Kamapuaʻa and the Escape from Kaliuwaʻa

Long ago on the island of Oʻahu lived a young man named Kamapuaʻa. But Kamapuaʻa was no ordinary man.

He was a kupua, a supernatural being capable of changing his form. At times he walked as a man. At others, he became a great hog, powerful and enormous, with coarse bristles covering his body. His name itself spoke to this other nature, Kamapuaʻa, the hog child.

Kamapuaʻa grew up strong, clever, and difficult to control. He was fiercely loyal to those he loved, particularly his grandmother, but he could also be reckless and destructive. He had little concern for authority, and this repeatedly brought him into conflict with ʻOlopana, the ruling chief of Koʻolau.

One day, Kamapuaʻa decided to steal from ʻOlopana's chicken houses. It was exactly the sort of trouble Kamapuaʻa seemed unable to resist.

When ʻOlopana discovered what had happened, he was furious. He sent his men to capture the thief and bring him back. They found Kamapuaʻa in his hog form, seized him, bound him tightly, and began carrying him away on a pole.

For a time, Kamapuaʻa allowed them to believe they had won.

Then he broke free.

The cords that held him snapped beneath his strength, and Kamapuaʻa turned on the men who had captured him. Only one was allowed to escape and carry the news back to ʻOlopana.

Kamapuaʻa was free again, but ʻOlopana was no longer dealing with a simple thief. Enraged by the defeat of his men, the chief gathered a much larger force. If a small group could not capture Kamapuaʻa, he would send enough warriors to overwhelm him.

Kamapuaʻa knew they were coming. He gathered his family and followers and fled toward the mountains, stopping along the way for someone he refused to leave behind, his grandmother.

Together they entered Kaliuwaʻa, a deep valley on the windward side of Oʻahu. A stream wound between towering walls of green, leading farther and farther into the mountains. As they traveled deeper into the valley, the cliffs rose steeply around them.

Behind them came ʻOlopana's warriors.

Kamapuaʻa and his people continued into the gorge until they could go no farther. Before them rose a nearly vertical wall of rock. Behind them, ʻOlopana's army was approaching.

They were trapped.

Kamapuaʻa looked at the cliff towering above them and then at the people who had followed him into the valley. There was no path upward that an ordinary person could climb.

But Kamapuaʻa was not ordinary.

His body began to change. He grew into the form of the great hog, larger and larger until his enormous body pressed against the steep face of the mountain. Then he stretched himself upward.

First, Kamapuaʻa lifted his grandmother high enough that she could reach the land above. Once she was safe, the others followed, climbing along his enormous body and clinging to his bristles as they made their way toward the top.

One by one, his people escaped.

Tradition remembers the mark of Kamapuaʻa's enormous body against the mountain itself, a smooth hollow in the rock associated with his climb and called Ka Waʻa o Kamapuaʻa, the canoe of Kamapuaʻa.

But Kamapuaʻa was not finished. ʻOlopana's warriors were still coming.

A stream flowed through Kaliuwaʻa toward the sea. Kamapuaʻa lowered his great body across the water and blocked its path. The stream began to rise.

Water gathered behind him as ʻOlopana's warriors entered deeper into the valley. More men followed behind them, certain that they had finally cornered the troublesome hog-man.

Kamapuaʻa waited.

The water continued to build.

Then, when the warriors had entered the gorge...

Kamapuaʻa moved.

The water he had held back rushed down through Kaliuwaʻa. What had been a stream became a torrent, thundering through the narrow valley toward the approaching warriors with tremendous force.

The hunters had become the hunted.

Kamapuaʻa had escaped again, and the valley carried the memory of how he had done it.

Stories of Kamapuaʻa's adventures would spread far beyond Kaliuwaʻa. He would fight chiefs and warriors, cross the islands, challenge those who tried to control him, and leave stories attached to places throughout Hawaiʻi.

Eventually, his travels would carry him to Hawaiʻi Island, where he would meet another being whose power could rival his own.

Pele.

She belonged to fire. Kamapuaʻa belonged to rain. And when the two finally met, their struggle would become a battle between the forces of the natural world itself.

But that is another moʻolelo.

For now, Kamapuaʻa remains in the mountains of Oʻahu. Not because he is still there, but because his story became part of the land.

For generations, places like Kaliuwaʻa were more than scenery. The shape of a cliff, the path of a stream, or a hollow worn into stone could hold the memory of something that happened long before. Knowing the moʻolelo meant knowing something more about the place.

You could look toward a towering cliff and imagine an enormous hog pressing his body against the rock as his grandmother climbed to safety. You could hear water moving through a valley and remember the moment Kamapuaʻa held back an entire stream.

And suddenly, the landscape was telling you a story.

A story of a thief who refused to be captured, a grandson who would not leave his grandmother behind, and a kupua clever enough to turn the mountain and water themselves into his escape.

About This Moʻolelo

Kamapuaʻa is one of the most complex figures in Hawaiian moʻolelo. He is a kupua, a supernatural being capable of transformation, and is especially known for taking the form of a hog.

Rather than attempting to tell the entire story of Kamapuaʻa in one retelling, this moʻolelo focuses on one of his adventures: his conflict with ʻOlopana and his escape through Kaliuwaʻa on Oʻahu.

Different recorded versions contain variations in how Kamapuaʻa is captured, how many times he escapes, who travels with him, and how the events at Kaliuwaʻa unfold. This version has been adapted into a continuous contemporary narrative while preserving the major events found in recorded traditions.

Kamapuaʻa's story continues well beyond Oʻahu. His larger cycle includes travels throughout the Hawaiian Islands and his famous relationship and conflict with Pele, which can be explored as its own moʻolelo.

Sources & Further Reading

Abraham Fornander — Fornander Collection of Hawaiian Antiquities and Folk-Lore, Volume V, “Tradition of Kamapuaa”
The Fornander collection preserves an extensive account of Kamapuaʻa, including his conflict with ʻOlopana, repeated captures and escapes, journey through Kaliuwaʻa, supernatural abilities, and later adventures.

Thomas G. Thrum — Hawaiian Folk Tales (1907), “Kaliuwaa: Scene of the Demigod Kamapuaa's Escape from Olopana”
This recorded telling focuses specifically on Kaliuwaʻa and the tradition of Kamapuaʻa's escape from ʻOlopana, including his transformation and the landscape features associated with the event.

Martha Warren Beckwith — Hawaiian Mythology (1940), Chapter XIV: “Kamapuaʻa”
Beckwith surveys the broader Kamapuaʻa cycle, including his genealogy, transformation into hog form, conflict with ʻOlopana, escape through Kaliuwaʻa, travels through the islands, and later relationship with Pele.

As with many Hawaiian moʻolelo, different versions of Kamapuaʻa's adventures have been preserved. This contemporary retelling is intended to introduce readers to one part of that much larger tradition.