Dec 24, 2025

Ke Au Hou, Vol. 25

Hawai'i's people have long inhabited a landscape remarkably dense with place names, and for those who speak the language of this place, our 'ōlelo, a landscape dense with instruction too.

Our kūpuna, our ancestors, bequeathed us a language born of attention to form and function, a generosity of name-giving to a world that was populated throughout by intimate relationships. In this way, places were loved and named in the particular. Every bay and plain, every headland and hilltop. The swath of reef, the tiny channel, the heap of stones.

Hawai'i's place names anthologize history and oral tradition, they hold bioenvironmental clues and mark ancient land divisions, binding story and meaning to everyplace.

One such place name is Pāpa'anui.

We are grateful to have made our small baseyard and Maui Nui home on the brow of Pu'u Ke'eke'ehia, a small patch of green within 'Ulupalakua Ranch.

Our headquarters sit within the ahupua'a, or the traditional land unit of Pāpa'anui—a rich sliver of volcanic slope that runs from the Keonehunehune and Keonehelu (Keonenelu) hills in the East, narrowing westward, taking in Waiokawa Cone, the smaller strips of lands called Pololau, 'Ōhi'a, Pi'ihale and Kanenelu (to name just a few), the lowlands near Oanapuka, and finally looping around Nahuna Point and the old landing at the sea.

Encapsulated version of Honua'ula District Map, 1881

Pāpa'anui translates to a big, secure enclosure.

And so it is.

Pāpa'anui evokes a homeplace that is fixed, lasting, whole. This place name, this embedded place-memory, helps call us back to our work and our team time and time again.

Pāpa'anui as Place

PĀPA'ANUI AS PEOPLE

Pāpa'anui

Though its name probably derives from some small and ancient stronghold or storehouse along the coast or on the plains, the meaning of Pāpa'anui spills over into our work here and is reflected in the people who carry it forward, the people who shore up this collective dream we call Maui Nui Venison, who make it a home—our incredible team, a pā pa'a nui unto itself.

Mahalo nui, gangy!

And in this season, we scoop up this place-message and send it to you.

E pa'a ka pā ā nui.

May the feeling of homecoming find you, in a circle of family, of friends, on a little patch of ground, or even just on the inside—whoever you are with, wherever you might be.

Ke aloha o ka 'āina iā kākou,

Ku'ulani Muise

Brand Lady & Co-Founder