Kahuna

Kahuna (haw; Hawaiian: kahuna) is a Hawaiian word that refers to an expert in any field.[1] Historically, it has been used to refer to doctors, surgeons and dentists, as well as priests, ministers, and sorcerers.[2]

## Contents

* 1 Background
* 1.1 Kahuna nui
* 2 Legal status
* 3 Non-Hawaiian uses
* 4 See also
* 5 References
* 6 Bibliography

## Background

A kahuna may be versed in agriculture,[3][4] canoe building, or any other skill or knowledge area. The term, "kahuna", means “keeper of hidden knowledge”, literally.[1] It is derived from the word “kahu”, meaning “caretaker”, and “huna”, meaning “secret”. The secrecy over their knowledge has been described as being similar to the Freemasons and the guild masters of medieval Europe.[5] People who came from outside Hawaii distorted and stereotyped the term as a witch or wizard.[1][6] They may be called on by the community to bless new buildings and construction projects or to officiate weddings.[7][8]

Forty types of kahuna are listed in the book Tales from the Night Rainbow, twenty in the healing professions alone, including kahuna lapaʻau, a medical priest or practitioner, and kahuna hāhā, "an expert who diagnoses, as sickness or pain, by feeling the body".[9]

Some of the classes of kahuna as practiced in pre-contact Hawaii are:

* Kahuna po’o or Kahuna nui: High priest
* Kahuna kaula: Prophet
* Kahuna wehe wehe: Dream interpreter
* Kahuna Kilo kilo: Reader of skies and omens
* Kahuna kalai: Carving expert
* Kahuna kalai ki’i: Sculptor
* Kahuna kalai wa’a: Canoe maker
* Kahuna hale kukulu: House builder
* Kahuna kumu hula: Leader of a hula halau (hula group)
* Kahuna haku mele ula: Makers of chants and music
* Kahuna ho’okele: Navigator
* Kahuna kela moku: Expert seaman
* Kahuna ‘upena hana: Expert ﬁshnet maker
* Kahuna lawai’a kolau: Expert at catching ﬁsh with a net
* Kahuna wanana ikeauokamanawa: Reader of weather signs
* Kahuna lawai’amanu: Expert bird catcher
* Kahuna ka’a kaua: War strategist
* Kahuna papa po’o: Leader of the warriors
* Kahuna lawelawe iwi: Cares for the bones of the dead
* Kahuna kukei’i wana’ao: Expert story teller
* Kahuna hui: Led functions and ceremonies for Ali’i.[5]

A kahuna lapaʻau is a "medical doctor, medical practitioner, [or] healer. lit. curing expert".[10]

### Kahuna nui

According to Fornander, there are ten colleges or branches of the Hawaiian priesthood:[11]

* ʻAnāʻanā, Hoʻopiopio, and Hoʻounāunā were said to practice sorcery, to bring death or injury to others by means of prayer.[11]
* Hoʻokomokomo and Poʻi ʻUhane were said to use spirits for divination and spirit possession.[11][12]
* Lapaʻau: one who practices medicinal healing.[13]
* Kuhikuhi puʻuone (lit. to direct divination): one who locates the site for the construction of heiau, or temples.[14]
* Kilokilo: one who divines and predicts future events, a prophet.[15]
* Nānāuli: soothsayers, diviners, prophets.[11]

A master of all ten branches could be made a kahuna nui or high priest.[11] Kahuna nui usually lived in places such as Waimea Valley, which is known as the Valley of the Priests. They were given slices of land that spanned from the mountain to the sea.[16][17] Hewahewa, a direct descendant of Paʻao, was a kahuna nui to Kamehameha I. A contemporary, Leimomi Moʻokini Lum is a kahuna nui.[18][19] David Kaonohiokala Bray was a well-known kahuna.[8]

King Kamehameha IV, in his translation of the Book of Common Prayer, used the term kahuna to refer to Anglican priests, and kahunapule to refer to both lay and ordained Anglican ministers.[citation needed] Kahunapulē means Gospel preacher in Hawaiian.[20] Pulē in Hawaiian means prayer, spell or blessing.[21]

