland from the Ewa Plains perhaps in the area north of Farrington Highway at the fertile river basins of Kalo’i Gulch, Makakilo Gulch, Awanui Gulch, Pala’ila’i and Makaiwa Gulch.

These were areas of permanent habitation though difficult to test due to site destruction by recent agricultural efforts and ranching and more recently by residential housing developments. Another settlement direction would have been south along Kaihuopala’ai (West Loch) to Keahi Point or we know today as Iroquois Point then further southwest along the coastline through the areas we know of as Keoneula, Kualaka’i, Kalaeloa and Ko Olina.

There are signs of both permanent and temporary habitation structures, burial, heiau and signs of dry land and sinkhole farming such as growing uala (sweet potato) on coral mounds. There is also an indication from the traditions that water could be found in the sinkholes as evidenced by Kane bringing forth water from sinkholes at Kanehili with the strike of his ko’oko’o. Kanehili is the ancient place name of the region we today refer to as Kalaeloa. One can today find ti leaves and none growing in sinkholes in Kalaeloa (Kanehili).

Honouliuli as part of Keawalauopu’uloa (Pearl Harbor) had always been a place desired by the other island chiefs historically. The island of ‘Oahu had more inland fresh water than any other island. Much of that water was fed by the 13 ahupua’a of the Moku of ‘Ewa into Keawalauopu’uloa . Today it is also referred to as the Pearl Harbor aquifer although it does not have near the amount of fresh water it once had. It was this fresh water that gave the limu Lipoa of the Ewa shoreline its unique flavor. It was this fresh water that travelled within the porous coral substrata again unique to the Ewa region.

1825 map of O’ahu’s south shore by Lieutenant C. H. Malden

When Thomas Edison invented the light bulb there was no need for whale oil to light Massachusetts homes. When the island economy shifted from whale oil to agriculture all attention turned to the island of ‘Oahu and the moving of the island capitol from Lahaina to Honolulu on ‘Oahu. It was this and the abundance of water in Honouliuli that spurned the interest of agricultural entrepreneuer James Campbell to purchase 43,270 acres of land in the Ahupua’a of Honouliuli. He moved his family from Lahaina, Maui, to ‘Oahu and drilled the first fresh water well in Honouliuli. This however is viewed by many as marking the end of a cultural landscape by widespread plowing over of a cultural landscape and also the loss of our river systems and native fresh water aquatic life.

I can still remember as a young boy in the back seat of my father’s car passing over many bridges with crystal clear water flowing beneath it out into the sea. That was a mere 55 years ago. We used to catch opai in these streams. I do not see them any more…. I used to catch O’opu in these streams. There are no O’opu to catch…………………..

James Campbell was not the first. There were others and these are their stories. Kamehameha was not the first to desire the riches of the island of ‘Oahu and the fertile river basin of Honouliuli. In ancient times the island of ‘Oahu was spoken of as being “momona”, fat. Fat in terms of its natural resources and abundance of fresh water, lo’i kalo and fishponds, especially those of Honouliuli.

The earliest invasion that we are aware of from the oral traditions and partly through the journals of Cook when he arrived on Kauai many years later was of a young and ambitious chief from Hawaii Island by the name of Kalaunuiohua. After uniting the island of Hawaii he launched and succeeded in defeating both East and West Maui. In defeating Wakalana, who was the Mo’i of East Maui he killed a warrior chief, and confiscated his interesting weapon that glistened in the sun (believed to be a steel sword). The name according to traditions of this field general of Wakalana, who was the owner of the weapon, was a man by the name of Kaluikiamanu. He and 2 other men and 2 women were befriended by Wakalana when their ship went aground off East Maui. According to traditions they all took on Hawaiian names and intermarried and had many children who have descendants living today on every island. There are stories of Kaluikiamanu and his magical ko’oko’o on how he was able to sever his enemy in battle with the strike of this magical staff that glistened in the sun.

After defeating and taking control of Maui, Kalaunuiohua had an easy time defeating both Molokai and ‘Oahu. He was defeated in Kauai and Kaluikiamanu’s weapon was confiscated by Kukona of Kauai and remained in the possession of the Kauai chiefs until Captain Cook saw it and described it in his journal as “saw a rusted piece of a metal sword in the possession of the Chief Kaeokulani” who was then chief of the island of Kauai. It is believed that this sword was Japanese in origin and not Spanish as one would think. The Japanese were here 500 years before the arrival of Captain Cook.

