David Kaluna M. Kaʻaiakamanu (c.1855–1928) was a Native Hawaiian pastor from Kīpahulu, Maui, who served congregations at Kīpahulu, Hāna, Waiheʻe, and later Hauʻula (Oʻahu). Ordained on May 21, 1899, he became known not only as a church leader but also as an authority on Hawaiian culture—especially laʻau lapaʻau (native medicine). While working with Hawaiʻi’s Board of Health, he compiled the widely cited 1922 volume Hawaiian Herbs of Medicinal Value. He retired around 1917 and passed away in December 1928.
Link to Image Photograph by Louis R. Sullivan, Collection, Sullivan Collection Name Notes : “David K. Kaaiakamanu?” BISHOP MUSEUM ALBUM Book 23, Page 139, Date Range: 1920–1921
More Information/Translations of Nupepa
Articles & Handwritten Letters by Kaaiakamanu
Nā Kahu
Portraits of Native Hawaiian Pastors at Home and Abroad, 1820–1900
NATIVE HAWAIIAN MINISTRY
The biographies that follow include all ordained pastors, licensed preachers, and evangelists who served in Hawai‘i. The names of these persons are listed in the Annual Reports of the Hawaiian Evangelical Association published during the nineteenth century. Included in the biographies below are a few non-Hawaiians who spoke, preached, and lived as Hawaiians. Often their descendants identified themselves as Hawaiians. Also included are a few non-ordained Native Hawaiians who worked as pastoral “assistants” or “sub-pastors” in the days before ordination was extended to Hawaiians. The names of these individuals are found in the Mission Station Reports that run from the early years of the mission to the mid-1860s. The time period studied is limited to the nineteenth century, except when pastoral careers
continued into the twentieth century some of these pastors are followed to the conclusion of their ministries.
It is important to note the significant role played by non-ordained Hawaiians in the churches of Hawai‘i. Many of the early assistants performed all of the duties of regular pastors except for officiating at marriages and administering baptism and the Lord’s Supper—which were supposedly reserved for ordained clergy. In many cases native assistants also performed one or more of these “sacramental” duties. While church elders (luna) and deacons are not included, it should be noted that some of these persons also performed all of the duties of regular pastors, especially in cases where ordained pastors could
not be found or when small congregations could not support a regular pastor.
Kaaiakamanu, David Kaluna (d. 1928).
Pastor on Maui and O‘ahu, at Kīpahulu (1898–1906), and during the twentieth century at Hāna and Waihe‘e, and then at Hau‘ula.
Kaaiakamanu was born at Kīpahulu, attended the common schools, and was married to Nākāhiki (or Nakahili; d. 1901). He was ordained on 21 May 1899 and became pastor of the Kīpahulu Church, anticipating that “the remote church of Kaupō will probably also come under his care.” He then served at Hāna, and after 1911, at Waihe‘e. He retired from the church at Hau‘ula, O‘ahu, around 1917.
Kaaiakamanu was an authority on several aspects of Hawaiian culture. He is remembered for his knowledge of Hawaiian songs and legends, and especially for his work with Hawaiian medicinal plants. As an employee of the Hawai‘i Board of Health he is the primary author of Hawaiian Herbs of Medicinal Value Found Among the Mountains and Elsewhere in the Hawaiian Islands, first published in 1922, and later reprinted a number of times. His work continues to be cited in modern scientific literature.
Honolulu Advertiser, 13 December 1928, 16 (death notice);
HEA, ARs (1897): 15, (1902): 46, (1912): 28, (1917): 24, (1928): 20;
Ka Hoku o Hawaii, 25 December 1928, 2 (obituary);
D. M. Kaaia Kamanu and J. K. Akina, Hawaiian Herbs of Medicinal Value Found
Among the Mountains and Elsewhere in the Hawaiian Islands, and Known to the
Hawaiians to Possess Curative and Palliative Properties Most Effective in Removing
Physical Ailments, translated by Akaiko Akana (Honolulu, Star-Bulletin, 1922);
Star-Bulletin, 11 December 1928, 1 (obituary).