## Legal status

Craft kahuna were never prohibited; however, during the decline of native Hawaiian culture, many died and did not pass on their wisdom to new students. As an example, when the Hōkūleʻa was built to be sailed to the South Pacific to prove the voyaging capabilities of the ancient Hawaiians, master navigator Mau Piailug from Satawal was brought to Hawaii to reteach navigation to the Hawaiians.[22]

After American missionaries went to Hawaii in 1822, they reportedly prohibited kahuna practices. But, in the 100 years after the missionaries arrived, all kahuna practices were legal until 1831, some were illegal until 1863, all were legal until 1887, and some were illegal until 1919. Since 1919 all have been legal except sorcery, which was initially declared illegal but was decriminalized in 1972.[23]

The first Christian missionaries arrived in 1822.[24][25] Kamehameha I had earlier believed that Christianity may bring mana or heavenly power to revitalise the Hawaiian community.[26] Kaʻahumanu, one of the most powerful people in the Hawaiian nation, was converted to Christianity in 1823. She formally declared Christianity to be the new state religion with a Sabbath on December 21, 1823.[27] Eleven years after missionaries arrived, she proclaimed laws against hula, chant, kava, and the Hawaiian religion.[28]

## Non-Hawaiian uses

The term was used in the 1959 film Gidget, in which "The Big Kahuna", played by Cliff Robertson (Martin Milner in the TV episode), was the leader of a group of surfers. The figure of the Big Kahuna became commonplace in Beach party films of the 1960s, such as Beach Blanket Bingo, in which the Big Kahuna was the best surfer on the beach. Hawaiian surfing master Duke Kahanamoku may have been referred to as the Big Kahuna, but he rejected the term as he knew the original meaning.[29]

In the New Age spiritual system known as Huna, which uses some Hawaiian words and concepts appropriated from Hawaiian tradition,[30] kahuna denotes someone of priestly or shamanic standing.[31] The prevalence of these works in pop culture has influenced definitions in English dictionaries, such as Merriam-Webster, which not only defines kahuna as "a preeminent person or thing" but also offers "Hawaiian shaman" as a secondary definition.[32] Wells College professor Lisa Kahaleole Hall, a Native Hawaiian, wrote in a peer-reviewed journal published by the University of Hawaiʻi that Huna "bears absolutely no resemblance to any Hawaiian worldview or spiritual practice" and calls it part of the "New Age spiritual industry."[30]

## See also

* Ancient Hawaii
* Lomi Lomi (Kahuna Bodywork)
* Kohala Historical Sites State Monument
* Hoʻoponopono, Hawaiian forgiveness process
* Morrnah Simeona, regarded as a kahuna laʻau lapaʻau
* Tohunga, a cognate term and title in Māori tradition
* Filipino shamans
* Bobohizan, shamans among the Kadazan-Dusun
* Big Kahuna Burger, a fictional Hawaiian-themed fast food restaurant chain that appears in the movies of Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez
* Guru

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Hawaiian Healing Hands". U.S. National Library of Medicine. 2013-04-24. https://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/avoyagetohealth/education/higher-education-class4.html.
2. ↑ "Kahuna". http://wehewehe.org/gsdl2.85/cgi-bin/hdict?e=q-11000-00
off-0hdict--00-1
-0-10-0
0
0direct-10-ED--4

