The ʻAlenuihāhā Print: Hokusai's Great Wave Meets Hawaii's Wildest Channel
Ask anyone who has crossed the ʻAlenuihāhā Channel and they'll tell you it earns its name. The stretch of ocean between Hawaii Island and Maui is about 30 miles across and more than 6,000 feet deep, with trade winds funneling between the mountains on either side. ʻAlenuihāhā means "great billows smashing." Our print tells the story of the outrigger canoe paddlers brave enough to cross it.
The channel
Hawaiians paddled and sailed canoes across the ʻAlenuihāhā for centuries, waiting for the right weather to make the crossing. It's still one of the roughest channels of its size in the world. Barge traffic between the islands sometimes stops when it's blowing, and the crossing from Maui to Hawaii Island, upwind, is the hard way. Paddlers still take it on. In 2004, a women's crew from Kawaihae Canoe Club made the first wahine crossing, from Honoipu on Hawaii Island to Nuʻu on Maui.
The wave
The print is inspired by "The Great Wave off Kanagawa," the woodblock print Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai made around 1831, in his early seventies. In Hokusai's print, a towering wave curls over three fishing boats, with Mount Fuji small in the distance. In ours, a Hawaiian outrigger racing canoe takes the place of the fishing boats, and the wave is the ʻAlenuihāhā. It's a tribute to everyone who looks at rough water and decides to go anyway.
Two colorways
- ʻAlenuihāhā. The original, in brighter blues, on a short sleeve Western snap shirt.
- ʻAlenuihāhā Winter. Darker blues and navy, like the channel on a stormy day, on a long sleeve Western snap shirt.
Both are printed in small batches on Cowboy Cloth, on the reverse side of the fabric for a softer, sun-faded look. (Read more in Our Fabrics.)
Shop ʻAlenuihāhā
Alenuihaha, $98. Short sleeve Western snap shirt, reverse-printed Cowboy Cloth.
Alenuihaha Winter, $125. Long sleeve Western snap shirt, reverse-printed Cowboy Cloth.
Frequently asked questions
What does ʻAlenuihāhā mean? "Great billows smashing," the Hawaiian name for the channel between Hawaii Island and Maui.
Is the print based on Hokusai's Great Wave? Yes. It's our take on Hokusai's woodblock print, with a Hawaiian outrigger canoe in place of the Japanese fishing boats.
What's the difference between ʻAlenuihāhā and ʻAlenuihāhā Winter? Color and sleeve. The original is brighter blue on a short sleeve shirt. Winter is darker blue and navy on a long sleeve shirt.
More from Talk Story: Printed in Small Batches · The History of the Aloha Shirt · All stories