Newa

April 2025
Koai‘a

I had a beautiful piece of koai‘a left over from another project, and I wanted to do something with it that highlighted the exceptional curl and chatoyance of the wood. 

Frequently misidentified as “chocolate koa,” koai‘a is a separate but also endemic Hawaiian acacia species. Besides the intense deep color of the wood, it differs from its sister species in its shorter height, lowland habitat and extreme density. Koai‘a is so dense that it sinks in water which made it perfect for making fishhooks, hence the name: koai‘a = koa + i‘a (fish). That density also makes the wood really, really hard.

Given the endemic nature of koai‘a and its relative scarcity, I didn’t just want to show off the wood—I also wanted to honor the the place it comes from. Making a cultural object that didn’t need a lot of adornment suggested some sort of mea kaua, so for the sake of the wood I chose the broad canvas of a newa, the short-handled Hawaiian war club. 

Newa are sometimes made with a pohaku lashed to a handle, but using a heavy wood like koai‘a obviates the need for the business end to be made of stone. In practice, a newa might also be embedded with the molars of a warrior’s enemy so that the wielder would gain their mana, but I have yet to smite anyone with this particular newa so it retains its smooth, kukui-nut-oiled finish. The texturing on the handle suggests the rippling of the ocean and provides contrast to the smooth finish of the body of the piece, while also enhancing the grip.