Kūamanuia

Ku-a-Manuia was the 13th Alii Aimoku of Oahu. He reign as the titluar chieftain or King of the island of Oahu and all its territories it may of claim at the time. His passion for evil and greed was attributed by the chiefs and commoners to his depleted mana (spiritual power). Thus, the alii of Koolau, Poko, Ewa, Waianae, Koolau Loa and Waialua, including his brothers and sister rebelled against his misrule and ended his six-year reign with his assassination.

He was the eldest son of Kalaimanuia, the Alii Aimoku of Oahu, and her husband a Lupe Kapukeahomakalii, a son of High Chief Kalanuili and High Chiefess Naluehiloikeahomakalii. His brothers were Kaihikapu-a-Manuia and Hao, and his sister was the High Chiefess Kekela. According to ancient custom the sons were given over to their several Kahus or guardians, chiefs of high rank and generally related to the parents, to be by them brought up and educated. Thus he, was brought up at Waikiki, where he was born and the land that was enfeoffed to him, and his brothers and sister were brought up alway from each other. Before his mother's death she made the following dispositions of the government and the land. She appointed her eldest son, Ku-a-Manuia, to succeed her as Moi of Oahu, and she gave him the Kona and Koolaupoko districts for his maintenance. To Kaihikapu-a-Manuia, she confided the charge of the kapu, the religious culte, and her family gods, " Kukalani" and " Kuhooneenuu;" and for his maintenance she gave him the lands of Kalauao, Aiea, Halawa, and Moanalua. To Hao she gave the districts of Ewa and Waianae, subject in authority, however, to his two elder brothers. And to her daughter, Kekela, she gave the districts of Waialua and Koolauloa.

When he succeed to the dignity and position of Moi, Ku-a-Manuia was probably over the age of 50 since his mother had died in the 65th year of her reign at the age of 96. Ku-a-Manuia is spoken in the legends of Oahu as an exceedingly greedy and ambitious tyrant, who endeavoured to wrest the lands from his brothers that had been given to them by their mother. By his stupitity he incurred the ill-will of the priests and the country-people, and became very unpopular. This manner of bickering and disputes with his brothers continued for the six years, when finally Ku-a-Manuia resolved on an armed attack on his brother, Kaihikapu-a-Manuia, who was at the time building the two fishponds at Keehi known as Kaihikapu and Lelepaua.

Kaihikpau-a-Manuia defended himself against this sudden attack; the commoer and his brother Hao hurried to his assistance and a general battle was fought between Lelepaua and Kapuaikaula, in which Ku-a-Manuia was slain. Today a memorial stone still point out on that field as marking the place where this Oahuan tyrant fell. Legends has not preserved the names of Ku-a-Manuia's wives or children. The victor Kaihikapu succeed him as the Moi of Oahu.

References

• Abraham Fornander, An Account of the Polynesian Race: Its Origin and Migrations, Rutland, VT: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1969. Page 91, 269-270