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Ea Mai Hawaiinuiakea

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Ea Mai Hawaiinuiakea

This chant speaks of the genealogy of the Hawaiian Islands themselves and includes references to the divine origins of early chiefs and kings. Genealogy chants such as this one are revered in Hawaiʻi as they affirm the connections between people and the land upon which they live. These connections help us better understand our privelege and kuleana (responsibility) to care for places and people.
Nā Kahakuikamoana, Fornander Collection of Hawaiian Antiquities and Folk-lore, Vol. IV
Ea mai Hawaiinuiaakea
Ea mai loko, mai loko mai o ka po
Puka mai ka moku, ka ʻāina
Ka lalani ʻāina o Nuumea
Ka pae ʻāina o i kūkulu o Tahiti

Hānau o Maui he moku, he ʻāina
kama o Kamalālāwalu ē noho

Kuluwaiea o Haumea he kāne
Hinanuialana he wahine
Loaa Molokaʻi, ke akua, he kāhuna
He pualena no Nuumea
mai ke aliʻi ka lani
Ka haluku wai ʻeā o Tahiti

Loaa Lānaʻi he keiki hookama
Keaukanai i moe aku
Moe iʻa Walinuu o Holani
He kekea kapu no Uluhina

Hānau Kahoʻolawe, he lopa
Kiina aku Uluhina
Moku ka piko o ke kamaiki
Ka iewe o ke keiki i lele
I komo i loko o ka ape nalu
Ka apeape kai aleale
Loaa ka malo o ke kama

O Molokini ka moku
He iewe iʻa, he iewe ka moku

mai Ahukinialaa
He aliʻi mai ka nanamu
Mai ka api o ka iʻa
Mai ka ale poipu o Halehalekalani

Loaa Oʻahu, he wohi
He wohi na Ahukinialaa
Laakapu he kāne iʻa
Laamealaakona he wahine
Hookauhua, hoiloli i ka Nuupoki aliʻi
Ka heiau kapu a Nonea
I kauila i ka po kapu o Makali‘i


Hānau Kauaʻi he aliʻi, he kama, he pua aliʻi
He huhui aliʻi, a Hawaiʻi
ke poʻo kelakela o na moku
I pāhola iʻa ē Kalani
Holo wale na moku i Holani
I ka wewehi kapu a ka lanakila
Kulia i ka moku a Kanekanaloa
Ka ihe laumaki i Polapola
Nana i mahiki Wanalia


O Wanalia ke kāne
O Hanalaa ka wahine
Hānau Niʻihau he ʻāina, he moku
He ʻāina i ke ʻaʻā i ka mole o ka ʻāina
Ekolu lākou keiki
I hānau i ka la kahi
O Niʻihau, o Kaula, Nīhoa pau mai

ka makuahine
Oili moku ole mai ma hope

Then arose Hawaiinuiakea
Arose from inside, from the inner darkness
Then appeared the island, the land
The row of islands of Nuumea
The group of islands on the borders of Tahiti

Maui was born an island, a land
A home for the children of Kamalālāwalu

Kuluwaiea of Haumea as the husband
Of Hinanuiakalana as the wife
Was born Molokaʻi, a god, a priest
The first morning light from Nuumea
Here stands the king, the heavenly one
The life-giving water-drops from Tahiti

Lānaʻi was found, an adopted child.
It was Keaukanai who had married
Had married with Walinuu from Holani
The sacred albino1 of Uluhina

Kahoʻolawe was born, an orphan
Uluhina then was called upon
The navel of the little one was cut
The afterbirth of the child that was thrown 
Into the folds of the rolling surf
The froth of the heaving sea
Then was found the loin cloth for the child

Molokini the island
Is a navel string, the island is a navel string

Now stands forth Ahukinialaa
A chief from the foreign land
From the gills of the fish
From the billows of Halehalekalani

Then was born Oʻahu, a high-ranking chief
A chief through Ahukinialaa
From Laakapu, who was the man
From Laamealaakona a woman
Who sickened of the child conception, who sickened carrying the chief Nuupoki,
At the sacred temple of Nonea
During the lightning in the sacred night of Makalii2

The was born Kauaʻi, a chief, a prince, a
kingly scion
Of the chiefly cluster belonging to Hawaiʻi,
Hawaiʻi the foremost head of the islands
That was spread out by Kalani2
The ships sailed freely to Holani
To the sacred precincts of freedom
Stand firm for the land of Kāne Kanaloa
The barbed spear from Polapola
That pricked and uplifted Wanalia

Wanalia was the man
And Hanalaa was the woman
Of them was born Niʻihau, a land, an island,
A land at the roots, the stem of the land
There were three children among them
Born in the same day
Niʻihau, Kaula, ending with Nīhoa

The mother then conceived no more
No island appeared afterwards
1 Sacred Albino, kekea kapu of the original, if not an error, would refer to the traditional arrival of the “poʻe ʻohana kekea,” which dates back to the 13th century; castaways on Maui, from a vessel called Māmala. Besides the captain were five others, both men and women. Of this party Neleike it is said became the wife of Wakalana, a ruling chief of Maui, and the mother of his son Alo-o-ia, and that they became the ancestors of the “poʻe ʻohana kekea,” white people with bright eyes; the sacred Albino of ancient time.

2  This doubtless refers to the month Makali‘i, rather than to the Pleiades, of same name.

3 Kalani, lit. the heaven, or heavenly one, freely used from this point impressed the translator with the idea that the whole song was evidently composed as an inoa, or name song for Kamehameha the Great, and, following custom, his own feats are lauded in figurative language and woven in with common traditional lore.

Credited to Kahakuikamoana, retrieved from Fornander Collection of Hawaiian Antiquities and Folk-lore, Vol. IV