-0-1lpm--11-haw-Zz-1
Zz-1-home-kahuna--00-3-1-00-0--4
-0-0-11-00-0utfZz-8-00&a=d&d=D6052.
3. ↑ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine{{cbignore} b |title=Waipi'o Valley with Kia Fronda 1992 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnRj-q-QlIY |website=YouTube | date=5 October 2013 |publisher=Rusty Wright |access-date=31 May 2018}}
4. ↑ "The Three Kahunas". Kathy Long. http://kathylongartist.com/product/the-three-kahunas/.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Foerster, Brien (2014-02-19). "KAHUNA OF HAWAII: HEALERS AND MASTER CRAFTS PEOPLE; AND A FEW SORCERERS". https://www.academia.edu/6132343/KAHUNA_OF_HAWAII_HEALERS_AND_MASTER_CRAFTS_PEOPLE_AND_A_FEW_SORCERERS.
6. ↑ E., Rev. S.. "Office of the Historian". https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1894app2/d306.
7. ↑ "David 'Daddy' Kaonohiokala Bray". https://www.census.gov/history/pdf/davidbray542017.pdf.
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Ruth-Inge Heinze (1991). Shamans of the 20th Century. Ardent Media. p. 44. ISBN 978-0-8290-2459-3. https://books.google.com/books?id=V0KP78wyP0cC&pg=PA42.
9. ↑ Lee, Pali Jae Kealohilani (1984) (in en). Tales from the Night Rainbow. Paia-Kapela-Willis, ʻOhana. https://books.google.com/books?id=kZh8rgEACAAJ.
10. ↑ "Ulukau: The Hawaii Electronic Library". p. 114. http://www.ulukau.org/elib/collect/ped/index/assoc/D0.dir/doc233.pdf. (Page 114 in print document, p. 144 in electronic)
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 Abraham Fornander (1920). Fornander collection of Hawaiian antiquities and folk-lore. Bishop Museum Press. p. 323. https://books.google.com/books?id=3dNbjQ1DBB0C&pg=PA323.
12. ↑ E. S. Craighill Handy; Davis (2012-12-21). Ancient Hawaiian Civilization: A Series of Lectures Delivered at The Kamehameha Schools. Tuttle Publishing. pp. 252. ISBN 978-1-4629-0438-9. https://books.google.com/books?id=PoXQAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT252.
13. ↑ "About Laʻau Lapaʻau, and Lapaau.org". http://lapaau.org/about/.
14. ↑ "Page 173 kū.hala.kai – kū.hipa". http://www.ulukau.org/elib/collect/ped/index/assoc/D0.dir/doc211.pdf.
15. ↑ "Page 446 fond – founder". http://www.ulukau.org/elib/cgi-bin/library?e=q-0ped-000sec--11en-50-20-frameset-search-kilokilo-1-010escapewin&a=d&d=D0.4.6.7&toc=0.
16. ↑ "Waimea Valley". 15 December 2011. http://www.hawaiipictureoftheday.com/waimea-valley/.
17. ↑ "History of Waimea Valley". https://www.waimeavalley.net/about/view/history-of-waimea-valley-botanical-gardens.
18. ↑ "Paʻao From Thrum, Emerson, and Kamakau". http://archive.hokulea.com/ike/moolelo/paao.html.
19. ↑ "Big Island heiau to host celebration of stewardship". Bizjournal. June 20, 2004. http://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/2004/06/14/daily81.html.
20. ↑ "Hawaiian Dictionaries". https://wehewehe.org/gsdl2.85/cgi-bin/hdict?e=q-11000-00
off-0hdict--00-1
-0-10-0
0
0direct-10-ED--4--textpukuielbert,textmamaka
--0-1l--11-en-Zz-1
Zz-1-home-kahunapule--00-3-1-00-0--4
-0-0-11-00-0utfZz-8-00&a=d&d=D71950.
21. ↑ "Hawaiian Word of the Day: Pule". 2019-07-19. https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2019/07/19/hawaiian-word-day-pule/.
22. ↑ Perez, Christina; Ko, Brendan George (September 22, 2017). "Aboard the Hōkūleʻa Canoe As It Returns to Hawaii". Vogue. https://www.vogue.com/projects/13534632/hawaii-hokulea-canoe-polynesian-sailing/.
23. ↑ Chai, Makana Risser (2005). Na Mo'olelo Lomilomi: The Traditions of Hawaiian Massage and Healing. Bishop Museum Press. pp. 34, 177–178. ISBN 1-58178-046-X.
24. ↑ Orramel Hinckley Gulick (1918). The pilgrims of Hawaii: their own story of their pilgrimage from New England. Fleming H. Revell company. pp. 341–347. ISBN 0-524-09143-9. https://books.google.com/books?id=ehE3AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA341.
25. ↑ "Portraits of American Protestant missionaries to Hawaii; : Hawaiian Mission Children's Society : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive". 2016-10-23. https://archive.org/details/portraitsofameri00hawarich.
26. ↑ Lee, Jonathan H. X.; Matsuoka, Fumitaka; Yee, Edmond; Nakasone, Ronald Y. (2015-09-01). Asian American Religious Cultures: [2 volumes]. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 979-8-216-05015-5. https://books.google.co.in/books?id=KEXPEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT459&dq=King+Kamehameha+IV+anglican+ministers+"kahuna"&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi4wey61L6QAxWxSGwGHRtcBKwQ6AF6BAgIEAM#v=onepage&q=King+Kamehameha+IV+anglican+ministers+"kahuna"&f=false. Retrieved 2025-10-25.
27. ↑ Lee, Jonathan H. X.; Matsuoka, Fumitaka; Yee, Edmond; Nakasone, Ronald Y. (2015-09-01). Asian American Religious Cultures: [2 volumes]. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 979-8-216-05015-5. https://books.google.co.in/books?id=KEXPEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT459&dq=King+Kamehameha+IV+anglican+ministers+"kahuna"&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjM_4nf2L6QAxXVe2wGHXKSOJEQuwV6BAgOEAc#v=onepage&q=Ka'ahumanu+formally+declared+Christianity+to+be+the+new+state+religion+&f=false. Retrieved 2025-10-25.
28. ↑ Kamakau, Ruling Chiefs, pp. 298–301.
29. ↑ Hall, Sandra Kimberly (2004). Duke: A Great Hawaiian. Bess Press. ISBN 1-57306-230-8.
30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 Hall, Lisa Kahaleole. "'Hawaiian at Heart' and Other Fictions", The Contemporary Pacific, Volume 17, Number 2, pp. 404–413, 2005, University of Hawai'i Press.
31. ↑ Serge Kahili King (2014-05-27). Kahuna Healing. Quest Books. p. 38. ISBN 978-0-8356-3107-5. https://books.google.com/books?id=PVtbBgAAQBAJ.
32. ↑ Merriam-Webster. "Kahuna". https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kahuna.

