Kukuluāeʻo

Kii: hawaiibirdingtrails

Kukuluae'o is a kulana or stance used in attacking one's opponent in battle. It requires one to be in very close contact. One leg is outstretched fwd with balance and rear leg is set back. As the torso twisted the leg and foot and tightened up causing the alaea muscle to bind in the body and as the hips are released. This stored energy in the alaea is unleashed and this causes the pauku kino to unwind and thus the arms and hands to follow leading to the ai being executed with less effort and less energy. The resemblance is of the manu Kukuluaeo or the aeʻo, or Hawaiian black-necked stilt, which has long pink legs, and black and white feather colors.Kukuluāeʻo are often seen at their favorite ponds and mudflats feeding on fish, crabs and worms. They are about 1 foot in height, they have the longest legs of any bird, relative to their size. Kukuluāeʻo means to walk on stilts.

Kukuluāeʻo is an ili in the area called Kaka'ako on Oahu. Kaka'ako was formerly marsh land, salt ponds and fish ponds. These salt ponds similar to those on Hanapepe Kauai, were used to manufacture paakai for the districts. Pili grass used for house thatching, grew plentiful there. Kaka'ako, is made up primarily of the ‘ili (land areas) of Kukuluāeʻo, Kaʻākaukukui and Kewalo, all part of the ahupua‘a called Honolulu.

A typical ahupuaʻa began at its mountain summit top and becoming wider as it ran down a valley into the sea to the outer edge of the reef. If there was no reef then the sea boundary was one and a half miles from the shore.

 At Kewalo and Kukuluae'o was the water source called Wailumaluma'i. This was the spring used to drown sacrificial victims (kauwa) for for the heiau called Kanelaau, located on Puawaina or Punchbowl. This ritual of drowning the kauwa was known as Kanawai Kaihehe'e. Kewalo literally means “(the resounding call, as a repeated echo).”

The kahuna would slide the kauwa under the spring water and would say “Moe malie i ka wai o ko haku.” “Lie still in the waters of your lord.” From this it was called Kawailumaluma'i, which means to destroy, capsize, drown.

Kewalo was also where the chiefs of old kept the kauwa class. Kewalo was the area in which these kauwa lived for generations, to be used for sacrifice on the heiau and rituals.There were no fences to keep them in. There were only natural land markers that all people knew about. No kauwa was to exit this land and no chief or commoner was to enter the lands of the kauwa.