Kauakahiakahoowaha

Kauakahi-a-Kahoʻowaha 18th Alii Aimoku of Oahu. He ruled as titular King or chief of Oahu and district chieftain of Koolau or just Koolaupoko, with his seat at Kailua. He must not be confused with his great-uncle Kauakahi-a-Kakuhihewa.

He was the son of Kahoowahaokalani, 17th Alii Aimoku of Oahu, and of his wife Kawelolauhuki of the Kawelo dynasty on Kauai. He was recognised as the Moi of Oahu after his father was dead. On the subject of his life and reign legends are as barren as on that of his father, with one small exception.

It is stated that Kauakahi-a-Kahoowaha sent an ambassador named Kualona-ehu to the court of Kawelomakualua and his sister-queen, Kaawihiokalani on Kauai, who are said to have been the first to establish the dreaded "Kapu wela o na Lii," a.k.a. the "Kapu-moe," (prostrating taboo) which compelled all persons, on penalty of death, to prostrate themselves before a high chief, or when he was passing by. On the return of the ambassador the kapu which he had witnessed on Kauai was introduced and proclaimed on Oahu by Kauakahi-a-Kahoowaha, and it is intimated that his grand-aunt, Kahamaluihi, was still alive at that time, and actively contributed to the introduction of this kapu. From Oahu this kapu is said to have been introduced on to the court of Maui in the reign of Kekaulike. The expression of the legend would seem to convey the impression that Kawelomakualua and his wife were the first to institute the "Kapu-moe" in the Hawaiian Islands. Such would probably be incorrect, in view of the fact that the "Kapu-moe", prostration before chiefs, was a well-known institution in all, or nearly all the principal groups of Polynesians before they were observed by the visiting Europeans in the eighteenth century. Like many other custom with the Polynesian race, it may have slumbered or been discontinued on the Hawaiian Islands for many generations, and probably the Kauai chieftains were the first to revive its practical application and hence were said to have been the first to establish it.

Kauakahi-a-Kahoowaha's wife was Mahulua. She was doubtlessly of a rank corresponding to his own, but there exist no allusion to her pedigree in the legends or genealogies now extant. Their first-born, and perhaps their only son, was Kualii. If they had other children, their names have been eclipsed and forgotten in the superior renown of Kualii. His son succeeded him as Moi of Oahu in title only for the suzerainty of the Moi who, since time of Kanekapua-Kakuhihewa, Kauakahi's grandfather, resided on their patrimonial estates in the Koolaupoko district.

References

• Abraham Fornander, An Account of the Polynesian Race: Its Origin and Migrations, Rutland, VT: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1969.