Liloa's Kāʻei

Līloa's Kāʻei (Liloa's Sash) or Kāʻei Kapu o Liloa (the sacred sash of Līloa) is the sacred feathered sash of Līloa, king of the Big Island of Hawaiʻi. The Statue of Kamehameha the Great, commissioned by King Kalākaua, displayed the kāʻei.

This kāʻei is believed to have been made for Liloa, the high chief of the island of Hawaiʻi. He reigned from about 1455 to 1485. His successor was his eldest son Hakau, but the kāʻei passed to his second son, ʻUmi-a-Līloa, born to a lower ranking mother. The sash could have been the same one that Liloa had given to ʻUmi's mother for the future time when they would reunite, this story is similar to that of Theseus. Hākau was a despotic ruler and in 1490 was overthrown by ʻUmi. Then, for three generations, there is no mention of the kāʻei.

In the mid to late 17th century, Liloa's great-great-great-granddaughter Keakealaniwahine, daughter of Keakamāhana, the highest ranking chiefess of Hawaiʻi, was in possession of the kāʻei. She ceremonially dressed her grandsons, Kalaninuiamamao and Keʻeaumoku, in it - signifying that they were of the highest chiefly kapu (sacredness). Again, the kāʻei falls into obscurity, but records indicate that the kāʻei was handed down from Kamehameha the Great, to Kamehameha III, to Queen Kalama, to King Lunalilo. After Lunalilo’s death, it was in the possession Lunalilo's father, Charles Kanaina. After Kanaina’s death, it was claimed by King Kalākaua. He bequeathed it to his sister Liliʻuokalani, who later gave it to the Bernice P. Bishop Museum making this one of the oldest family heirlooms in Hawaiian history in existence. The validity of its age was proven in 2007 when researchers from the University of Kent were able to date feathers that had previously fallen out of this kāʻei but were being kept for conservation. The study carbon-dated the feathers from the kāʻei to a date range of 1406 to 1450 A.D.

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