Post #380816 by kaluna on Fri, May 16, 2008 7:46 PM

Mahalo for the kine words Paipo,Tama,seeksurf,harro. I was nervous about sending out pictures of Kumakanui, you see, even though I have been fortunate enough to have been chosen (Hawaiians say that you don't find a stone, like Ku, rather the stone finds you...)to be the caretaker of this special stone, I live in a state where everything that is considered Hawaiian Antiquities belongs to the state.
So any chance this state has they'll try to take Ku away, no matter how long he has been in my family.
Ku is unlike the more beautiful and detailed stone tiki's that you can find in Tahiti,New Zealand, Marquesans, etc., he is Hawaiian tiki carving in its rawest form.
In old Hawai'i, not any stone was chosen as a pohaku akua (stone god), for a lack of the better words, a stone needed attitude and mana (power) and with a simple addition of a nose or mouth and prayer, there you have a stone god.
Wooden tiki's were the god images, stone tiki's were the gods.
The following pictures are of Ku's different sides.
I share these pictures with you, my brothers and sisters, because of the beautiful work you do and with the belief that the word tiki (ki'i) is more to you then just a word from the past. Long live the tiki lovers.
May the gods be with you and everywhere you may step.

Kaluna