Date: February 5th 2022

Location: Luana Aina Residence

Panaʻewa Homestead

15 Paipai St.

Hilo, HI 96720

Interviewer: Haʻawina Wise

Interviewee: Luana Aina

Summary:

In an interview with Luana Aina she recalls Kingslanding as being “the fruit of the land” where she and her siblings would gather limu, ʻōpihi, wana, and lauhala to sell to the local community members, “we had to go make money to live, and we live off, off the land and Kingslanding was the land that we lived off”. She cautioned the dangers of the ocean, naming those that lost their lives going on to the papa at Leleiwi point. “Spooky go over deah but a lot of people know spooky go vea deah….. Yeah gotta watch out when you go ova deah…but dah addah places you like you go malia da water you go we used to watch the tide you know and when good tide early morning we out deah already”. She also recalls her brother almost drowning out on the papa.  

Haʻawina Wise:

Aunty I just want to know if you can tell me any stories about Lehia all the way to Papaʻi.

Luana Aina:

You know Lehia, my mom used to call ʻem ahh, ahh ………. Leleiwi, flying bones. Right at that point there’s a papa, plenty limu and she told us never to go on that papa. But it looks so easy to go on that papa because the wave no crash on but you know about three people died eh over there. Mrs. Furtado, Wallace Ishibashi and I don’t know the Japanese man, the other Japanese man who died from, those are the three people I know, but my mom said that other people that died because they went on the papa and she said the older ones used to call it Leleiwi ʻeh flying bones. Leleiwiʻs down by the road and we used to call, but we go further in theres first bay, we call it first bay and ahh over there they get one atta papa with limu so  my mom said thatʻs a safe papa but you watch the calmness of the ocean, know must be malia before we go on top the papa

(1:33)

 but they neva used to have one road before we used to walk in. My dad was a stevadoor and he used to have a….. They used to have hard time the stevadoors not like today the rich people ʻeh but it was my dad dem that made them rich I think but anyway we used to go pick limu, ʻōpihi and ahh we used to go down Kingslanding…. Well we pass Pumaile first, you know Pumaile they used to have those people with TB and they were in quanrineteen. My brother was one of them my oldest brother. The night before the sixth wave ahh tidal wave, that building…. Took the whole building you know and it was a nice, nice building, it was right next to the ocean and they used to call em Pumaile. There was no road to go inside Kingslanding, only a few people new about the nice, you know the beautiful Kingslanding, you know Kingslanding is really really nice. I know we used to walk in to make limu kohu and limu ʻeleʻele, no more limu ʻeleʻele but ahhh limu lipoa. My mom used to pick to make dah…the fish smell good yah, well anyways she taught us of all the different things and she new the different things. Down deah had plenty ah…ah  what you call lapaʻau, yah. She, she, got, she I wish I learned about it, lapaʻau, but I neva learn about it cause she cured my brother from the TB. She took um my brother up to the Laupahoehoe mountains and dey stayed up dea for even the doctors wanted to know, but she my brother was cured of the TB and she just died couple years ago. Yah, yah heart problem eh, but das why my brothers father was Japanese and my brother he believed in Hawaiian medicine. And he knew da Kingslanding had plenty, plenty lapaʻau and he was real good friends with ʻem mrstah dat guy at third bay, he build one house at third bay. Ahh he have to get one key to go into his place, ahh what is his name now? Da son live right ova here.

(4:31)

Haʻawina Wise:

Pakani?

Luana Aina:

Yah Pakani.

Haʻawina Wise:

Uncle Bill Pakani.

Luana Aina:

He was good friends with Pakani. Pakani gave him that key and everything. Because he trusted my brother and we used to go third bay was easy to go get the limu ova dea. And ah deh had liken one nice little sandy beach ova dea yeah um… where you folks stay down the other side? Or on the ocean side?

Haʻawina Wise:

The bay before Uncle Bills. 

Luana Aina:

Ohh the second bay

Haʻawina Wise:

Yah, Waikaʻalulu Bay

Luana Aina:

Ohhh the second bay

Haʻawina Wise:

Yah.