Many years later several chiefs from the island of Hawaii by the names of Hilo and Punalu’u amongst others launched an invasion on the island of ‘Oahu in an attempt to seek out and kill the Chief Mailekukahi. This was a period just before Columbus discovered America. Oral traditions have it that they had assembled a fleet of 3,000 canoes and at first landed at Waikiki.

Traditionally at this time there were 3 political capitols on the island of ‘Oahu; Waikiki, Mokapu and Lihue. Realizing that Mailekukahi and his army were not in Waikiki they decided to travel further west and entered Keawalauopuuloa (Pearl Harbor). They then entered the waters of Kaihuopalaai (West Loch) and landed their 3,000 canoes in the area today we know of as the shoreline of West Loch Estates and Shoreline Park and the Waipahu Business and Industrial area.

Traditions indicate that there were many homes on a high ground above the kalo and fish ponds. The area described could be where the West Loch Golf Course Country Club is located and the West Loch Estate and Shoreline Park. It appears that most everyone fled the area on arrival of such a large fleet of canoes. No mention is made of people in the homes or tending the Lo’i.

The invaders then marched north along a trail that may have been what we know of today as the Kunia Road or perhaps very close and parallel to it. Hilo and Punaluu may not have known it then but amongst the cultural sites discovered recently along that route on the high ground above Keahumoa and Kupehau (Del Monte Ag land along the slopes of the Waianae Mountains) are numerous habitation structures, walls, trails and heiau that would indicate a large population of people living in the area. They may have observed the approach of the advancing army and had time to inform Mailekukahi’s army further north at a place known as Lihue.


Trails of leeward Oahu as described by Ii. Map by Paul Rockwood.

As both Waikiki and Mokapu, Lihue was also a political capitol of ‘Oahu and served as a training area of Nakoa in ancient times. It was at a place known as Waikakalau where the first battle took place between the armies of Hawaii and Mailekukahi. It was a major defeat for the Hawaii chiefs and Nakoa. Warfare during this period in Hawaiian history was close up and hand to hand. From a short distance spears were thrown.

Spear throwing was generally from as close as arms length to as much as 10’ to 15’. The Nakoa would have to follow up with a hand weapon to retrieve his spear and fast enough so the adversary would not have time to return to spear. There were many strategies, formations and tactics. Many West Point graduates have learned Hawaiian warfare tactics and strategies. It was a situation of run, chase and fight. This battle was no different.

When Hilo and Punaluu realized that this was not going to be an easy fight they retreated in the makai direction from Waikakalau in the southerly direction back to Honouliuli. It was a series of running and fighting. A second major fight took place in an area we today refer to as Mililani Mauka. Large numbers of Nakoa lost their lives on both sides. The Chief Punalu’u also lost his life here and later it took his name and was refered as the “Plains of Punalu’u” before it was plowed over by Dole. Subsequent to this battle the Hawaii Island chiefs and their army took another major defeat in an area that took the name of this battle. It is known to us today as Kipapa, “paved with the bodies of the Hawaii Island Nakoa”.

The fighting took place all the way to Waimano where the Chief Hilo was killed and brought an end to the fighting. Nothing is said of how many Hawaii Island Nakoa and chiefs survived. In the end Hilo was decapitated. His head placed on a pole and carried to the intersection of 2 trails. The trail to Waianae by way of Pu’uokapolei and the trail north paralleling perhaps Kunia Road today. The pole with Hilo’s head was placed at the location of the where today can be found St. Francis West Hospital. It served as a reminder to everyone else who may have thoughts of invading ‘Oahu by way of Honouliuli. This place took the name of Po’ohilo…..the head of Hilo.

When Kamehameha defeated Kahekili for the island of ‘Oahu and thus unifying the Hawaiian Islands he awarded all of the Ahupua’a of Honouliuli to one of his leading war chiefs Kalanimoku, as panilaau or conquered lands. These lands then passed to his sister Wahinepio. In 1848 Wahinepio’s daughter Kekauonohi laid claim to all of her mother’s land as part of the great land division. When she died it passed to her husband Levi Haalelea and then his wife Anadelia Amoe and subsequently to her sister’s husband John Coney.

