Iao Valley State Park

For centuries, the valley has been sacred to Hawaiians as a burial ground for royalty, a temple complex, and a place of refuge. The 1790 Battle of Kepaniwai added historical trauma to spiritual significance.

The Iao Needle carries two origin stories that intertwine without contradicting each other. In one, ancient Hawaiians honored Kukaemoku as the phallic stone of Kanaloa, god of the ocean. A stone honoring the deity was placed at its summit, and the needle served as a natural altar for ceremonies connecting earth to divine presence. In the other, Iao was the beautiful daughter of the demigod Maui. Puuokamoa, a half-fish half-man demigod, was the only one who dared approach her. When they fell in love and Maui discovered them, he was enraged. Pele, goddess of fire, convinced Maui to transform Puuokamoa into a pillar of stone rather than burn him to death. The needle stands as a monument to forbidden love, an eternal reminder of the beloved who cannot return to human form. The valley became kapu when Chief Kakae declared it sacred and forbidden in the late 1400s. Only the highest chiefs and kahuna priests could enter certain areas. For centuries, the inaccessible cliffs served as the burial ground for Hawaiian aliiroyalty. The bones of chiefs were hidden in secret caves to protect their mana from desecration by enemies. The heiau at the valley mouth, Halekii and Pihanakalani, hosted ceremonies including, at the luakini heiau, human sacrifices to Ku the war god. The Battle of Kepaniwai in 1790 transformed the valley from sacred to scarred. Kamehameha I's forces, equipped with cannons obtained from foreign advisors, defeated the warriors of Kalanikupule in combat so devastating that bodies dammed the stream. Keahualono, a young girl who would later become Keopuolani, highest-ranking wife of Kamehameha and mother of kings, escaped through the valley during the battle. After victory, Kamehameha marched to Pihanakalani and offered the last human sacrifice on Maui to his war god. The valley had witnessed the culmination of one religious tradition even as the traditional system itself would end less than thirty years later.