## Bibliography

* Chai, Makana Risser. Na Mo'olelo Lomilomi: Traditions of Hawaiian Massage & Healing. ISBN 1-58178-046-X.
* Hall, Sandra. Duke: A Great Hawaiian. ISBN 1-57306-230-8.
* Gutmanis, Jane (1976). Kahuna La'au Lapa'au – Hawaiian Herbal Medicine [Medical Kahuna]. Island Heritage (www.islandheritage.com). English. ISBN 0-89610-330-7.
* Kahalewai, Nancy S. Hawaiian Lomilomi – Big Island Massage. ISBN 0-9677253-2-1.
* Kamakau, Samuel. Tales & Traditions of the People of Old. ISBN 0-930897-71-4.
* Kupihea, Moke (2001). Kahuna of Light – The World of Hawaiian Spirituality. Inner Traditions International. ISBN 0-89281-756-9.
* Lee, Pali Jae. Hoʻopono and Tales from the Night Rainbow.
* Malo, David. Hawaiian Antiquities (Moʻolelo Hawaiʻi). Bishop Museum Press. 1951 (1903).
* McBride, Likeke R. The Kahuna: Versatile Masters of Old Hawaiʻi. ISBN 0-912180-51-X.
* Pukui, Mary K.; Haertig, E. W.; Lee, Catharine A. (1980). Nana I Ke Kumu [Look to the Source]. Hui Hanai. ISBN 0-9616738-2-6.
* Pukui, Mary Kawena; Elbert, Samuel H. (1986). Hawaiian Dictionary. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0-8248-0703-0.

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