Luana Aina:

Yah we called it first bay, we called it Leleiwi first, den first bay, second bay, third bay then paipaʻi. 

Haʻawina Wise:

Yup.

Luana Aina:

Paipaʻi was, was ahh right close too Shipman.

Haʻawina Wise:

Yup.

Luana Aina:

Yeah and when I started to work out deah out Keaʻao, Mr. Shipman was real nice to me. I don’t know why but he was really nice. We used to take our kids down dea and im we could walk back into um third bay. You know ah.. Ah uncle Pakanis place and the kids used to go and play ova dea but and we used to walk all the way back up to the gym again, wasn’t that far you know, because Shipman he had one road going in.

Haʻawina Wise:

Yup.

Luana Aina:

He had one one road going in and when I took my kids in he had all the food ready for them he made his maids he had maids you know.

Haʻawina Wise:

I bet.

Luana Aina:

Shipman. And he told us watch out, you don’t cross dah dah that place because das Uncle Pakanis place. I said you dink so I told him it belongs to us, us I told him because Uncle Pakani he let everybody go over dea. When we go um… sometimes when I, I talk about that place I cry because we used to go we had to go make money to live, and we live off, off the land and Kingslanding was the land that we lived off. We, we, we made wana, we made for Mrs. Kai. she really wanted wana, Mrs. Todd. You remember Mrs. Todd down Keaukaha school? Aww those people used to be. In fact she gave me the job at Keaukaha school. She was da third grade teacher. She used to teach from underneath my moms house, yeah and ahh we used to tell her she should go down Kingslanding with us, the first time she went down with us she neva wanted to go back again cause you had to walk all the way in yeah, there was no road we couldn’t go in no road and the place over dea was soooo, how can I describe that place… fruit of the land (mumble, not understandable) you don’t think so, you stay down deah yeah, it was fruit of the land.

(7:50)     

(pause to get tissue)

My brother Walter, you know Walter yeah? He used to go down deah, they used to be good fisherman, spears, spearsman, but one time he went down deah ( mumble, not understandable) Leleiwi, some Japanese fisherman was fishing called the boys and told the boys, eiii, get one lady outside dea floating ohh my braddah taught was my mom because she go make ʻōpihi yah, but she never went by herself she went either went with us or with with the a family member….. Walter when just dive in the water and had a Alpert Kawelu with him and Dulachi and they was looking at him in the water Leleiwi and they know what my mom told them, but Walter just dived in the water. But he should have known dat my mom told him never to go you know out there but when he reached out dea he told the boys its not my mom. But the boys they brought back and when they came back in fact had the picture of them in the news paper the three boys. Ummm Boldermarick Dublock, Demaltri and Alpert Kawelu and my brother Walter. Dey had a picture of dem dem went out to dive for her before (mumble not understandable) you know when I think about Kingslanding I think about all those things one time. Went down went down to go pip we needed money den cause we had soup kitchen my faddah. He had ahhhh. We didn’t have money we had to go eat soup kitchen so we went down dea and we picked lauhala we pick limu kohu and we pick wana, you know dird bay getohh  nice wana ova dea. So we was diving for wana ova dea and we brought it. Ohh Mrs Times, Mrs. Todd deh like and our doctor deh like da limu kohu so we sell em to dem you know and deh always pay us extra you know but my sister, my older sister she was the my older sister Lawaina I don’t know if you know her she was the salesmen us we shame we no go, but anyway we used to pick wana at third bay and limu at third bay and the ʻōpihi we used to pick at Paipai you know you know where the ʻōpihi stay down deah? You know at Paipai we pick ʻōpihi mostly at Paipai sometimes second bay get plenty but we used to, I used to go down deah without shoes. 

