Manoa tale is swaddled
in kids’ clothingBOOKSHELF
Burl Burlingame
bburlingame@starbulletin.com
IT'S A LITTLE BOOK with a lot of weight behind it. "Ka-hala-o-puna: The Beauty of Manoa," an -- ahem! -- "children's book" published by Manoa Press, uses fewer than 900 words and a dozen or so colorful illustrations to tell the tale of a beautiful Hawaiian woman done wrong by a distrustful chief, whose penance was to become the "sleeping giant" of Waahila Ridge.
But there is resonance far beyond that of a children's cautionary tale of the costs of faithlessness and mistrust.
"I don't know why I never saw it before, but there it is, the outline of the sleeping giant in the backbone of Waahila," said author and illustrator James Rumford, who lives in Manoa. "Now I see it whenever I look up there. It's part of the landscape."
"Ka-hala-o-puna: The Beauty of Manoa"
Retold and illustrated by James Rumford (Manoa Press, $12.95)
That outline, that social, historical and legendary landscape, will soon be redecorated with power lines and metal towers as Hawaiian Electric runs a new line over the top of the valley. This upcoming change is the reason the book was published in the first place.
To raise both awareness of "Ka-hala-o-puna: The Beauty of Manoa," and the cultural significance of Waahila Ridge: RAINBOW CELEBRATION
>> When: 3 to 5 p.m. today
>> Place: Manoa Valley District Park Pavilion, 2721 Kaaipu Ave.
>> Featuring: Ku'uipo Kumukahi and Na Hoku, plus storytelling and refreshments, and Rumford will sign copies of the book.
Malama o Manoa, the valley historical and preservation association with more than 3,700 members -- a barometer that indicates how strongly residents there feel about their community -- is not happy with HECO's proposal and commissioned the book.
Malama o Manoa footed the cost and suggested the story; Rumford, an artist and writer whose Manoa Press has published nationally recognized books, took it from there.
A couple of years ago, Rumford was given an award for his efforts in preserving the Hawaiian language; a number of the press run of 5,000 are printed solely in Hawaiian. "The Hawaiian-language ones are just about sold out already!" notes Rumford. "The book's only been out a week!"
Although the legend of Ka-hala-o-puna had been told before, Malama o Manoa member Mary Cooke alerted Rumford to another version that was based on oral histories in the valley. "It worked its way down in the culture for more than a hundred years and was written down by J. Kimo Alama Keaulana. It was six or seven pages, far too long for a children's book, and so I had to think about it carefully.
"It was very detailed, and much of it had to go. How to boil it down? The more I studied on it, the more I realized that it was also the story of Othello. So I read Shakespeare and the criticisms and analysis of Othello, and formulated the outline of the story from there. It's simple but it's profound, dealing with the nature of trust and betrayal, deceit and jealousy."
And since the story contains violence, the actions, by necessity, occur off camera. "You can have violence in a Brothers Grimm fairy tale, but we're not at the stage where a Hawaiian story can contain such elements," mused Rumford. He concentrates instead on the emotional fallout from such actions, and does so in sparkling images and powerful words.
"It's also the story of how the people of Manoa feel about their community, their sense of wonder and respect for history and fear of betrayal. It's not actually a children's book. It's simple but not simplistic. All sorts of people can read it and enjoy it and learn from it -- even the head of Hawaiian Electric!"
Funds raised from the sale of the book will benefit Malama o Manoa's educational endowment, which recently planted Hawaiian gardens at Punahou.
Rumford was impressed by the group's long-range vision. "I've talked to citizen's groups all over the country, and I don't know of any other organization that has published a children's book to express their philosophy. It's so subtle. They're thinking of future generations."
By the way, the slain spirit of Ka-hala-o-puna is still with us. She's the misty rainbow that appears nearly every day in Manoa.
But will she still be with us a hundred years from now?
"I was thinking about that, when I spotted this painting by D. Howard Hitchcock right there in the Cookes' Manoa home, a beautiful picture of what Manoa looked like a hundred years ago. It's there in the book to make us think, What will the valley be like a hundred years from now? Shouldn't we be thinking that far ahead?"
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