Yesterday we posted about the arrival of seven vaka, Polynesian voyaging canoes, in Hilo, Hawaii.    This seems an appropriate time to remember Herb Kawainui Kāne, an Hawaiian  artist, historian and one of the  founders of the Polynesian Voyaging Society, who died last March at the age of 82.  Kāne  was also one of the designers of the Hōkūleʻa,  a double-hulled voyaging canoe, built by the the Polynesian Voyaging Society.  In 1976, the Hōkūleʻa sailed from Hawaii to Tahiti using only Polynesian navigation techniques  without modern navigational instruments.

This month, Honolulu Magazine looked back on the life of Herb Kawainui Kāne, who they had only interviewed months before. They called Kāne “one of the principal figures of the Hawaiian Renaissance, that resurgence of Hawaiian culture that began in the 1970s and culminated in the rebirth of hula, the Hawaiian language, traditional Hawaiian music, Hawaiian voyaging canoes, and a growing sense of Hawaiian social and political identity.”

Herb Kane: The Last Interview

Just months ago, we had the opportunity to talk with Herb Kane, as powerful an artist as Hawaii has ever produced. We had no idea at the time that the world would soon lose him.

Kane was a Hawaiian Renaissance man, in both senses of the term. When the history of that period is written, he will rank with Eddie Aikau, Gabby Pahinui and Eddie Kamae as one of the prime catalysts of the Hawaiian Renaissance. He was also a Renaissance man in the more conventional sense of the term.

He was an author and historian, a founder of the Polynesian Voyaging Society, the designer of the Hokulea and its first skipper. Those were things he managed to do on the side, because, above all, he was a painter of vast, sweeping, detailed and colorful renditions of Hawaiian history and legend.

What did ancient Hawaii look like? If we visualize it at all, it’s because of Kane’s meticulous research and his skills with a paint brush.

Four months before his death, I was planning a trip to the Big Island with photographer David Croxford, primarily to document the traces of Hawaiian history that linger, still alive, just under the touristy surface of the South Kona Coast.

Hawaiian history? South Kona Coast? I decided we had to, absolutely had to, stop and spend a couple of hours with Herb Kane.

We didn’t really need to interview Kane for the story we were working on. It was largely a personal imperative: I just wanted to meet him, would never forgive myself if I blew this opportunity to be in his company, perhaps absorb some small bit of his mana.

Read the rest of the interview