(11:00)

One time we had so much ʻōpihi so he carried the ʻōpihi all the way home you know, when we reached home no more the ʻōpihi my maddah said what you did with the ʻōpihi? We when throw em back into the ocean and so my mom said you know it’s no good when you do that Pettah das really no good, my mom she believe in dis legendary things you had to…. you pick you go take home for do what you have to do with it don’t go trow it back inside. Da next time we went down Lucky had my braddah, not Walter, Chiefy. He when almost drown….. (laughing)… the wadah the ocean took him. Because he threw my mom told him no do that again. When… when Chiefy brought em back he said you know why (mumbling, laughing, not understandable) he tell my mom, aww, I thought I was going to die. But my mom said its because you drew the ʻōpihi back into the water and, and me iʻm thinking why dey going do dat, you know. I, I was like 16, 17 but we used to have to go down an down ahh, ahh Kingslanding and Kingslanding was sooooo beautiful, I, I like ahh going down deah, even though we had to work, walk inside miles, miles and den when we reach down Paipai we used to camp sometimes you know and even to now my braddah them go down dea camp. Da church, the Morman church dey go down deah camp because we used to go down deah camp. You know real nice place and you can get plenty fish, the uhuʻs plentiful down deah. You know and you know no more kole, kole no go stay down breakwater, if you like ʻem go down deah because we used to go down deah all the time. But…. we learn how to live off the land, we learn from, mostly from Kingslanding I dink because we used to go down deah all the time. One time Better Bumko got lost, cause we when go pick, ola, lauhala and my mom told him Petter you stay on the trial now you no go off the trial we lost him, guess where we when find him, way down by um Nakagawa pond, (mumbling, laughing, not understandable) I donno how he got down deah, you know dah ummm dat dat resturant….down by em 4 miles he when reached down deah he was inside the bushes, my faddah saw him from the road, you know how far it is ehh… sooo funny I tell you Petter he used to be ahh the talk of the town but but he knew, he knew, he knew Pai, all da way from, he knew how to walk in, he knew but he got lost dat time and he got all scared. We donʻt know how he got down deah you know from Kingslanding….

(14:22)

 Ohh but das my experience with going down deah. We had… We used… use (mumble, not understandable) we went down almost every week and we studied da place…. First Bay, Second, Bay Third Bay, Paipai, does how we studied the palace but now dey get different names yah. Spooky go over deah but a lot of people know spooky go vea deah….. Yeah gotta watch out when you go ova deah…but dah addah places you like you go malia da water you go we used to watch the tide you know and when good tide early morning we out deah already, we walking bare footed and all, now I cannot even walk on the pavement, sora my feet (laughing)……

(15:17)

Ohh this is good to learn more about the ahh…….. about our  land our land get plenty food and people gotta know that you know and das why we going live on the lands because get plenty food. We used to make lauhala, you know, cut  the lauhala and sell ʻem, before you sell ʻem one bunch 2 dollahs and hundreds das had but das plenty money 2 dallas during our time and all down Kingslanding. Dey say the lauhala near the ocean soft eh, dey like so dey buy from us we used to tie ʻem up sell ʻem. My mom she used to do all those kind things she used to make us do ʻem she made us work hard.

(16:22)

My mom used to make us live off the land and when get soup kitchen kitchen she go use.. She give the fish…. My sistah she used to make us clean the limu den go make balls and she used to go sell em, we has to make money we neva had money to live off.. but..Kingslanding was our place to make money… we had to live and Kingslanding was our land our place to live…. We start walking from you know Pu, Pumaile when we called that and we go in the bushes all the way outside on the ocean all the way First Bay, Second Bay, Third Bay we stop every bay… before, neva used to have house before.. And den all of a sudden had house, but had Pakanis house when we went. He when build his house that time das long time, i dunno how he when drive in no mo road dat time….. Yeah because when we used to go neva had road no more. I was telling Kumu Lehua too… he said how you guys used to go in, I said walk from the ocean side we used to make our own trail, we had our own trail going down….. Yeah…. Pick up all the lauhala on the way coming back we pick up the lauhala come home strip em we had to strip the da dorns.. And then and den sell ‘em for two dallas, hundreds (laughing) so we were good at striping afterwards.