Hawaiian Featherwork

Kahili - Standards of Royalty

      Kahili (kah-HEE-lee) are feathered standards used from ancient times by Hawaiian royalty. Similarly to how the nobility of Europe use banners with coats of arms, Hawaiian nobility use kahili to show status, lineage, and family ties.
      There are many sizes and styles of kahili, from very small kahili-pa`a-lima (hand kahili) carried like a scepter by female chiefs, to the towering formal kahili. There are also many intermediary sizes which each have their own place in traditional regalia.
      Leilehua Yuen is the author of Kahili - Standards of Royalty, a report for the national park service on pre-1819 styles, uses, and crafting of kahili.Seven kahili crafted by Leilehua Yuen are currently owned by the Pu`uhonua o Honaunau National Park. Other kahili she has crafted are in private collections.

To commission kahili for individuals, families, or organizations,
contact the artist. 

To read more on Hawaiian featherwork, click here.

	Crafting Kahili    This kahili-pa`a-lima is of a style similar to those used by the noblewomen of ancient Hawai`i.      It was crafted by Leilehua Yuen and completed in March, 2000. It was commissioned by the Hawai`i Natural History Association for the Pu`uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park.	photo by Phil Rosenberg
photo by Phil Rosenberg
Above, the artist, Leilehua Yuen, displays the polished bird-bone handle. Kahili handles were finely crafted from native hardwoods, bone, tortoise shell, and after European contact, exotic woods, ivory, silver, and gold.		Left, the artist wraps the ends of  feathers with thread she has spun by hand from the bark of  hau trees, a  relative of the ornamental hibiscus.   The feathers are lashed in specific patterns to fine sticks made from coconut leaflet midribs or other  suitable materials. The sticks are  then lashed to a central rod. photo by Phil Rosenberg		s.
Kahili pa`alima. White goose biots, rooster tail, wood, hau thread, Fimo replicating tortoise shell, bird bone.Pu`uhonua collection.
Kahili, Malama ke Aloha, red and yellow dyed goose feather, and shaped and trimmed, tied on hau lala hulu with red cotton thread, hau lashing thread, hand carved koa handle. Matching velvet cape. Private collection
Kahili, Maka`ala ke Aloha, red and yellow dyed goose feather, and shaped and trimmed, tied on hau lala hulu with red cotton thread, hau lashing thread, hand carved koa handle. Matching velvet cape. Private collection
L-R - Malama Ke Aloha, Pili Mai Na Manu `Elua, and Maka`ala ke Aloha.  Pili Mai Na Manu `Elua is crafted from white goose biots and red dyed rooster hackle. Hand twisted hau thread, hand carved blonde curly koa handle. Private collection