Kapu Kuialua (Lua)
Hawaiian martial art of bone-breaking, wrestling and weapon fighting, whose modern revival, according to today's teachers, stems from students of Charles Kenn.
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About Kapu Kuialua (Lua)
Lua is a Hawaiian martial art that period sources associate with bone-breaking and wrestling, and present-day sources also with fighting with weapons. In Hawaiian Antiquities (1903 edition), David Malo lists wrestling and kui-alua among the skills taught at court, which the translator N. B. Emerson described as a cruel form of fighting combining wrestling, boxing, bone-breaking and maiming. Samuel M. Kamakau mentions lua as bone-breaking. We have not found a founder or a year of origin in the sources, and Kumukahi gives various accounts of its origin.
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According to Kamakau, Kamehameha I appointed teachers of kuʻialua wrestling, mokomoko boxing and other skills, and he also raised the children of commoners as warriors. Kumukahi writes that in the early twentieth century lua seemed to have vanished, but it continued to be practiced in cellars and in the countryside. Paglinawan and coauthors state in the journal Hūlili (2012) that the modern revival stems from a handful of men taught by Charles Kenn (1907–1988), the last known living ʻōlohe. According to army.mil, Mitchell Eli describes lua as an art of strikes with hands and feet that break bones and dislocate joints. Kumukahi lists spears, clubs, daggers and sling stones as weapons and names the leiomano, a wooden club set with tiger shark teeth, as a favorite weapon of the aliʻi. The book Lua: Art of the Hawaiian Warrior was published by Bishop Museum Press in 2006 and written by Richard Paglinawan, Mitchell Eli, Moses Kalauokalani and Jerry Walker.
History
According to Kumukahi (Kamehameha Publishing), there are different accounts of how lua began. By one, it arose after the chief Pāʻaa arrived with the war god Kūkāʻilimoku, while others link it to hula movements. David Malo states that throwing and thrusting spears, kaala wrestling and kui-alua were widely taught at court. Samuel M. Kamakau mentions Na-maku from the time of Kalaniʻōpuʻu as an expert in lua bone-breaking, which he learned on Kauaʻi. The editor's note to Kamakau's work cites Andrews (1865) that lua was widely practised in ancient times, but its technique was never written down. According to Britannica, Kamehameha I became the undisputed ruler of the whole archipelago in 1810. Paglinawan and co-authors (Hūlili 2012) state that the warrior class disappeared very quickly after the unification of the islands and the abolition of the kapu, and much of the knowledge of the physical side of lua was lost. According to Bill Mossman (army.mil 2009), lua withdrew into obscurity for several decades and was passed on in secret.
Technique
N. B. Emerson, in a note to Malo (1903), writes that kui-alua was a very cruel form of fighting that, besides wrestling and boxing, included bone-breaking and maiming. Mitchell Eli, according to Bill Mossman (army.mil 2009), describes lua as an art of hand and foot strikes that break bones and dislocate joints. ʻŌlohe Jerry Walker, according to KITV (2025), states that lua specialised in bone-breaking, dislocations, strikes to nerves and shock. Sean Hao (Honolulu Advertiser 2007) writes that practitioners aimed at the throat, eyes and groin, and fighters prepared with chants accompanied by movements imitating strikes to sensitive spots. According to Hao, the weapons of Hawaiian warriors were made of hardwood, stone, fish beaks and shark teeth. Kumukahi lists spears, clubs, daggers and sling stones and names as a favourite weapon of the aliʻi the leiomano, a wooden club set with tiger shark teeth. According to Mossman, the leiomano has teeth on one end and a point on the other.
Training
According to Kumukahi, the koa warrior was chosen in childhood and raised in the pā lua, where he learned bone-breaking, boxing, spear fighting and wrestling. According to Samuel M. Kamakau, Kamehameha I appointed teachers of kuʻialua wrestling, spear dodging, mokomoko boxing, staff fencing and other skills. Kamakau also writes that the king took the children of commoners and raised them as warriors or for other arts. According to Richard Paglinawan (Hūlili 2012), Charles Kenn taught only culture for the first six months, because in his view lua cannot be practised separately, and his first class had ten students. According to Coffee Times (1998), balance was trained by kneeling with the feet on both sides of a split gourd, and agility by crawling between taut cords.
Ranks and progression
Kumukahi (Kamehameha Publishing) writes that at the beginning of the twentieth century lua seemed to have vanished, but it continued to be practiced in basements and in the countryside. Paglinawan and his co-authors (Hūlili 2012) state that the modern revival stems from a handful of men taught by Charles Kenn (1907–1988), in their words the last known living ʻōlohe, that is, a master of lua. According to Coffee Times (1998), four men studied with Kenn from 1974, and in 1991 the Native Hawaiian Culture and Arts program, together with the Bishop Museum and the National Park Service, funded the revival of lua. Hūlili states that in 1993 Paglinawan and three other of Kenn's ʻōlohe began leading a workshop funded by this program, from which Pā Kuʻi a Lua arose. Today, according to Kumukahi, several pā lua operate, teaching Hawaiian martial styles and the traditions of the warrior class.
Did you know
In recounting the meeting of Alapaʻi and Peleioholani, Samuel Kamakau remarks that the advice not to let an opponent get his arms under one's own is still the custom of bone-breaking wrestlers in Kapua and Naonealaʻa. David Malo describes afternoon practice battles between the retinues of individual chiefs, fought with blunt spears, kaua kio, and sometimes with sharp ones, kaua pahu-kala. According to Hūlili (2012), in 1995 at a canoe gathering in Keʻehi Lagoon and in 2002 at a marae in Aotearoa, Pā Kuʻi a Lua challenged the Māori with a battle formation and also learned to handle the taiaha from them. The lua master Jerry Walker was honored in 2019 by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) as a Living Treasure of the Hawaiian People.
Frequently asked questions
What does lua mean in Hawaiian martial arts?
Samuel M. Kamakau mentions lua as bone-breaking. In a note on Malo (1903), N. B. Emerson described kui-alua as a cruel form of fighting combining wrestling, boxing, bone-breaking and maiming.
Who is behind the modern revival of lua?
According to the journal Hūlili (2012), the revival stems from a handful of men taught by Charles Kenn (1907–1988), the last known living ʻōlohe. In 1993 they began leading a workshop, from which Pā Kuʻi a Lua later emerged.
What weapons were used in lua?
Kumukahi lists spears, clubs, daggers and sling stones. He names the leiomano, a wooden club set with tiger shark teeth, as a favorite weapon of the aliʻi.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.