A portion of the land, Ili of Puuloa, was sold by Kekauonohi to Kamehameha III and Issac Montgomery who operated a salt works which sold salt to meat packers for export of shipment of their meat products. John Coney leased a portion of it to James Dowsett and John Meek for cattle ranching. In 1877 all of the lands of the Ahupua’a of Honouliuli with the exception of the Ili of Pu’uloa was sold to James Campbell.

Captain George Vancouver has also helped us shape our understanding of this area through observations he made on a visit during the 1790s. While anchored off of Pearl Harbor he identified the area between the Waianae and Koolau Mountains as being low or rather moderately elevated. The land also appeared to him to be unpopulated and of poor fertility. He also indicated that there was a place close to the shore (Honouliuli flood plain) that seemed populated and that the soil was fertile for cultivation. His ability to see that far from offshore is an indication that there were no obstructions along the shoreline which meant it had to be void of tall trees and plants. It also meant that the homes at Honouliuli were on high ground.


There is still a piece of an ancient wall that can be seen in the area of the number 6 hole at the West Loch Golf Course that appears in a taro map of 1873 (below).

Some of the old Hawaiian fishponds are still there …….though over grown in Mangrove. Most of the Lo’i Kalo have all been filled in to make way for a golf course, but you can still see an occasional wild kalo, growing in the narrow stream beds amongst the California grass. There is still a piece of an ancient wall that can be seen in the area of the number 6 hole at the West Loch Golf Course that appears in a map of 1873. Po’ohilo, or where the head of the Hawaii Island Chief Hilo once stood, may have been on the high ground above the golf course where the St. Francis West Hospital now stands. Where James Campbell’s Ranch once stood is now the West Loch Fairways Subdivision. Where the Kahua Slaughter House once stood will soon be developed by the Catholic Church. Where there were once small mom and pop stores along the old quiet Ft. Weaver Road will soon be taken down to provide room for a new development. So it is both exciting with new things to come yet sad as we see one generation pass before our very eyes. ………………this is where it all started…….here in the flood plains of Honouliuli. Perhaps it was these people who arrived in Hawaii around 100 to 300 BC.

It is difficult to see beyond the plantation and military past and that is ok. However we need to remember that there once was a canoe that passed this way …….and saw the fertile lands and many rivers of this broad coral plain and abundance of flightless land birds and fish. We are here today because they decided to stay.
…….this is our story……………..another story of Kapolei.

The center of this entire region, as stated by our ancestors in statements that they made to Sam Manaiaokalani Kamakau in the 1800s, was that the largest heiau and the most sacred place in this entire region was Puuokapolei, from which our city gets its name.

Click maps for larger view.

In defining the land area of Honouliuli we can start at the mouth or entrance of Pearl Harbor and travel along the coastline past Keoneula, Kalaeloa and Ko Olina all the way to Pili ‘O Kahi. Then follow the ridge of the Waianae Mountains up past Palehua, Mauna Kapu, Pohakea all the way to Pu’u Hapapa adjacent to Schofield Barracks. Then follow a line east beyond Kunia Road and then return to Kunia Road at a point where the Oahu Country Club is located. Follow Kunia Road past Village Park and Waipahu to a point at the top of Kaihuopala’ai or West Loch. Then continue your line bisecting West Loch to the start at the entrance to Pearl Harbor. Honouliuli is also the name of the flood plain in the area of West Loch Golf Course.

Honouliuli is one of 13 ahupua’a or traditional land divisions of the Moku of ‘Ewa.

I remember as a young boy my mom and dad driving along the only road to Waianae by way of Farrington Highway. After only a brief stop at Arakawa’s store along Waipahu Depot Road we would make the long drive through fields of sugar cane towering over us to Nanakuli. As a young boy it seemed as an extremely long ride with nothing to see but sugarcane. That was a mere 56 years ago.

Today many of us still think of the Ewa and the Kapolei areas in terms of its plantation history. However, prior to sugar, prior to cattle, before there was a military presence in Ewa, before an industrial park, a resort and today the new city of Kapolei, there existed a cultural landscape that extended from Pu`u Palehua to Kualaka`i.

