Kaihikapuamanuia

Kaihikapu-a-Manuia was the 14th Alii Aimoku of Oahu. He reigned as the titular chieftain or King of the island of Oahu and all its territories it may of claim at the time.

=Early Life= He was the second son of Kalaimanuia, the Alii Aimoku of Oahu, and her husband Lupe Kapukeahomakalii, a son of High Chief Kalanuili and High Chiefess Naluehiloikeahomakalii. His brothers were Ku-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 Waimanalo, Koolaupoko, and his brothers and sister were brought up away from each other.

Conflict with Ku

Before his mother's death she made the following dispositions of the government and the land. She appointed his elder brother, 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. This division of the government and the religion had its comtemporary on Hawaii between the rival brothers Hakau and Umi and it would reoccur again after the death of Kalaniopuu, 300 hundred years later, and the division of the Big Island between Kamehameha and Kiwalao. In all these incident the one who inherited the family gods would be the eventual victors.

His brother, Ku-a-Manuia, succeed to the dignity and position of Moi after their mothers death. Ku-a-Manuia was a tyrant whose greed angered the priests and the common people. Ku-a-Manuia was especially jealous of the land-holding of his brothers Hao and Kaihikapu-a-Manuia. Kaihikapu-a-Manuia’s disputes with his brother continued for the six years, when finally Ku-a-Manuia resolved on an armed attack on his brother, Kaihikapu-a-Manuia. At the time, Kaihikapu-a-Manuia was building the two fishponds at Keehi known as Kaihikapu and Lelepaua. He cleverly defended himself against this sudden surprise attack; the commoners and his brother Hao hurried to his assistance and a general battle was fought between Lelepaua and Kapuaikaula, in which his elder brother was slain. Today a memorial stone still point out on that field as marking the place for Kaihikapu-a-Manuia great victory.

Reign

With the death of his brother, Oahu was without a monarch. Kaihikapu-a-Manuia, being the second son of Queen Kalaimanuia, succeeded Ku-a-Manuia as the Moi of Oahu. Tradition has preserved his memory as a pious and worthy chief, who built new heiaus, repaired the old, and encouraged devotion and religious exercises. During one of the circuits of the island which the Moi occasionally made to inspect the condition of the country; to administer justice, and to dedicate or repair Heiaus, he visited his brother Hao, who lived at Waikele, Ewa, and, as the legend says. Kaihikapu-a-Manuia was surprised and disturbed in his mind at the wealth of all kinds and the number of vassals and retainers, both chiefs and commoners, that followed the banner of his opulent brother.

Apprehensive that a chief with so abundant material resources might any day rise in revolt and assert his independence, Kaihikapu-a-Manuia returned to Waikiki and took counsel with his high-priest, Luamea. The priest advised him that open force would not prevail against Hao, as could be seen in the case of boths’ elder brother, but that he might be overcome by stratagem and surprise. The native legend makes a kind of Trojan horse of an enormous shark that had been caught off Waikiki by Kaihikapu-a-Manuia, and which was sent as a present to Hao. From the shark, while Hao was occupied in dedicating it to the gods, armed men issued out and slew Hao, his priest, and attendant chiefs, who, occupied with the sacrifice, were unarmed and unprepared. It is inclined to believe that the embellishments of the legends, as in many other cases, are of a much later time, and that the actual fact of the matter was the sending of a valuable present, the bearers of which surprised Hao at the Heiau and killed him there. Hao's son Napulanahu-mahiki escaped from the assassins and fled to Waianae, where he maintained himself against his uncle until the death of the latter. By marrying his aunt, Kekela, Kaihikapu-a-Manuia’s sister and a notable warrior chiefess, Napulanahu came into possession also of the Waialua and Koolauloa districts, and the island was thus divided into two independent sections, which continued until his son’s reign.

Kaihikapu-a-Manuia’s wife was Kaunui-a-Kanehoalani, a daughter of Kanehoalani, who was a grandson of High Chief Lo-Lale and High Chiefess Keleanohoanaapiapi. Kaunui's mother was Kuialoakalailai of the Kalehenui branch of the Maweke line, but whose pedigree is lost to the ages. With this wife Kaihikapu-a-Manuia had a son named Kakuhihewa. If Kaihikapu-a-Manuia had other wives or other children, the legends of Oahu are silent on the subject. His son Kakuhihewa succeeded him as Moi and would become the greatest king in Oahuan history.

Reference

* Abraham Fornander, An Account of the Polynesian Race: Its Origin and Migrations, Rutland, VT: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1969. Page 91, 269-273