Daughter of Ambrose Kala Hauʻoli Kaua & Emily Liloa Kaaiakamanu
Territory of Hawaii. Native Hawaiian Medicine
"BACK TO MEDICINAL ROOTS"
The last book in a translated series reveals natural remedies used by native Hawaiians
Anyone growing up in the islands knows to run to the patch of aloe in their back yard whenever they get a burn or cut that needs tender loving care.
Even today, aloe vera seems to be one of the most widely known local remedies to have survived the modern world's influx of alternative "cures." The squishy white noni fruit and kava bush have also gained wide reputations for their healing qualities.
There was a time when someone's back yard, including the mountains and wild pastures beyond, was the common man's pharmacy, says Malcolm Naea Chun, a translator of Hawaiian historical documents and a cultural specialist at the University of Hawaii-Manoa College of Education and the Department of Education Pihana na Mamo program.
"I used to watch my grandfather prepare his own medicine," Chun said. "He went into his back yard ... which was their pharmacy." But the older generation is gone now, he said. "Very few wanted to listen to them. Only now it (the use of herbs) has become very popular."
With the growing interest in alternative medicine, a lot of people are looking into traditional Hawaiian healing, giving credence to the adage "What was old has become new again."
Almost 20 years ago, Chun discovered a treasure trove of native plant potions that could have easily been thrown out with the trash. The original records of these remedies were written in longhand and stashed in an old cardboard box in the Office of Hawaiian Health.
His main reason for translating these documents was not to publish recipes for people to try, but to "show how earlier generations used these plants," he said. "It's been a fascinating journey and an adventure to rediscover what they discovered, what they (the native Hawaiians) were like.
"If no one translated them and put it into historical perspective, then this is lost. That box could've been burnt, and a unique part of Hawaiian history would have been lost forever.
"But it takes more than just learning the language to translate them (the documents)," Chun said. "You have to know the culture to get an understanding of what the writer meant. People today would find the language secretive, esoteric and boring. But it's our culture, and if we don't understand it, it will be lost forever."
THE PUBLICATION of Chun's three-volume series, based on work by three authors, releases "primary source material, never published before for the general public."
"Native Hawaiian Medicine Vol. III," written by the Rev. David Kaluna M. Ka'aiakamanu, of Kipahulu, Maui, from 1917 to 1921, is the last in Chun's translated series. It is the culmination of work that he began on an old-fashioned typewriter in 1990.
Ka'aiakamanu was a kahuna who had a reputation for being a "qualified expert" on Hawaiian people, customs and his native land, Chun said. His work "is quite rare and unique, and for me a great privilege to be able to translate and make it available."
Chun, who has worked with native plants since 1974 at the Lyon Arboretum, tried to make some of his own medicine from the descriptions when he was working on his first volume, but it was too hard to accumulate the quantity of plants required.
"And what I do have (in plants), I don't want to kill. ... You need a lot of them for the prescriptions," he said.
Kalo (taro) was not only a staple food of the Hawaiians; the entire plant was used for medicinal purposes. The cooked and salted leaf was used for "all illnesses," including a "very strong fever."
A poultice made from the stalk of the leaf was used for cuts, bruises and broken bones, according to Ka'aiakamanu's records. With the introduction of Western illness, the plant was considered a lifesaving medicine, used for pneumonia and ulali (measles).
Taro and sweet potato were also used as a buffer to form something like a pill because they made the bitter medicine buried within the little balls more palatable and easier to swallow, Chun said.
The awa plant, also known as kava today, was used to relax the body and for losing weight. According to original documents, the plant was "greatly desired ... (used) to be intoxicated and relaxed to go to sleep. ... This plant is like the (opium) ... the food of the angels."
BUT EVEN BACK then, Ka'aiakamanu warned that "it is not a good thing to (abuse it) constantly (for) it can be bad ... it will damage a healthy body."
Chun said the recent boom in the use of kava pills for relaxation is a misuse of a medicine that was culturally used for religious purposes.