Almost equal distant from both Pu`u Palehua and Kualaka`i existed a little known hill by the name of Pu`uokapolei. There are many aspects that made this little hill perhaps the most sacred place in all of the ahupua`a of Honouliuli. Today I want to share just one. Most people pay little attention to it in their daily drive to and from work. It is perhaps even safe to say that most people do not even see it. It is the most neglected place in all of Kapolei. Beer cans, broken glass bottles and trash litter its landscape. Interesting though it is in the exact center of the new city of Kapolei. From a cultural perspective it is “Piko” of Kapolei.

Kekuapo`i was the wife of Kahahana who was the last ruling Mo`i or chief of the island of O`ahu. He died as a result of injuries he suffered in the assault on the island of O`ahu by Kahekili, Mo`i or chief of the island of Maui. He died in Puuloa and his body was taken to Waikiki where he was sacrificed at the Heiau Apuakehau that once stood on the present grounds of the Moana Hotel.

Kekuapo`i wrote a Kanikau in honor of her husband. A kanikau is a chant that is done in a wailing or crying manner as if to mourn the passing of a loved one. Kekuapo`i in her husband’s kanikau mentions all the places that was special to Kahahana.

In her reference to Pu`uokapolei as a special place to her husband we find an interesting quote. It seemingly puzzles most contemporary cultural thinkers. In this reference she refers to Pu`uokapolei as a conduit to another place in the after life.

In our attempt to understand this reference let`s take a look at our ancestors beliefs regarding how life, death and sleep overlap. In the oral traditions there is an interesting reference to places known as Aokuewas and Leina Ka Uhane. The traditions refer to an Aokuewa as “places of wandering spirits” for lack of a better explanation. A Leina Ka Uhane is referred to as “leaping places” into the afterlife.

In an explanation of how life, death and sleep overlap we need to first understand how our ancestors perceived this aspect of their lives. In their understanding we as human beings had two energies in us. One energy is referred to as a “dream spirit”. In contemporary beliefs it would be safe to say that maybe this reference is regarding one’s spirituality or from a Christian sense one’s soul? When one sleeps this “dream spirit” is allowed to travel. It may even visit one’s departed ancestors or one’s departed grandparents.

For example if a woman was with child or pregnant and she dreamed that she met her departed grandmother and the last thought she had was a name, she would take this dream or visitation seriously feeling that she had actually visited her grandmother and her grandmother was sharing the new child’s name with her. She would give this name to her new child. However in order to wake from a sleep this dream spirit would have to return.

The other energy within all of us is the energy that sustains our lives. It was the energy that would allow our hearts to pulse and allow us to breath. If however that dream spirit does not return, that would define death. This would bring about chanting in an effort to kahea or summon that dream spirit back into the body of the loved one. Early explorers to our shores witnessed this event when they observed individuals chanting over a departed loved one.

If an individual lived a good life. If he was respectful of his aumakua, if he was respectful of his parents, if he was a good person, he would have the benefit of his aumakua carrying him off to a Leina Ka Uhane. On the island of O`ahu the Leina Ka Uhane is at Kaena Point. It is here that one’s aumakua would help he or she “leap” into the afterlife.

If he was not respectful of his aumakua, if he was not respectfulof his parents, if he was a bad person, one would not have the benefit of one’s aumakua carrying him to the Leina Ka Uhane. He would be banned to “barren or desolate places”. These places are referred to as Aokuewa. On the island of O`ahu the Aokuewa is Kaupea or the area surrounding Pu`uokapolei.

Upon further investigation Pu`uokapolei is approximately the same distance from the southwest end of the Waianae Mountains as the Leina Ka Uhane at Kaena from the northeast end of the Waianae Mountains. Perhaps Kahahana’s wife Kekuapo`i is correct in her reference to Pu`uokapolei as a conduit to the after life.

In a Christian sense there are 3 places in the after life, heaven, hell and limbo or purgatory. In a Christian sense purgatory is somewhere else. From a Hawaiian cultural perspective purgatory is………here. That is the area that surrounds Pu`uokapolei……”the Wiliwili groves of Kaupea.”

It is not something to fear…….but to embrace…………..for this is the story of our new City of Kapolei………..

This essay was first published on myadvertiser.com in December 2006.