Hokule'a: Voyage Of Gratitude
(By Christine Thomas for Pacific Magazine)
The Polynesian Voyaging Society (PVS) and its director, Hawaiian navigator Nainoa Thompson, this afternoon embarked on a mission of gratitude. In what Thompson has called “clearly the riskiest voyage we’ve ever taken,” the Hokule`a voyaging canoe and crew will left Kawaihae, Hawai`i, for Satawal, Micronesia to honor master navigator Mau Piailug. From there they will continue on to Japan, giving thanks to both island nations for their contributions to Hawai`i.
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Piailug, the navigator on Hokule`a’s inaugural 1976 journey to Tahiti, is credited with reawakening Hawai`i’s lost voyaging traditions by openly sharing his knowledge of wayfinding with Thompson and other Hawaiians. Ironically, whereas Hawai`i and Polynesia now have dozens of sailing canoes, Micronesia has none. To reinvigorate Micronesian exploration and education, the Hokule`a will accompany to Satawal the voyaging canoe Maisu, built as a gift for Piailug by Na Kalai Wa`a o Hawai`i, PVS’s partner on the 2007 voyage.
The initial leg will see stops in the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, and Palau. Then, in April, the Hokule`a will depart for Japan, stopping first in Okinawa, then Kyushu (Kuamoto, Nagasaki, Fukuoka), Honshu (Yamaguchi, Hiroshima), and Shikoku (Uwajima, Ehime). The final visit will be to Yokohama, the departure point of the 1868 Gannen Mono voyage which brought the first Japanese laborers to Hawai`i.
All stops on the Japan portion have special relationships with the state or are points of emigration to Hawai`i in late 19th and early 20th centuries, fostered by King Kalakaua’s 1881 voyage to visit Emperor Meiji. Kalakaua’s vision, like that of PVS, was relationship building between Hawai`i and the world. “The voyage is not just an event, it’s about building relationships,” says Thompson.
PVS wants to foster what they call a “vision of global kinship,” but also to further the establishment of a Pacific-wide navigation school to perpetuate education and practice of traditional navigation. In alignment with their efforts to encourage world stewardship and educate children, they will post daily crew weblog reports.
The 2007 voyage is a living metaphor for connecting with and continually learning about our world. Even Thompson has been studying voraciously, reading about meteorology and Micronesian and Japanese culture. “As students of navigation, we need to see our destination as part of where we’re going to go,” says Thompson. “Because when we take the actual journey, we’re going to see things and we’re going to learn things that our imagination today could not understand. And that’s voyaging. That’s why it’s so powerful.”