"Kava is a gift from the gods. Prayers were used in the preparation of kawa; it was like communion, not popping a handful of pills or drinking a huge bowl of it," as some do today. It was also used in a social setting, accompanied by pupu (appetizers), which regulated the abuse of the drink, he added.
Most of Western or modern medicines are "derivatives of plant materials" offered in synthetic versions. But traditional medicine endures, even if in small populations, because it is "a cultural bond for native people," Chun said.
Modern medical practice is also "too clinical," with too little empathy between doctor and patient, he said. A common complaint is "My doctor doesn't listen to me," he said. "In traditional medicine you sense that the patient is not just an object being told what to do, that he takes part in his treatment plan.
"Traditional medicine is very patient-oriented because the healer needs to have as much information from the patient and to work with the patient to reveal all of the symptoms," Chun said.
Sometimes, the root source of a patient's cold is the stress and anger that weakened his resistance to germs or viruses. The big difference between traditional and modern medicine is that ancient healers considered the patient's whole being, not just the physical symptoms -- a holistic approach with some applied psychology, he said.
"Modern medicine is only beginning to realize that there's a much bigger picture" than that presented by physical symptoms, Chun said.
The Hawaiian healers "had a power that was in a different set of ethics and values ... of giving, rather than receiving. They had a sense of humbleness."
Their ethics and desire to heal outweighed any desire to make a profit or gain a reputation. Most of them would have taken a bag of rice as payment or give whatever money they were paid to the church, Chun said.
While translating the documents, "I talk to the dead," Chun said. "I go back to these old materials, and they talk to me through their writings.
"A lot of younger Hawaiians want to connect to their ancestors through the language and reject the written word because they think the oral tradition is the most important thing. But this written word is just as important, more (so) because it's frozen in time and because it's genuine," he said.
Forgotten plant
good for growth
Here is an excerpt from Malcolm Naea Chun's "Native Hawaiian Medicine Vol. III," as translated from an original work by the Rev. David Kaluna M. Ka'aiakamanu, of Kipahulu, Maui, from 1917 to 1921:
Kanawao ('Ula 'ula wahine)
This is a forgotten plant that was once familiar to the ancestors of the Hawaiian people from the old days. There was a lot of goodness and benefits to this plant, from the increasing of the population and the caring for girls to getting a healthy life. Look at the explanations for a boy and its true nature. If a girl was desired, then the medicine is eaten two times, in the morning and in the evening for five days with two eggs. Do not eat on the first days of Ku.
It was the way of increasing the population in Hawaii during the old days. ... Look at how the numbers of Japanese, Chinese and Filipinos have increased in immigrating in Hawaii. They are not good at settling, but they do take care and know how to increase their numbers.
The stem is reddish (ha'ula'ula) and the flower is crinkled. The stem grows in tall and straight. If extreme care is taken when eating this plant, there will be rewards and the illness cured. This is a plant eaten by the 'i'iwi polena of the mountains and the yellow-feathered o'o of the mountains of 'Ola'a (La'a). This is a very good medicine for its nectar from the flowers.
This plant can be mixed with several other plants to become a beneficial medicine for 'ea (thrush) and pa'ao'ao (latent childhood disease with physical weakening). In fact, it is not good to only prepare this medicine without the understanding of the patient, for it is from that point that the patient will be saved. Look with careful understanding, otherwise it might become perplexing (hihia).
'Auhuhu (Tephrosia purpurea)
It is a wild plant growing everywhere and it can be planted near the sea. This is a lethal plant. It can kill a pig, cow and a human being. This is the plant prepared in the koheoheo 'apu (a poisonous potion).
The 'auhuhu, when mixed with the 'awa, becomes lethal. If this medicine is made and pounded and its juice is applied on the pu 'upu 'u me 'eau (itch mange, lumps) then there is no death, because it is used only externally.
The little whitish flowers of the 'auhuhu can be brought to be fed to babies. The mother chews them and feeds it to the child. There will be no death, because the flower is tasty, then the baby's health and well-being will be gotten. It is a purgative for the baby with good results.
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