Kai Nui, Kai Iki | Kahikikū Aloha Shirt - blue - *ASF*

*ASF* - ALL SALES FINAL. This sale item may not be returned or exchanged. Mahalo.

100% Organic cotton | ʻĀina-friendly dyes and inks | Designed in Hawaiʻi | Made in the USA

Sewn from an all over print design, each piece is unique in its art placement, which will vary from what you see in the photos. 

Kai Nui, Kai Iki
Our take on a traditional motif, we call these designs kai nui (big ocean)and kai iki (small ocean) and they were some of the first at Kealopiko. Their combination is a play on the ʻōlelo noʻeau “ʻIke i ke au nui me keau iki” (Know the large and small currents), which speaks to knowing the details of something. Our kūpuna took learning seriously and to be well versed in a subject one had to know all aspects. We also play here on the idea of knowing our “local waters” as well as experiencing the larger Moananuiākea (Pacific ocean). Travels in the Polynesian triangle were part of the inspiration behind starting Kealopiko. In Tahiti, they fearlessly express their sense of color and design on modern garments. In Rapa Nui, they proudly wear traditional adornments like hulu (feathers). In Aotearoa, tā moko (Māori tattooing) and wearable arts have been on the rise. Both fashion and language are vibrant in these places and seeing this at the outset of our business reinforced the pillars we'd chosen. Similarities in language and shared place names are powerful reminders that we all come from the same root. Stories ofa ncestors like Hawaiʻiloa and his head navigator Makaliʻi, Moikeha, Kamahualele, Kila, Laʻamaikahiki and Kahaʻi link us to our cousins around the Polynesian triangle reminding us that we all descend from kūpuna who cultivated a deep knowledge of the seas and currents, large and small, that allowed them to sail and inhabit the vast Moananuiākea. Flip for a chant Hawaiʻiloa performed before Kila about the arrival of Moikeha and others in Hawaiʻi and their settling on different islands.

Kai Nui, Kai Iki
He ualo na Hawai'iloa i mua o Kila no ka holo 'ana mai o nā kānaka mai Kahiki mai me ko kila hānua 'ana (Ka holomua, 6 June 1914):
E ke ali'i, ka Wohi mai ka pūkaha o Moikeha
Ke Ēwe, ke kolikoli mai Tahiti mai,
'O Tahititū, 'o Tahitimoe, 'o Tahiti'ale'ale he 'āina,
Hele mai 'o Moikeha me nā mākua kāne he 'umi,
Hiki i Hawai'i Nui Ākea, i laila noho aku 'ehā o lākou,
Alo a'e ē ka moku o Kamalālāwalu, kāohi ka maka o Kanaloa, ho'okahi,
Kaululā'au ka i ho'ohihi aku, lawe aku a ho'onoho i ka lae o Ka'ena,
He iki 'ulu ia i ho'okahi nō na'e,
Ho'ohihi aku i ka Moku, noho i ka Pōhina o Hina,
Ho'ōla loa aku i laila, ho'okahi,
I ka Moku nei a 'Ahualua, ho'ololohe iho lākou nei 'ehā,
Koi ho'okahi Moikeha, 'au i ke kai
He kai loa Ka'ie'ie i 'au ho'okahi 'ia,
Pae i Wailua, i ka lulu i Waimāhanalua,
Loa'a Ho'oipoikamalanai, he papa,
'Ō'ili Kila, he 'iewe, he pua na Moikeha,
'O Kila 'oe! 'O Kila i uka, 'o Kila i kai,
He leo kalokalo, he leo ualo na'u, na Hawai'iloa,
E ola au, e ola 'o Kawailoa, e ola iā Kila, he wohi, he Liliko mai ka pō mai!